“Former president Donald Trump turned down Nikki Haley after she requested a meeting with the former president Wednesday, Politico reported.
Haley condemned Trump for inciting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and the two have not spoken since, according to Politico.
“I think he’s going to find himself further and further isolated,” Haley said of Trump after the insurrection, according to Politico. “I think his business is suffering at this point. I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations also said in an interview published Friday that the former president let his supporters down.
“He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again,” Haley said, according to Fox News.
Haley added that she thinks the Republican Party will never be the same, which she believes is a good thing, Fox News reported.”
————–
I believe it’s a good thing that people like her are no longer running the party. 🙂
“Politics Is Seeping Into Our Daily Life and Ruining Everything
Americans are choosing jobs, brands, and friends for partisan reasons, say researchers.”
“Is there anything that politics can’t ruin? The answer, it appears, is a resounding “no” as partisan conflict creeps into all areas of American life. Our political affiliations, researchers say, obstruct friendships, influence our purchases, affect the positions we take on seemingly apolitical matters, and limit our job choices. As a result, many people are poorer, lonelier, and less healthy than they would otherwise be.
“Political polarization is having far-reaching impacts on American life, harming consumer welfare and creating challenges for people ranging from elected officials and policymakers to corporate executives and marketers,” according to a new paper in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing by researchers from Arizona State University, the University of Wyoming, and four other U.S. universities.
The researchers find that people’s chosen political identities become self-reinforcing through associations with groups with shared beliefs. Our associations can even create a “group-specific shared reality” that makes it harder to relate to those with opposing views.
“[A]s society has become increasingly polarized, politicians’ objectives diverge and their animosity toward the opposition grows, thereby reducing opportunity for compromise,” the researchers warn. “Partisan incivility is a major reason for failed dialogue: Uncivil exchanges result in disagreement and greater polarization regardless of the evidence presented.”
People’s partisan identities influence the range of people with whom they are willing to have relationships, the brands they purchase, and the jobs they take. In an era of public health concerns, people often choose positions on matters such as vaccines or mask-wearing not based on a rational assessment of the issues, but on a plug-and-play adoption of their tribe’s stances. This sort of politicized decision-making can stand in the way of rational choices and healthy connections.
“With political positions influencing decisions, people may sacrifice wages, lose out on jobs, make suboptimal purchases and disregard opportunities to save,” the researchers note. “For example, research has found that employees accept lower wages to work for politically like-minded entities, and people may select higher-priced products or ones that offer less-functional value.”
“Polarization has the potential to prevent neighbors or colleagues of opposing parties from developing friendships. This ultimately deprives individuals of intellectual diversity, among other things,” they add.
The finding that everything is becoming politicized builds on a growing mountain of data. Even before political tensions hit their current fever pitch, a 2018 survey found that “Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers around the world will buy or boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social or political issue” (the number for the U.S. was 59 percent). In 2020, a separate survey reported that “83% of Millennials find it important for the companies they buy from to align with their values.”
That means that the price and utility of products and services are actually secondary considerations for many people, taking a back seat to companies’ public posturing. Many business executives have risen to the challenge, advocating positions on gun control, immigration, and race relations, whether because they sense an opening to promote their opinions, or just a marketing opportunity.
“These leaders hope that their political activism will help shape public opinion and potentially lead to lasting change, while simultaneously cementing their reputations as moral leaders and change agents,” Christine Moorman wrote for Forbes. She noted that, as of 2018, most marketing experts considered this a bad move with the potential for alienating both customers and employees.”
I like Nikki Haley and would certainly consider her for office, but then I am not a die hard Republican; not a Democrat and not a supporter of everything Donald Trump did or said.
“Biden dismisses Uighur genocide as part of China’s ‘different norms’”
“President Biden is dismissing the genocide against the Uighur population in China, dubbing the mass internment a “different norm” — despite the State Department this month responding to “atrocities” in the camps, following reports of systemic rape and torture.
The commander-in-chief made the remarks after being asked during his CNN town hall Tuesday evening about his recent conversation with his Chinese counterpart, starting his response by relaying Xi’s justification for the abuses.
“If you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been, the time when China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven’t been unified at home,” Biden began. “So the central — well, vastly overstated — the central principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be a united, tightly controlled China. And he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that.”
China, a nation that has faced a wave of international scrutiny over the past few years relating to its activities in dismantling democracy in Hong Kong and its refusal to accept responsibility for negligence and a lack of transparency at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, has not let global tensions stop its mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang province.
President Biden continued in his response that he is “not going to speak out against” the Chinese Communist Party’s belligerent actions in Hong Kong, against the Uighurs, or in Taiwan.
“I point out to him no American president can be sustained as a president, if he doesn’t reflect the values of the United States,” the US president continued. “And so the idea that I am not going to speak out against what he’s doing in Hong Kong, what he’s doing with the Uighurs in western mountains of China and Taiwan — trying to end the one China policy by making it forceful … [Xi] gets it.”
“Culturally there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow,” he continued.
The “norms” in China, as shown in a recent BBC News exposé, include systemic torture and rape occurring in Uighur concentration camps.
Following the release of the BBC report, China banned the outlet in its territory.”
Nicki has joined with other mealy mouthed RINOs. She joined the left in blaming Trump for something he didn’t do.
No thanks.
And I’m still waiting for someone to show me a video or transcript of them doing what they accuse him of. Haley just did the same, no proof, just spout the Dem/media talking points.
“Trump Doesn’t Rule Out 2024 as Polls Show GOP Voters Want Him to Have a ‘Major Role’ in Republican Party
Trump’s statement on McConnell and the GOP proves he’s not going anywhere. GOP voters just might get their wish.”
“According to two polls, President Donald Trump won’t go away if GOP voters have their way. He won’t rule out a 2024 run, either.
About 59% of GOP voters told Morning Consult and Politico they want Trump in a significant role in the Republican Party. However, 75% of GOP voters polled by Quinnipiac University said the same thing.
It’s a shame the polls took place before Trump tore apart Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP.
Trump 2024?
Trump told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly he won’t say anything about 2024 yet, but…:
“I won’t say yet, but we have tremendous support,” Trump told “Greg Kelly Reports.” “And I’m looking at poll numbers are through the roof.”
Trump joked to host Greg Kelly that even the Senate impeachment trial managed to boost his 2024 political cachet.
“I’m the only guy who gets impeached and my numbers go up,” Trump said. “Figure that one out.
“Let’s say somebody gets impeached, typically your numbers would go down. They would go down like a dead balloon.”
Trump was acquitted Saturday by the Senate for the second time in just over a year.
“The numbers are very good; they’re very high; I think they’re higher than they were before the election, and they were high at the election,” Trump marveled. “They like the job – we did a great job.”
“The First Step Towards Righting America Is Refusing To Believe The Left About Anything
The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families.”
“Did you know that you can see The Great Wall of China from outer space? Is that not absolutely incredible? I heard this cool little fact from a friend some time ago and began telling everyone I knew about this cool trivia nugget.
What really blew me away was how almost everyone I told had already heard this and agreed with me that it is a very cool fact. A man-made wall you can see from outer space. That is just incredible.
I mean, it would be incredible, if it were true. You see, it is not true—not even a little. NASA and multiple individual astronauts have debunked this myth. Yet much of the general public believes it to be a fact, as NASA points out.
But why? The narrative. That is why. There is nothing more powerful (and destructive) in today’s world than the narrative.
The narrative, as I define it, is simply an assumption or set of assumptions widely accepted by the general public as facts. As we know, facts cannot be changed. That is why they are facts.
This is also why it is so critical to ensure the general public gets an accurate narrative. Otherwise, if the base set of publicly believed facts is wrong, every step after that will also be incorrect. It’s like getting swallowed up by an avalanche and digging ferociously in the wrong direction.
The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families. It’s killing our schools. It’s killing our nation.
Take coronavirus, for example. Remember the beginning? Remember the mass panic pushed from every single American institution? “EVERYONE GO HOME AND HIDE OR MILLIONS WILL DIE!”
News story after news story after social media post after politician’s speech hammered away at the American public. In very short order, even 90 percent of the people on the right were parroting the narrative that you should shut down your business and bunker down at home or everyone will die. After all, shutting down an economy is the only way to stop coronavirus, right?
That’s what the narrative was in the beginning, and to this day the vast majority of Americans believe it. Of course, that all turned out to be wrong. In very short order, the left realized these lockdowns could be a very useful tool in destroying the President Trump economy that was leading to his re-election. Where were your favorite politicians and pundits on the right in the beginning when this false narrative was being set?
Remember George Floyd? I am quite sure you do. How could you possibly forget the modern-day saint honored with more funeral services than any other human being in the history of mankind.
Immediately after the man’s death, everyone with a microphone or a social media account was sprinting to prove how not racist they were. Outcries about cops hunting down black men for the color of their skin were heard from sea to shining sea.
Every major corporation had a statement out dumping on cops and pretending America is some rancid, racist dump. Even my sons couldn’t log into their video games without a special Black Lives Matter landing page. The professional athletes kneeled for the anthem, and Aunt Jemima changed its name and logo.
Of course, none of this narrative, either about how Floyd’s death happened or the riots that followed, was based on facts. Not a single word. Yet where was the right? What did we get out of the single entity with a chance to speak the truth in the face of lies? We got a federal police reform bill and GOP senators talking about the need to change military base names.
Who can forget the violent insurrection at the Capitol building on the 6th? Have you not heard the government was almost taken over and five people were MURDERED?
I heard it on every news channel. I read it in a thousand articles. I saw endless social media posts about it. In fact, it was so violent and insidious, they impeached a guy who’s no longer in office for it. That must be really bad, right?
Five people murdered is no joke. Of course, and please stop me if you’ve heard this before, that is all a complete lie. Would you like to hear about the five “murders” you believe happened on the 6th? One man died of a heart attack, one woman collapsed for yet unknown reasons, one woman was shot and killed by a police officer, one man had a stroke, and one police officer died. As of the time of this writing, the medical examiner has been unable to prove the police officer died from any external force.
There. Those are the five “murders” you believe happened. They are just as real as viewing the Great Wall of China from outer space. Yet to this day the vast majority of politicians and pundits on the right will repeat the “violent insurrection with five murders” lie told by the left.”
“Stonewalling the Justice Department is bad enough, but Cuomo did something even worse: His administration provided inaccurate data to public health officials in real time, at the beginning of the crisis, when government scientists were desperately trying to figure out how the virus was spreading, who was most vulnerable and how to stop it. Instead of meeting its obligation to provide accurate information, the Cuomo administration provided incomplete data about nursing home deaths apparently because he feared real data would hurt him politically. That is like providing false intelligence to battlefield commanders about the location of the enemy in a time of war.
On March 25, Cuomo’s health department ordered nursing homes to accept known or suspected covid-19 hospital patients, prohibiting facilities from requiring tests to see whether they were infectious. After a firestorm erupted, on May 3, his administration suddenly changed the way it reported nursing home covid deaths — releasing only the number of deaths that took place inside nursing homes, and not counting those who died after being taken to hospitals. According to a senior Justice Department official, the administration withheld data on private nursing home deaths in New York until the final days of the Trump administration. As a result, the federal government was given bad data about the spread of the pandemic in New York. An Associated Press investigation found that New York under-reported the number of hospital patients recovering from covid-19 who were sent to nursing homes by 40 percent. The real number was more than 9,000 — my mother among them. And the Cuomo administration reported only 8,500 nursing home deaths, when the real number was about 15,000 — an undercount of at least 43 percent.
This was more than just a coverup. It impeded our public health response. We now know that New York was the primary source of new infections across the United States. Genetic testing shows that the outbreak in New York was seeded by travelers from Europe, and that it was the New York variant — not the West Coast variant that arrived directly from China — that seeded the rest of the country. The New York Times reported last year that the New York variant was responsible for 70 percent of covid-19 cases in Texas, 78 percent of cases in Wisconsin, 80 percent in Alaska, 84 percent in Arizona and 100 percent in Louisiana. As Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Times, “New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country.”
So, understanding how the virus was spreading in New York was critical to stopping it nationwide. But Cuomo’s administration shared inaccurate data with health officials. And then when Justice Department investigators and state lawmakers began asking questions, New York delayed its answers. His administration “froze” (in the words of Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa) and withheld the real data. It was only a court order and the release of a report by the New York state attorney general that forced the governor to admit the true extent of the damage his policy did.
Meanwhile, he presented himself to the world as the hero of the covid story — even publishing a book sharing “Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The media played along, holding him up in contrast to President Donald Trump as an example of effective executive leadership in the face of a public health crisis. In November, he received an Emmy award in recognition of “his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.” No, he used TV to lie to New Yorkers and the world — and his lies cost lives.”
“Orange County DA Seeks To Take Child Murder Case Back From LA County And Progressive DA Gascon”
“LA County DA George Gascon continues to anger the families of crime victims and his own deputy DA’s with his insistence on dropping all sentencing enhancements against violent criminals. Now one such case is turning into a fight between LA County and neighboring Orange County.
The case involves a convicted sex offender named Kenneth Rasmuson, who has previously served time for two sex crimes involving children. In 2015, DNA tied him to the kidnapping and murder of two 6-year-old boys in California in the early 1980s. Those crimes were set to be tried in LA County but newly-elected DA Gascon is seeking to drop all the enhancements in the case which would result in a lighter sentence for Rasmuson if he’s convicted. So this week Orange County DA Todd Spitzer filed charges in the case, hoping to take it back from LA County:”
In a statement, Spitzer called the allegations against Rasmuson “the stuff of parents’ nightmares” and vowed to do everything in his power to stop Rasmuson from ever coming in contact with another child.
“Jeffrey’s family will have justice,” Spitzer wrote. “I refuse to allow the LADA’s ‘one-size fits all approach’ to prevent the family of a 6-year-old murdered child from achieving the justice that they deserve.””
———
“Under DA Gascon’s new rules, Rasmuson, who has been jailed since 2015 awaiting trial, could potentially be out in as little as 15 years. By contrast with various enhancements, Rasmuson would face the death penalty if convicted in Orange County. That’s why Vargo’s parents support DA Spitzer’s efforts to take the case out of DA Gascon’s hands:
On July 2, 1981, Jeffrey was riding his bike near his Anaheim Hills home when Rasmuson allegedly abducted him. The boy’s body was found the next day about 25 miles away at a construction site in Pomona’s Phillips Ranch neighborhood, but it wasn’t until 2015 that DNA would lead to Rasmuson’s arrest.
Jeffrey’s parents, Bob and Connie Vargo, said in a statement they are pleased Spitzer is interested in taking the case over. “We agreed moving to Orange County would speed up the process, and Rasmuson would receive the punishment he deserves,” they said. “Life without parole or death.”
An unnamed LA County Deputy DA criticized Gascon’s approach to the child murder case, calling it “embarrassing.”
A senior Los Angeles County prosecutor, who asked not to be identified, said special circumstance murder enhancements should be reserved for the cruelest offenders.
“It ensures that a particular class of murderer will never see the outside of a prison,” the prosecutor said. “Mr. Gascon’s failure to recognize this distinction in sentencing law is embarrassing and disheartening. His statement that defendants who are sentenced under traditional first-degree murder law will spend the rest of their lives in prison is clever, but it is false and misleading. The only way to ensure certain brutal killers spend the rest of their lives in prison is to charge them, when appropriate, with special circumstance murder.”
I liked Haley…but after her diatribe against President Trump I now view her as pandering to the left, which was rather shocking to me considering her past support of him. She has lost all trust with me 😞
And I read this with interest this morning…seems those Biden supporters are experiencing the “consequences” of their short sighted support eh?
Mayor Lozano said the city does not have the resources available to house and care for illegal migrants flooding across the Texas-Mexico border.
“I will have no choice but to use extreme measures with an emergency declaration as the mayor of the City of Del Rio, Texas to refuse the entrances of migrants awaiting court dates into the city of Del Rio,” Lozano said.
In 2019, thousands of illegal migrants flooded across the Texas-Mexico border, many with children, declaring asylum. The procedure for the federal administrative courts at the time was to arraign each asylum seeker and then release each with a court date many months or even a year into the future. Each asylum seeker was released into the U.S. on personal recognizance bonds. Many were never seen again. The chief of the Del Rio Sector of the Customs and Border Patrol at that time warned that his border patrol agents had lost operational control of the border.
President Trump solved the problem with an agreement with Mexico to hold the asylum-seekers in Mexico camps instead of freeing each into the U.S. The “Remain in Mexico” policy worked and illegal immigration flowed to a trickle. One of the first actions of President Biden was to end Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy with an executive order.
Absolute, never-ending, forever-loyalty, no matter what, to just one political personality — a politician, after all, don’t forget — holds its own cautionary tale, for parties and nations alike. An old story that so often goes bad, but gets put on ‘repeat’ every now and again.
This all, too, shall pass. It’s not all about the urgency of the moment in politics. As one columnist put it in looking to the future of the Republican party which is about ideas and policy, not about personalities:
~ The party that moved from Theodore Roosevelt, to Calvin Coolidge to Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump is going to eventually move on once again. ~
You continue to not understand Trump supporters. It’s not about him. It’s about his policies and what they did for this country, financially, economically, the Supreme Court and federal courts are now loaded with good strong conservatives, pro-life and not just the standard lip service type Rs, wages up, unemployment down, historic market gains, and sorry, but he gets credit for the vaccines too. This is what we support, and so does Trump. He’s done something politicians rarely do, he did everything in his power to keep his promises. Folks like him and allied with him will continue to be what Trump supporters seek.
He is everything R’s have said they ever wanted, but you don’t like his personality. Isn’t it time ya’ll got over that? He’s not going anywhere, and neither are his 74 million supporters.
I think Haley, Sasse, and Romney have ruined their chances of running the Republican party or being at or near the top of the ticket.
I agree with Ben Carson that it’s not the worst thing in the world for the Dems to be in power right now. People are going to see what their choices really are in 2022 and 2024. Carson is supporting the President (Pres. Trump, that is) in a possible bid for 2024.
So the question really is — can the policies and the positive things Trump accomplished ever be “separated” from the man himself and be the center of our unity? Aren’t many of these things Republicans have supported and will continue to support?
What about issues and policies? Can they not be the meat of what we go forward with?
Or has the Trump experience so overpowered our focus and dialogue that all revolves around a mere person (with a feet of clay, as we all are)?
Is “he” our new “loyalty” test?
May that never be said of any politician.
I don’t think this kind of spirit — a partisan, completely man-centered spirit — is what the founders at all had in mind.
What am I missing? Honest question.
Trump was mistreated horribly in the media. His followers, by extension, got much of the heat as well, wrongly so.
But is this not a time to look forward and not cling to the past, as recent as it is?
The nation faces some critical questions going forward. Many of us here are likely in agreement on most of them, perhaps not all (but that’s always been the case within political parties which are coalitions, after all).
I’m just suggesting that obsessions with past grievances should, at some point soon, give way to a more forward-looking position that doesn’t rule out “everyone but Trump.”
lol. Since we all seem to somehow miss the point when it comes to Trump, how about an issue that we may have some hope of grasping or not grasping equally: the vaccine.
I read yesterday (don’t remember where) that it’s the 2nd dose that can pack a wallop in terms of flu-like side effects. Supposedly that’s because the immune system is being more activated by the second exposure. However, I just read today that Canadian researchers have concluded that the second dose of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may be practically unnecessary, since it only boosts immunity by a couple percentage points.
Has anyone here gotten the second dose yet? Or the first?
Haley’s attack towards President Trump was suggesting he is the cause for all unrest. Her accusations in my humble opinion were baseless. I don’t give a rip about party or politician….I care about what is happening to our nation. President Trump stood for American people plain and simple. I do not see one person “in charge” now who will stand up for our freedoms, our Constitution, our citizens. My only consolation at this point is that what bites us due to the wickedness of this current administration will be biting those “supporters” of the wicked as well….all because they hated a man’s demeanor and personality. Idiocy……
Neighbor got it yesterday, said all is well. What I read was that it’s mostly younger people (and those who have had covid for real) who get the stronger reactions as it comes from stronger (or more awake) immune systems. Older immune systems are sleepy and thus don’t respond.
This has all been a work in progress, to be sure.
I’m heading in for my 2nd dose on Sunday, and gladly, I’ll add. lol
But yes, winning elections is what this will come down to. And parties are the vehicle, not one guy.
Republican ideals and policies remain popular — the Democrats are becoming the party of the ‘elites’ as they’re called. The GOP has a great opportunity (and yes, in good part thanks to some of the newer demographics that came into the party with Trump) going forward. Keeping those new folks and the ideas that brought them over is extremely important. But the party can’t tie itself to a single personality. Not only is that really just short-sighted. It can be foolish and dangerous in all kinds of ways.
Let’s face it, Trump also caused much division among conservatives, many of them people of good conscience and strong principles. And that’s just a fact, too. I think many who perhaps weren’t the “die-hards” but voted for and supported him in 2020 have had a change of tune in what happened after this election.
We can, I suppose, try to move forward with two conservative parties (one “Trump’s” and the other with all the rest) — because it will cause a split if it’s not resolved fairly soon.
Or move our focus to the issues and policies we all pretty much have in common.
The Grand Old Party lost its shine long ago and has become nothing but a group of out-of-touch professional politicians who have forgotten that their primary function is to REPRESENT THE PEOPLE! They dictate over others with their elitism and only work to line their own pockets!
They are now working overtime to cancel Pres. Trump, but they won’t be successful, and he won’t become the marginal figure that even a few here hope for. After all, how does a president get ‘impeached’, yet become more popular than ever?
“Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said that attempts to purge the party of former President Donald Trump will cost the GOP all elections.
“A Republican Party that seeks to erase President Trump and fails to understand his appeal to working-class voters is destined to lose elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond,” tweeted Banks, the chair of the House Republican Study Committee.
“As a conservative leader in the GOP I’m determined to make sure that won’t happen.”
Meanwhile, several polls conducted after Trump left office revealed that the former president is the most popular figure among Republicans. One recent poll found that about 70 percent of Republicans would consider joining a Trump-backed political party.”
Ah but it isn’t about one man. It is about who will stand for this nation and our founding principles….the Biden admin stands for none..he is pandering to other nations..uh hem…China…and in that we the United States have become weak. It is deja vu all over again…just like the Obama admin….apologizing for the big bad United States…oh please…can we just give you some more money and make it all better?
We have some stellar representatives who stand on the very same foundations, principles and integrity as Reagan, Trump, and yes…even Kennedy! Nunes, Gaetz, De Santis, Trowdy, Cruz, Carson…it’s not just Trump. Why is it some jump to the conclusion that if we stand upon what our nation has been founded upon and are willing to push back against the socialist left we are groupies for Trump? I just don’t get it…..
The trouble with Republicans winning elections in the future is that most Trump supporters don’t trust the old guard GOP politicians like Sasse or Romney. Which I think is a good thing because at heart, they’re globalists. I don’t know about Haley; she just seems to be weak, which is also disqualifying given the virulent opposition the pro-worker, non-globalist agenda faced in many quarters during the Trump presidency.
It’s a period of opportunity and challenge for the Republican party, to be sure. Also for the Democrats, quite frankly, after they get over what could be quite the hangover from the far left lurch they’re seeing right now.
But yes, the GOP is not so grand anymore, it’s actually in a pretty bad way, lots of disunity.
Either that will resolve itself or not. It could mean some smaller factions splitting off. Interesting times ahead, perhaps.
“a partisan, completely man-centered spirit — is what the founders at all had in mind.”
Perhaps you need to read more history. He is exactly the kind of man many of the founders were. Slave holders, who also raped their slaves, brash businessmen, the money men, the land holders/barons, and yes, the very first insurrectionists…
“The conservative movement can (and probably will, unless something changes) split into equal halves. But not sure that accomplishes very much.”
That’s whistling past the graveyard on your part. I’ve posted numerous polls the last few days that show that split is 75% us, 25% the rest. You are the minority.
————-
“I guess we adjust to the Democrats taking it all from here on out?”
If that’s what it takes for a time to bring the traitor/liberal/RINO factions to heal, then so be it. We are prepared for this, and again, come primaries, where candidates are selected, we hold the numbers to win, even without your votes. Your side does not. Then you vote for our person, or you get what you got, the Bidens. Shape up, or enjoy the suck.
I am prepared to adjust to the Democrats taking it all if the alternative is to vote for Republicans who barely give lip service to the things I think are important. I can as easily adjust to the Democrats as to them. Globalism is a sure road to tyranny, and it doesn’t matter to me what political party drives the country if that is our destination. I want no part of it.
As for our founders, yes, they were flawed human beings (shocking). But the ideals they set forth still stand we should look to that, not the personalities that were so imperfect.
Newspapers back then also were wildly partisan and irresponsible. Ideal way of doing journalism? Hardly.
Never will be.
Just saying, there needs to be some kind of coming together around principles, causes and issues. Otherwise, we’ll just remain throwing darts and food at one another over the family table while our true political enemies enjoy the show.
I’m just tired of this constant putting down of each other, including folks who are (political) allies if not always in lockstep with one another, that’s all.
Our pastor made the point last week that while (as Christians dealing both with Covid and political controversies) our ships may not all be in perfect alignment, we should at lease close our gun ports.
Vaccine, no, have not checked into getting it. As to family, as far as I know, one daughter tried it and had an allergic reaction so was told not to get the second. And son got both with a strong reaction to the second. May have had covid already last January.
I’ll not be taking the vaccine….
Senator Cruz has returned…mistake to leave during this time of crisis in his state…I guess he is one of those “flawed human beings”….
I call a traitor a traitor when I see one and I am seeing many… a person who betrays a friend, country, principle, etc….
I have heard that people of advanced age shouldn’t get it in some (or most?) cases. I have a church friend in Denver now, probably about 90 yrs old?, and her doctor advised her to pass.
haha, glad Cruz got back. Quick turn-around. Yes, that was a misstep, and in these (Internet) days optics rule. Well, he’s back, so that’s good.
Dad is 95 and although he’s eligible now, he’s not getting the vaccine either. Husband works from home so he really shouldn’t have to get it, although he’s planning to. I feel like I am the weak link in the household since I work 5-6 days wkly in a manufacturing setting. We sanitize constantly, and our covid cases have reduced dramatically, but there is still usually at least one new case every week. :–/
What a non-story! Sen. Cruz was gone for less than 24 hours, basically to fly his girls down there. What was he supposed to do during that time – pass a law to outlaw freezing temps?
Gotta get those staunch Conservatives – whatever it takes!
Can’t help it, but I’m reminded of that story about the guy who climbed onto the roof as the flood waters rose, waiting for God’s rescue.
Turned down the helicopter rescue, the boat rescue.
Well, you know the punchline.
It’s been a tough year on everyone, including so many of our small businesses that are going under. I believe it when they say mental health has suffered. Churches are struggling and, sadly, experiencing some disunity over it all.
So I consider vaccines a godsend, especially in this case. In my view, they’re among God’s blessings that we have now in an age and nation that offers the benefit of modern medicine.
Agreed on Cruz: nonstory. The man was supporting his daughters on a preplanned vacation. The State was not at greater risk. He was in contact with his team.
And WSJ does have Cruz himself as saying it was an “impromptu” trip
_________________________
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) flew back to Houston from Mexico on Thursday and called his trip a mistake, after drawing widespread criticism for taking his family on vacation in Cancún as his state struggled with freezing temperatures and widespread power outages.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Mr. Cruz said he accompanied his daughters to Mexico for an impromptu trip and was flying back immediately. …
___________________________
Yes, you can almost predict what’s going to get overblown nowadays, justified or not (usually it’s not).
Politicians maybe just need to be a little forward thinking, as with the internal question of “how will this look?” should it “get out” (and it will).
That quick trip to sunny Cancun? That would probably not wear well with many freezing Texans without power, not to mention without the means to take that kind of “impromptu” trip to a beach resort in Mexico.
Waters, as in Maxine…the chairwoman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee inquiries as to “why aren’t customers “entitled” to get a refund when they lose money on their stocks??!! There ya go…entitled to their money even when they invest it poorly…wonder if she lost any money in her investments lately? Why is this looney person in charge of anything?!!
~ To be fair, no one can truly replace Rush Limbaugh, can they? He was beloved by his listeners. Not just anyone can be thrown into that spot and have the same following, loyalty and — what matters most — ratings as Limbaugh.
The first name to jump out is a strong conservative who is beloved by the right and is currently out of work:
Donald Trump.
While Trump’s name might be fun for the rumor mill, it seems highly unlikely that Trump would want that gig. … Would Trump be willing to put in the time to be good at radio? …
A couple of months ago, a natural choice to replace Limbaugh would have been former Vice President Mike Pence, who has experience as a radio and TV host.
But Pence’s reputation among Trump loyalists is mud, and that eliminates chances he could host Limbaugh’s show, assuming he would even be interested. ~
Maxine is one of “our” reps, she’s fairly notorious for never returning election-year story phone calls requesting interviews. I often am assigned her district in election years. But she did (almost/maybe half) hug me once when I was covering one of her speeches a year or two ago. As soon as I said I was a reporter when I approached her afterward, she pulled back noticeably. lol
The problem is when one of these incumbents becomes so entirely entrenched, they feel no need, really, to be interviewed about a “simple” (and foregone conclusion, in their minds) election. They can only hurt themselves at that point, so I get it. But it’s always frustrating for us — the most extreme case I can recall was from years ago, when I put something like 20+ calls into a sitting state legislator for an election-year campaign interview.
Wandering Views 
Disloyalty has consequences.
She’s right about isolation, but it’s hers she should be worried about, not Trumps.
https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/18/trump-shoots-down-nikki-haley-sit-down/
“Former president Donald Trump turned down Nikki Haley after she requested a meeting with the former president Wednesday, Politico reported.
Haley condemned Trump for inciting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and the two have not spoken since, according to Politico.
“I think he’s going to find himself further and further isolated,” Haley said of Trump after the insurrection, according to Politico. “I think his business is suffering at this point. I think he’s lost any sort of political viability he was going to have. I think he’s lost his social media, which meant the world to him. I mean, I think he’s lost the things that really could have kept him moving.”
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations also said in an interview published Friday that the former president let his supporters down.
“He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again,” Haley said, according to Fox News.
Haley added that she thinks the Republican Party will never be the same, which she believes is a good thing, Fox News reported.”
————–
I believe it’s a good thing that people like her are no longer running the party. 🙂
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And you just noticed?
https://reason.com/2021/02/17/politics-is-seeping-into-our-daily-life-and-ruining-everything/
“Politics Is Seeping Into Our Daily Life and Ruining Everything
Americans are choosing jobs, brands, and friends for partisan reasons, say researchers.”
“Is there anything that politics can’t ruin? The answer, it appears, is a resounding “no” as partisan conflict creeps into all areas of American life. Our political affiliations, researchers say, obstruct friendships, influence our purchases, affect the positions we take on seemingly apolitical matters, and limit our job choices. As a result, many people are poorer, lonelier, and less healthy than they would otherwise be.
“Political polarization is having far-reaching impacts on American life, harming consumer welfare and creating challenges for people ranging from elected officials and policymakers to corporate executives and marketers,” according to a new paper in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing by researchers from Arizona State University, the University of Wyoming, and four other U.S. universities.
The researchers find that people’s chosen political identities become self-reinforcing through associations with groups with shared beliefs. Our associations can even create a “group-specific shared reality” that makes it harder to relate to those with opposing views.
“[A]s society has become increasingly polarized, politicians’ objectives diverge and their animosity toward the opposition grows, thereby reducing opportunity for compromise,” the researchers warn. “Partisan incivility is a major reason for failed dialogue: Uncivil exchanges result in disagreement and greater polarization regardless of the evidence presented.”
People’s partisan identities influence the range of people with whom they are willing to have relationships, the brands they purchase, and the jobs they take. In an era of public health concerns, people often choose positions on matters such as vaccines or mask-wearing not based on a rational assessment of the issues, but on a plug-and-play adoption of their tribe’s stances. This sort of politicized decision-making can stand in the way of rational choices and healthy connections.
“With political positions influencing decisions, people may sacrifice wages, lose out on jobs, make suboptimal purchases and disregard opportunities to save,” the researchers note. “For example, research has found that employees accept lower wages to work for politically like-minded entities, and people may select higher-priced products or ones that offer less-functional value.”
“Polarization has the potential to prevent neighbors or colleagues of opposing parties from developing friendships. This ultimately deprives individuals of intellectual diversity, among other things,” they add.
The finding that everything is becoming politicized builds on a growing mountain of data. Even before political tensions hit their current fever pitch, a 2018 survey found that “Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers around the world will buy or boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social or political issue” (the number for the U.S. was 59 percent). In 2020, a separate survey reported that “83% of Millennials find it important for the companies they buy from to align with their values.”
That means that the price and utility of products and services are actually secondary considerations for many people, taking a back seat to companies’ public posturing. Many business executives have risen to the challenge, advocating positions on gun control, immigration, and race relations, whether because they sense an opening to promote their opinions, or just a marketing opportunity.
“These leaders hope that their political activism will help shape public opinion and potentially lead to lasting change, while simultaneously cementing their reputations as moral leaders and change agents,” Christine Moorman wrote for Forbes. She noted that, as of 2018, most marketing experts considered this a bad move with the potential for alienating both customers and employees.”
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I like Nikki Haley and would certainly consider her for office, but then I am not a die hard Republican; not a Democrat and not a supporter of everything Donald Trump did or said.
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Justifying oppression by his Chinese overlords.
He’s just garbage.
https://nypost.com/2021/02/17/biden-says-uighur-genocide-is-part-of-chinas-different-norms/
“Biden dismisses Uighur genocide as part of China’s ‘different norms’”
“President Biden is dismissing the genocide against the Uighur population in China, dubbing the mass internment a “different norm” — despite the State Department this month responding to “atrocities” in the camps, following reports of systemic rape and torture.
The commander-in-chief made the remarks after being asked during his CNN town hall Tuesday evening about his recent conversation with his Chinese counterpart, starting his response by relaying Xi’s justification for the abuses.
“If you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been, the time when China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven’t been unified at home,” Biden began. “So the central — well, vastly overstated — the central principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be a united, tightly controlled China. And he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that.”
China, a nation that has faced a wave of international scrutiny over the past few years relating to its activities in dismantling democracy in Hong Kong and its refusal to accept responsibility for negligence and a lack of transparency at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, has not let global tensions stop its mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang province.
President Biden continued in his response that he is “not going to speak out against” the Chinese Communist Party’s belligerent actions in Hong Kong, against the Uighurs, or in Taiwan.
“I point out to him no American president can be sustained as a president, if he doesn’t reflect the values of the United States,” the US president continued. “And so the idea that I am not going to speak out against what he’s doing in Hong Kong, what he’s doing with the Uighurs in western mountains of China and Taiwan — trying to end the one China policy by making it forceful … [Xi] gets it.”
“Culturally there are different norms that each country and their leaders are expected to follow,” he continued.
The “norms” in China, as shown in a recent BBC News exposé, include systemic torture and rape occurring in Uighur concentration camps.
Following the release of the BBC report, China banned the outlet in its territory.”
————-
And half of the US voted for this piece of…..
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Nicki has joined with other mealy mouthed RINOs. She joined the left in blaming Trump for something he didn’t do.
No thanks.
And I’m still waiting for someone to show me a video or transcript of them doing what they accuse him of. Haley just did the same, no proof, just spout the Dem/media talking points.
No thanks.
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Major. Roll. 🙂
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/02/two-polls-show-gop-voters-want-trump-to-have-a-major-role-in-republican-party/
“Trump Doesn’t Rule Out 2024 as Polls Show GOP Voters Want Him to Have a ‘Major Role’ in Republican Party
Trump’s statement on McConnell and the GOP proves he’s not going anywhere. GOP voters just might get their wish.”
“According to two polls, President Donald Trump won’t go away if GOP voters have their way. He won’t rule out a 2024 run, either.
About 59% of GOP voters told Morning Consult and Politico they want Trump in a significant role in the Republican Party. However, 75% of GOP voters polled by Quinnipiac University said the same thing.
It’s a shame the polls took place before Trump tore apart Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP.
Trump 2024?
Trump told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly he won’t say anything about 2024 yet, but…:
“I won’t say yet, but we have tremendous support,” Trump told “Greg Kelly Reports.” “And I’m looking at poll numbers are through the roof.”
Trump joked to host Greg Kelly that even the Senate impeachment trial managed to boost his 2024 political cachet.
“I’m the only guy who gets impeached and my numbers go up,” Trump said. “Figure that one out.
“Let’s say somebody gets impeached, typically your numbers would go down. They would go down like a dead balloon.”
Trump was acquitted Saturday by the Senate for the second time in just over a year.
“The numbers are very good; they’re very high; I think they’re higher than they were before the election, and they were high at the election,” Trump marveled. “They like the job – we did a great job.”
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Burn! 🙂
———–
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And some people fall for it, over and over again.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/18/the-first-step-towards-righting-america-is-refusing-to-believe-the-left-about-anything/
“The First Step Towards Righting America Is Refusing To Believe The Left About Anything
The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families.”
“Did you know that you can see The Great Wall of China from outer space? Is that not absolutely incredible? I heard this cool little fact from a friend some time ago and began telling everyone I knew about this cool trivia nugget.
What really blew me away was how almost everyone I told had already heard this and agreed with me that it is a very cool fact. A man-made wall you can see from outer space. That is just incredible.
I mean, it would be incredible, if it were true. You see, it is not true—not even a little. NASA and multiple individual astronauts have debunked this myth. Yet much of the general public believes it to be a fact, as NASA points out.
But why? The narrative. That is why. There is nothing more powerful (and destructive) in today’s world than the narrative.
The narrative, as I define it, is simply an assumption or set of assumptions widely accepted by the general public as facts. As we know, facts cannot be changed. That is why they are facts.
This is also why it is so critical to ensure the general public gets an accurate narrative. Otherwise, if the base set of publicly believed facts is wrong, every step after that will also be incorrect. It’s like getting swallowed up by an avalanche and digging ferociously in the wrong direction.
The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families. It’s killing our schools. It’s killing our nation.
Take coronavirus, for example. Remember the beginning? Remember the mass panic pushed from every single American institution? “EVERYONE GO HOME AND HIDE OR MILLIONS WILL DIE!”
News story after news story after social media post after politician’s speech hammered away at the American public. In very short order, even 90 percent of the people on the right were parroting the narrative that you should shut down your business and bunker down at home or everyone will die. After all, shutting down an economy is the only way to stop coronavirus, right?
That’s what the narrative was in the beginning, and to this day the vast majority of Americans believe it. Of course, that all turned out to be wrong. In very short order, the left realized these lockdowns could be a very useful tool in destroying the President Trump economy that was leading to his re-election. Where were your favorite politicians and pundits on the right in the beginning when this false narrative was being set?
Remember George Floyd? I am quite sure you do. How could you possibly forget the modern-day saint honored with more funeral services than any other human being in the history of mankind.
Immediately after the man’s death, everyone with a microphone or a social media account was sprinting to prove how not racist they were. Outcries about cops hunting down black men for the color of their skin were heard from sea to shining sea.
Every major corporation had a statement out dumping on cops and pretending America is some rancid, racist dump. Even my sons couldn’t log into their video games without a special Black Lives Matter landing page. The professional athletes kneeled for the anthem, and Aunt Jemima changed its name and logo.
Of course, none of this narrative, either about how Floyd’s death happened or the riots that followed, was based on facts. Not a single word. Yet where was the right? What did we get out of the single entity with a chance to speak the truth in the face of lies? We got a federal police reform bill and GOP senators talking about the need to change military base names.
Who can forget the violent insurrection at the Capitol building on the 6th? Have you not heard the government was almost taken over and five people were MURDERED?
I heard it on every news channel. I read it in a thousand articles. I saw endless social media posts about it. In fact, it was so violent and insidious, they impeached a guy who’s no longer in office for it. That must be really bad, right?
Five people murdered is no joke. Of course, and please stop me if you’ve heard this before, that is all a complete lie. Would you like to hear about the five “murders” you believe happened on the 6th? One man died of a heart attack, one woman collapsed for yet unknown reasons, one woman was shot and killed by a police officer, one man had a stroke, and one police officer died. As of the time of this writing, the medical examiner has been unable to prove the police officer died from any external force.
There. Those are the five “murders” you believe happened. They are just as real as viewing the Great Wall of China from outer space. Yet to this day the vast majority of politicians and pundits on the right will repeat the “violent insurrection with five murders” lie told by the left.”
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In this case, the crime is worse than the cover-up.
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/cuomo-hid-covid-19-data-but-it-was-worse-than-just-a-coverup/
“Stonewalling the Justice Department is bad enough, but Cuomo did something even worse: His administration provided inaccurate data to public health officials in real time, at the beginning of the crisis, when government scientists were desperately trying to figure out how the virus was spreading, who was most vulnerable and how to stop it. Instead of meeting its obligation to provide accurate information, the Cuomo administration provided incomplete data about nursing home deaths apparently because he feared real data would hurt him politically. That is like providing false intelligence to battlefield commanders about the location of the enemy in a time of war.
On March 25, Cuomo’s health department ordered nursing homes to accept known or suspected covid-19 hospital patients, prohibiting facilities from requiring tests to see whether they were infectious. After a firestorm erupted, on May 3, his administration suddenly changed the way it reported nursing home covid deaths — releasing only the number of deaths that took place inside nursing homes, and not counting those who died after being taken to hospitals. According to a senior Justice Department official, the administration withheld data on private nursing home deaths in New York until the final days of the Trump administration. As a result, the federal government was given bad data about the spread of the pandemic in New York. An Associated Press investigation found that New York under-reported the number of hospital patients recovering from covid-19 who were sent to nursing homes by 40 percent. The real number was more than 9,000 — my mother among them. And the Cuomo administration reported only 8,500 nursing home deaths, when the real number was about 15,000 — an undercount of at least 43 percent.
This was more than just a coverup. It impeded our public health response. We now know that New York was the primary source of new infections across the United States. Genetic testing shows that the outbreak in New York was seeded by travelers from Europe, and that it was the New York variant — not the West Coast variant that arrived directly from China — that seeded the rest of the country. The New York Times reported last year that the New York variant was responsible for 70 percent of covid-19 cases in Texas, 78 percent of cases in Wisconsin, 80 percent in Alaska, 84 percent in Arizona and 100 percent in Louisiana. As Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, told the Times, “New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country.”
So, understanding how the virus was spreading in New York was critical to stopping it nationwide. But Cuomo’s administration shared inaccurate data with health officials. And then when Justice Department investigators and state lawmakers began asking questions, New York delayed its answers. His administration “froze” (in the words of Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa) and withheld the real data. It was only a court order and the release of a report by the New York state attorney general that forced the governor to admit the true extent of the damage his policy did.
Meanwhile, he presented himself to the world as the hero of the covid story — even publishing a book sharing “Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The media played along, holding him up in contrast to President Donald Trump as an example of effective executive leadership in the face of a public health crisis. In November, he received an Emmy award in recognition of “his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.” No, he used TV to lie to New Yorkers and the world — and his lies cost lives.”
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Soros is getting his money’s worth from this stooge. Those seeking justice, not so much.
https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2021/02/18/orange-county-da-seeks-take-child-murder-case-back-la-county-da-gascon/
“Orange County DA Seeks To Take Child Murder Case Back From LA County And Progressive DA Gascon”
“LA County DA George Gascon continues to anger the families of crime victims and his own deputy DA’s with his insistence on dropping all sentencing enhancements against violent criminals. Now one such case is turning into a fight between LA County and neighboring Orange County.
The case involves a convicted sex offender named Kenneth Rasmuson, who has previously served time for two sex crimes involving children. In 2015, DNA tied him to the kidnapping and murder of two 6-year-old boys in California in the early 1980s. Those crimes were set to be tried in LA County but newly-elected DA Gascon is seeking to drop all the enhancements in the case which would result in a lighter sentence for Rasmuson if he’s convicted. So this week Orange County DA Todd Spitzer filed charges in the case, hoping to take it back from LA County:”
In a statement, Spitzer called the allegations against Rasmuson “the stuff of parents’ nightmares” and vowed to do everything in his power to stop Rasmuson from ever coming in contact with another child.
“Jeffrey’s family will have justice,” Spitzer wrote. “I refuse to allow the LADA’s ‘one-size fits all approach’ to prevent the family of a 6-year-old murdered child from achieving the justice that they deserve.””
———
“Under DA Gascon’s new rules, Rasmuson, who has been jailed since 2015 awaiting trial, could potentially be out in as little as 15 years. By contrast with various enhancements, Rasmuson would face the death penalty if convicted in Orange County. That’s why Vargo’s parents support DA Spitzer’s efforts to take the case out of DA Gascon’s hands:
On July 2, 1981, Jeffrey was riding his bike near his Anaheim Hills home when Rasmuson allegedly abducted him. The boy’s body was found the next day about 25 miles away at a construction site in Pomona’s Phillips Ranch neighborhood, but it wasn’t until 2015 that DNA would lead to Rasmuson’s arrest.
Jeffrey’s parents, Bob and Connie Vargo, said in a statement they are pleased Spitzer is interested in taking the case over. “We agreed moving to Orange County would speed up the process, and Rasmuson would receive the punishment he deserves,” they said. “Life without parole or death.”
An unnamed LA County Deputy DA criticized Gascon’s approach to the child murder case, calling it “embarrassing.”
A senior Los Angeles County prosecutor, who asked not to be identified, said special circumstance murder enhancements should be reserved for the cruelest offenders.
“It ensures that a particular class of murderer will never see the outside of a prison,” the prosecutor said. “Mr. Gascon’s failure to recognize this distinction in sentencing law is embarrassing and disheartening. His statement that defendants who are sentenced under traditional first-degree murder law will spend the rest of their lives in prison is clever, but it is false and misleading. The only way to ensure certain brutal killers spend the rest of their lives in prison is to charge them, when appropriate, with special circumstance murder.”
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I like Haley, too, and am looking forward to a new era among conservatives.
Time to let it go. It’s over.
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I liked Haley…but after her diatribe against President Trump I now view her as pandering to the left, which was rather shocking to me considering her past support of him. She has lost all trust with me 😞
And I read this with interest this morning…seems those Biden supporters are experiencing the “consequences” of their short sighted support eh?
Mayor Lozano said the city does not have the resources available to house and care for illegal migrants flooding across the Texas-Mexico border.
“I will have no choice but to use extreme measures with an emergency declaration as the mayor of the City of Del Rio, Texas to refuse the entrances of migrants awaiting court dates into the city of Del Rio,” Lozano said.
In 2019, thousands of illegal migrants flooded across the Texas-Mexico border, many with children, declaring asylum. The procedure for the federal administrative courts at the time was to arraign each asylum seeker and then release each with a court date many months or even a year into the future. Each asylum seeker was released into the U.S. on personal recognizance bonds. Many were never seen again. The chief of the Del Rio Sector of the Customs and Border Patrol at that time warned that his border patrol agents had lost operational control of the border.
President Trump solved the problem with an agreement with Mexico to hold the asylum-seekers in Mexico camps instead of freeing each into the U.S. The “Remain in Mexico” policy worked and illegal immigration flowed to a trickle. One of the first actions of President Biden was to end Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy with an executive order.
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Absolute, never-ending, forever-loyalty, no matter what, to just one political personality — a politician, after all, don’t forget — holds its own cautionary tale, for parties and nations alike. An old story that so often goes bad, but gets put on ‘repeat’ every now and again.
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This all, too, shall pass. It’s not all about the urgency of the moment in politics. As one columnist put it in looking to the future of the Republican party which is about ideas and policy, not about personalities:
~ The party that moved from Theodore Roosevelt, to Calvin Coolidge to Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump is going to eventually move on once again. ~
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DJ,
You continue to not understand Trump supporters. It’s not about him. It’s about his policies and what they did for this country, financially, economically, the Supreme Court and federal courts are now loaded with good strong conservatives, pro-life and not just the standard lip service type Rs, wages up, unemployment down, historic market gains, and sorry, but he gets credit for the vaccines too. This is what we support, and so does Trump. He’s done something politicians rarely do, he did everything in his power to keep his promises. Folks like him and allied with him will continue to be what Trump supporters seek.
He is everything R’s have said they ever wanted, but you don’t like his personality. Isn’t it time ya’ll got over that? He’s not going anywhere, and neither are his 74 million supporters.
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I think Haley, Sasse, and Romney have ruined their chances of running the Republican party or being at or near the top of the ticket.
I agree with Ben Carson that it’s not the worst thing in the world for the Dems to be in power right now. People are going to see what their choices really are in 2022 and 2024. Carson is supporting the President (Pres. Trump, that is) in a possible bid for 2024.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/ben-carson-of-course-trump-can-come-back-in-2024
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What AJ said @1:15. I’ve said it so many times I almost don’t care what people think about it anymore. Wateva. ;–)
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AJ misses my point
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So the question really is — can the policies and the positive things Trump accomplished ever be “separated” from the man himself and be the center of our unity? Aren’t many of these things Republicans have supported and will continue to support?
What about issues and policies? Can they not be the meat of what we go forward with?
Or has the Trump experience so overpowered our focus and dialogue that all revolves around a mere person (with a feet of clay, as we all are)?
Is “he” our new “loyalty” test?
May that never be said of any politician.
I don’t think this kind of spirit — a partisan, completely man-centered spirit — is what the founders at all had in mind.
What am I missing? Honest question.
Trump was mistreated horribly in the media. His followers, by extension, got much of the heat as well, wrongly so.
But is this not a time to look forward and not cling to the past, as recent as it is?
The nation faces some critical questions going forward. Many of us here are likely in agreement on most of them, perhaps not all (but that’s always been the case within political parties which are coalitions, after all).
I’m just suggesting that obsessions with past grievances should, at some point soon, give way to a more forward-looking position that doesn’t rule out “everyone but Trump.”
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lol. Since we all seem to somehow miss the point when it comes to Trump, how about an issue that we may have some hope of grasping or not grasping equally: the vaccine.
I read yesterday (don’t remember where) that it’s the 2nd dose that can pack a wallop in terms of flu-like side effects. Supposedly that’s because the immune system is being more activated by the second exposure. However, I just read today that Canadian researchers have concluded that the second dose of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may be practically unnecessary, since it only boosts immunity by a couple percentage points.
Has anyone here gotten the second dose yet? Or the first?
https://nypost.com/2021/02/18/single-pfizer-moderna-vaccine-dose-nearly-as-effective-as-two/
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Haley’s attack towards President Trump was suggesting he is the cause for all unrest. Her accusations in my humble opinion were baseless. I don’t give a rip about party or politician….I care about what is happening to our nation. President Trump stood for American people plain and simple. I do not see one person “in charge” now who will stand up for our freedoms, our Constitution, our citizens. My only consolation at this point is that what bites us due to the wickedness of this current administration will be biting those “supporters” of the wicked as well….all because they hated a man’s demeanor and personality. Idiocy……
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Neighbor got it yesterday, said all is well. What I read was that it’s mostly younger people (and those who have had covid for real) who get the stronger reactions as it comes from stronger (or more awake) immune systems. Older immune systems are sleepy and thus don’t respond.
This has all been a work in progress, to be sure.
I’m heading in for my 2nd dose on Sunday, and gladly, I’ll add. lol
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But yes, winning elections is what this will come down to. And parties are the vehicle, not one guy.
Republican ideals and policies remain popular — the Democrats are becoming the party of the ‘elites’ as they’re called. The GOP has a great opportunity (and yes, in good part thanks to some of the newer demographics that came into the party with Trump) going forward. Keeping those new folks and the ideas that brought them over is extremely important. But the party can’t tie itself to a single personality. Not only is that really just short-sighted. It can be foolish and dangerous in all kinds of ways.
Let’s face it, Trump also caused much division among conservatives, many of them people of good conscience and strong principles. And that’s just a fact, too. I think many who perhaps weren’t the “die-hards” but voted for and supported him in 2020 have had a change of tune in what happened after this election.
We can, I suppose, try to move forward with two conservative parties (one “Trump’s” and the other with all the rest) — because it will cause a split if it’s not resolved fairly soon.
Or move our focus to the issues and policies we all pretty much have in common.
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The Grand Old Party lost its shine long ago and has become nothing but a group of out-of-touch professional politicians who have forgotten that their primary function is to REPRESENT THE PEOPLE! They dictate over others with their elitism and only work to line their own pockets!
They are now working overtime to cancel Pres. Trump, but they won’t be successful, and he won’t become the marginal figure that even a few here hope for. After all, how does a president get ‘impeached’, yet become more popular than ever?
https://www.theepochtimes.com/attempts-to-erase-trump-will-cost-gop-elections-2022-and-2024-rep-jim-banks_3702385.html?utm_source=morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-02-19
“Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said that attempts to purge the party of former President Donald Trump will cost the GOP all elections.
“A Republican Party that seeks to erase President Trump and fails to understand his appeal to working-class voters is destined to lose elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond,” tweeted Banks, the chair of the House Republican Study Committee.
“As a conservative leader in the GOP I’m determined to make sure that won’t happen.”
Meanwhile, several polls conducted after Trump left office revealed that the former president is the most popular figure among Republicans. One recent poll found that about 70 percent of Republicans would consider joining a Trump-backed political party.”
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Ah but it isn’t about one man. It is about who will stand for this nation and our founding principles….the Biden admin stands for none..he is pandering to other nations..uh hem…China…and in that we the United States have become weak. It is deja vu all over again…just like the Obama admin….apologizing for the big bad United States…oh please…can we just give you some more money and make it all better?
We have some stellar representatives who stand on the very same foundations, principles and integrity as Reagan, Trump, and yes…even Kennedy! Nunes, Gaetz, De Santis, Trowdy, Cruz, Carson…it’s not just Trump. Why is it some jump to the conclusion that if we stand upon what our nation has been founded upon and are willing to push back against the socialist left we are groupies for Trump? I just don’t get it…..
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The trouble with Republicans winning elections in the future is that most Trump supporters don’t trust the old guard GOP politicians like Sasse or Romney. Which I think is a good thing because at heart, they’re globalists. I don’t know about Haley; she just seems to be weak, which is also disqualifying given the virulent opposition the pro-worker, non-globalist agenda faced in many quarters during the Trump presidency.
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But again, winning elections requires “something” of a coalition.
The conservative movement can (and probably will, unless something changes) split into equal halves. But not sure that accomplishes very much.
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It’s a period of opportunity and challenge for the Republican party, to be sure. Also for the Democrats, quite frankly, after they get over what could be quite the hangover from the far left lurch they’re seeing right now.
But yes, the GOP is not so grand anymore, it’s actually in a pretty bad way, lots of disunity.
Either that will resolve itself or not. It could mean some smaller factions splitting off. Interesting times ahead, perhaps.
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Is Cruz back from Mexico yet? Lol
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There won’t be any more elections to win, until what happened with the 2020 election is finally dealt with…
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Well, then there you go. lol
I guess we adjust to the Democrats taking it all from here on out?
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“a partisan, completely man-centered spirit — is what the founders at all had in mind.”
Perhaps you need to read more history. He is exactly the kind of man many of the founders were. Slave holders, who also raped their slaves, brash businessmen, the money men, the land holders/barons, and yes, the very first insurrectionists…
Not much has changed at all.
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DJ,
“The conservative movement can (and probably will, unless something changes) split into equal halves. But not sure that accomplishes very much.”
That’s whistling past the graveyard on your part. I’ve posted numerous polls the last few days that show that split is 75% us, 25% the rest. You are the minority.
————-
“I guess we adjust to the Democrats taking it all from here on out?”
If that’s what it takes for a time to bring the traitor/liberal/RINO factions to heal, then so be it. We are prepared for this, and again, come primaries, where candidates are selected, we hold the numbers to win, even without your votes. Your side does not. Then you vote for our person, or you get what you got, the Bidens. Shape up, or enjoy the suck.
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I am prepared to adjust to the Democrats taking it all if the alternative is to vote for Republicans who barely give lip service to the things I think are important. I can as easily adjust to the Democrats as to them. Globalism is a sure road to tyranny, and it doesn’t matter to me what political party drives the country if that is our destination. I want no part of it.
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Hello? “Disloyalty” to a politician? Has a price?
That’s what I’m talking about.
Take Trump’s name off the flags for starters. That’ll help to move beyond where we seemingly are stuck.
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Issues, please. Time to move on. Trump is an ex-president.
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And we can start by dropping the “traitor” name-calling, too. It serves absolutely no purpose but to inflame.
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And yes, I suspect many of our founders would not get the never-Trumper vote or the squeamish-Trumper vote based on today’s cultural norms.
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As for our founders, yes, they were flawed human beings (shocking). But the ideals they set forth still stand we should look to that, not the personalities that were so imperfect.
Newspapers back then also were wildly partisan and irresponsible. Ideal way of doing journalism? Hardly.
Never will be.
Just saying, there needs to be some kind of coming together around principles, causes and issues. Otherwise, we’ll just remain throwing darts and food at one another over the family table while our true political enemies enjoy the show.
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Concerning the ‘vaccine’… please listen and read with an open mind.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Dccv1kgGBBLl/
https://vaxxter.com/faith-trust-or-science-the-covid-vaccine-part-1/
https://vaxxter.com/faith-trust-or-science-the-covid-vaccines-part-2/
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I’m just tired of this constant putting down of each other, including folks who are (political) allies if not always in lockstep with one another, that’s all.
Our pastor made the point last week that while (as Christians dealing both with Covid and political controversies) our ships may not all be in perfect alignment, we should at lease close our gun ports.
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Concerning the ‘vaccine’ – please listen with an open mind…
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Dccv1kgGBBLl/
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https://vaxxter.com/faith-trust-or-science-the-covid-vaccine-part-1/
https://vaxxter.com/faith-trust-or-science-the-covid-vaccines-part-2/
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Vaccine, no, have not checked into getting it. As to family, as far as I know, one daughter tried it and had an allergic reaction so was told not to get the second. And son got both with a strong reaction to the second. May have had covid already last January.
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I’ll not be taking the vaccine….
Senator Cruz has returned…mistake to leave during this time of crisis in his state…I guess he is one of those “flawed human beings”….
I call a traitor a traitor when I see one and I am seeing many… a person who betrays a friend, country, principle, etc….
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I have heard that people of advanced age shouldn’t get it in some (or most?) cases. I have a church friend in Denver now, probably about 90 yrs old?, and her doctor advised her to pass.
haha, glad Cruz got back. Quick turn-around. Yes, that was a misstep, and in these (Internet) days optics rule. Well, he’s back, so that’s good.
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Dad is 95 and although he’s eligible now, he’s not getting the vaccine either. Husband works from home so he really shouldn’t have to get it, although he’s planning to. I feel like I am the weak link in the household since I work 5-6 days wkly in a manufacturing setting. We sanitize constantly, and our covid cases have reduced dramatically, but there is still usually at least one new case every week. :–/
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What a non-story! Sen. Cruz was gone for less than 24 hours, basically to fly his girls down there. What was he supposed to do during that time – pass a law to outlaw freezing temps?
Gotta get those staunch Conservatives – whatever it takes!
https://www.theepochtimes.com/wanted-to-be-a-good-dad-ted-cruz-responds-to-criticism-he-traveled-to-cancun-amid-texas-power-crisis_3702243.html?utm_source=news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-02-18-2
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Can’t help it, but I’m reminded of that story about the guy who climbed onto the roof as the flood waters rose, waiting for God’s rescue.
Turned down the helicopter rescue, the boat rescue.
Well, you know the punchline.
It’s been a tough year on everyone, including so many of our small businesses that are going under. I believe it when they say mental health has suffered. Churches are struggling and, sadly, experiencing some disunity over it all.
So I consider vaccines a godsend, especially in this case. In my view, they’re among God’s blessings that we have now in an age and nation that offers the benefit of modern medicine.
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But they’re not for everyone, I agree.
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Agreed on Cruz: nonstory. The man was supporting his daughters on a preplanned vacation. The State was not at greater risk. He was in contact with his team.
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Optics. They count in today’s political world, like it or not.
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This is true. However….eventually, common sense needs to kick in for the populace. Did I just say that? Well, we could wish it could.
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And WSJ does have Cruz himself as saying it was an “impromptu” trip
_________________________
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) flew back to Houston from Mexico on Thursday and called his trip a mistake, after drawing widespread criticism for taking his family on vacation in Cancún as his state struggled with freezing temperatures and widespread power outages.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Mr. Cruz said he accompanied his daughters to Mexico for an impromptu trip and was flying back immediately. …
___________________________
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Yes, you can almost predict what’s going to get overblown nowadays, justified or not (usually it’s not).
Politicians maybe just need to be a little forward thinking, as with the internal question of “how will this look?” should it “get out” (and it will).
That quick trip to sunny Cancun? That would probably not wear well with many freezing Texans without power, not to mention without the means to take that kind of “impromptu” trip to a beach resort in Mexico.
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But your political enemies? Ah, they’ll eat it up.
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So whatever happened to Mike Pence? He’s very quiet.
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Any private trip by any of them is forbidden. Bizarre. And yet Nancy and her drinking entourage….
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Interesting headline from a journalism industry site:
~ Examining the likelihood that Trump or Pence could replace Rush Limbaugh
The first name to jump out to replace Limbaugh is beloved by the right and is currently out of work: Donald Trump. Could it happen? ~
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Waters, as in Maxine…the chairwoman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee inquiries as to “why aren’t customers “entitled” to get a refund when they lose money on their stocks??!! There ya go…entitled to their money even when they invest it poorly…wonder if she lost any money in her investments lately? Why is this looney person in charge of anything?!!
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Their conclusion:
~ To be fair, no one can truly replace Rush Limbaugh, can they? He was beloved by his listeners. Not just anyone can be thrown into that spot and have the same following, loyalty and — what matters most — ratings as Limbaugh.
The first name to jump out is a strong conservative who is beloved by the right and is currently out of work:
Donald Trump.
While Trump’s name might be fun for the rumor mill, it seems highly unlikely that Trump would want that gig. … Would Trump be willing to put in the time to be good at radio? …
A couple of months ago, a natural choice to replace Limbaugh would have been former Vice President Mike Pence, who has experience as a radio and TV host.
But Pence’s reputation among Trump loyalists is mud, and that eliminates chances he could host Limbaugh’s show, assuming he would even be interested. ~
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Am I then, not a Trump loyalist because I still like Pence?
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Maxine is one of “our” reps, she’s fairly notorious for never returning election-year story phone calls requesting interviews. I often am assigned her district in election years. But she did (almost/maybe half) hug me once when I was covering one of her speeches a year or two ago. As soon as I said I was a reporter when I approached her afterward, she pulled back noticeably. lol
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The problem is when one of these incumbents becomes so entirely entrenched, they feel no need, really, to be interviewed about a “simple” (and foregone conclusion, in their minds) election. They can only hurt themselves at that point, so I get it. But it’s always frustrating for us — the most extreme case I can recall was from years ago, when I put something like 20+ calls into a sitting state legislator for an election-year campaign interview.
It happens in both parties.
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Sorry DJ,
They’re gonna own their actions and their traitorous ways. We will see to it. You may want to forget it, but like the party mascot, we won’t forget.
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