What do you do after you've won ...

 I’ve been pondering this for a while.  

Because it appears to be a very real problem for would-be social justice warriors and assorted activists who can’t seem to grasp that they’ve already won what they were fighting for. 

And almost nobody is trying to take back what they’ve won. I think a lot of us have been wondering for quite some time why they continue fighting ever more vehemently for things they already have. It’s as if they can’t accept a victory on the bigger issues. 

Maybe that’s why they increasingly focus on what to most Americans are relatively meaningless and inconsequential things.  Like issues that affect a minute portion of the population.  Or things most of us really don’t care all that much about. 

Mainly because we realize those things – the bigger things – have already been resolved.  And accepted by most folks. 

I suppose if your entire life is built on being angry about something, anything, it must be difficult to give that up.  If you lose your “cause,” and your righteous indignation, because you’ve won, what do you have left? What gets you up in the morning and makes you feel alive if there’s no longer a purpose for your anger? And there’s really nothing important to be angry about anymore?  

Maybe your anger over your cause was the defining aspect of your life.  You felt like part of something. Part of a larger group. You belonged to a club of other angry people that embraced you. And it felt so virtuous because you deep-down felt you were important. 

As long as whatever you did was for the cause, it was righteous.  Now, that’s gone.  But you really miss the excitement of lashing out against whatever.  You’ve lost a part of your identity. 

This has been a very difficult transition for a lot of people.  

The answer for many has been to invent new and increasingly weird causes to fight for to get that old feeling back.  That fire of anger within. That outrage. That reason to attack anew. 

Consider the plight of some gay rights extremists as an example.  

The gay community fought relentlessly for years against job and housing discrimination, for the right to marry, and for acceptance. They won.  Their basic rights were codified and enforced. That part’s over.  Instead of celebrating their win, a small yet highly vocal group of gays became increasingly provocative over issues most other gays frankly didn’t want to be identified with.  

Issues that in some cases were absolutely repellent to most Americans, including significant segments of the gay community, especially when imposed on children. Like having drag queens perform simulated sex and various suggestive routines in front of children.  Like having naked men, or others flaunting giant prop vaginas, as part of a public “pride” parade attended by families. The gay community has won a lot of well-earned rights. But being an obnoxious asshole for no apparent reason except to shock isn't one of them.

Or encouraging teachers in public schools to present materials to those as young as six to learn about blowjobs, anal sex, masturbation, and the use of sex toys.

I suspect most gays don’t approve of meddling with children, much less experimenting on them or trying to convince kids before they even hit puberty that they are gay or transgendered.  Sure, they’d like to protect gay adolescents from ostracism and bullying, as would any responsible adult.  But they are being overshadowed by a relatively small number of extremists.  

There’s an enormous risk for the overall gay community from the actions of these extremists. They risk losing the acceptance from the public they fought so hard to attain over the decades; the acceptance they have already achieved. 

To be completely frank, today most Americans don’t give a damn whether someone is gay or not.  Nobody cares if gay couples share a room, or show affection in public, or get married.

That’s something I had to impress on a gay couple we went with on their first cruise ever. They were pleasantly surprised to see so many other gay couples together on the ship.  They shouldn’t have been. But they were prepared for the worst from crew and other passengers, because they're historically conditioned to expect discrimination just because they are gay. 

Of course, none of that happened because, again, nobody cares.  

But they were also disappointed that the nightly LGBTQ event the ship held at one of the bars rarely attracted any other gay singles or couples.  Most nights they were the only ones.  

Not that there weren’t any gay and lesbian people, couples, and groups traveling together on board.  There were.  They hung out at the bars like everybody else. They were highly social with everybody at the bars and restaurants. None of them started conversations by telling anyone they were gay, lesbian or whatever, nor did anyone who wasn’t start out by saying they were straight.  

There’s no need for that anymore. Gay people are fully in the mainstream. 

They are largely assimilated.

And maybe that’s what bothers the activists so much.  They’re afraid of losing the feeling of being “special.” Of belonging to a private and exclusive club.  They are no longer entitled to special attention and special treatment.  They’re just like everybody else. 

When you’re like everybody else, broader cultural rules apply.  Most people don’t make a big deal about how they have sex and with who.  Nobody is that interested whether you’re gay, straight, bi, or vegan, (although vegans can be particularly annoying).  

That’s one downside of assimilation. It diminishes the power of dividing people into artificial subgroups simply for political purposes.  So it can break down barriers to getting along, not by ignoring differences, but by embracing the commonalities shared by the larger group.  

That scares a lot of people who have so much invested in belonging to a group or idea they assumed was vital to who they are and how others see them.  

And some will do anything to avoid that.  Even if it doesn’t really matter anymore. 

Republicans: Embrace Make America Great Again ...

 There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make America great again. 

 After the disaster caused by Biden and his cohort of clowns in his administration, it’s something we should all be in favor of.  Yet somehow Democrats have tried to make the desire to make America great again (or “MAGA”) a horrible, loathsome thing.

How strange.  

They usually add “extremists” whenever they use MAGA as an adjective.  

So anybody who supports making America great again must be an extremist.  Are they all part of an insidious plot to trample on the Constitution to seize power? Are they trying to keep political rivals tied up in court? Are these extremists removing opposition candidates from ballots? Or using the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and IRS to harass and intimidate ordinary citizens? Have they co-opted the media to promote false narratives, censor dissent, and hide the truth? 

If so, then they really are dangerous extremists. A danger to our democracy.  

Oh wait. That’s what Biden and the Democrats are doing. Never mind. 

MAGA for Democrats and the media has become their shorthand to imply that anyone who endorses it is essentially evil.  Really evil.  As in bringing back slavery and lynchings, repealing voting rights, persecuting gays, and forcing women to die from back-room abortions. That kind of pure evil.  Not only that, but also white supremacists, bigots, racists, homophobes, xenophobes, and religious fanatics who would replace our Democratic government with an Old Testament Christian theocracy. 

Run, of course, by white men. Think Taliban without the beards.  

And destroy democracy as we know it.  Or as Democrats think it should be which, frankly, has far more in common with classic fascism than they realize.  

The reason they hate the actual words abbreviated by MAGA so much is blindingly obvious. 

Making America great again speaks to what our country once was; a country many of us still remember fondly.  It also speaks to restoring the promise that made it great and attracted legal immigrants from around the world – that America is in fact a land of opportunity where anyone willing to work hard can succeed.  A great melting pot of races and cultures, with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and most of all, the freedom from government tyranny. 

It's the antithesis of the America many of us feel we have now.  

It’s no longer fashionable to have pride in our country.  Or to think of our country as a discrete nation. The people running things – in education, government, and even the military – are completely out of touch with the citizens they’re supposed to be working for.  They act like an aristocracy above the rest of us, immune from any accountability for their actions. 

If we’re all brutally honest in recent years there’s been a concerted effort to diminish everything good we’ve ever done here and abroad. No other country in the world has done so much to raise people out of poverty, free them from tyranny, improve their lives, and eliminate diseases that shortened their lives. Not just here, but around the world. 

We have long been one of the most generous and benevolent people.  

That’s who we are as a nation.  You’d never know it from what is taught today in our public schools and our once-elite institutions of higher education.  

What always set us apart from many other countries was that while we may come from different backgrounds, cultures, races, and religions, we somehow shared a broader identity as Americans.  Irish Americans, Polish Americans, Italian Americans, African Americans, whatever, but ultimately Americans.  In times of crisis or war, we stood together. As Americans. 

At least we once did.  

Yet no longer do we seem able or encouraged to bury our differences and come together for the common good.  Instead, we are constantly driven apart by race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and an unending list of evermore infinitesimal traits. 

We’ve never been more divided as a nation since the Civil War in the 1860s.  

By whom is the question, and Democrats are afraid that by now the American people have an excellent grasp of who is responsible. And appear ready to retake the country.  

The motto of our country is out of many, one. We seem to have forgotten that.  Democrats dismiss this because the power to divide is their favorite tool to maintain control.  

Make America Great Again is a call to reassume our traditional role as the greatest nation in the world, politically, economically, and morally.  To our history as a nation of laws, not men.  To stop our infatuation with petty differences and to once more unite as Americans.  

Sadly, Republicans allowed MAGA to become a dirty word. What they need to do is simply to refuse to allow the Democrats and the media to use it as a weapon. So always spell out what MAGA actually stands for: Make America Great Again.  

And fully embrace it.  Wrap your collective arms around Make America Great Again.  Always use the full wording: never the lazy acronym.  Force the media and Democrats to say out loud that they are opposed to Make America Great Again, which they are. Make them admit they don’t think America is that great and can never be again. 

Then use that against them. Broadcast that simple message everywhere. 

The American public is starting to realize how much they are hated and derided by those in power. And they are. Biden and the Democrats – and especially the media – don't care how ordinary Americans live and work, what challenges they face, and how angry they are.  

The reality is that most Americans – particularly those accurately described as the forgotten, by Trump – are embarrassed at the state of our nation, our schools, and our intentional degradation of our status on the international stage. They’d like to see us return to being a reliable ally and a force for good here and abroad, that, in fact, always tried to practice what we preached. 

Most Americans want to feel proud of America again. Proud to be citizens.  

They want to Make America Great Again.  Nothing wrong with that.      

Forget about white supremacists, black privilege is here ...

 After all the years being lectured about the threat from white supremacy and pervasive ills of systemic racism it’s time we all took a breath and understand the reality.

That was all bullshit. 

There’s absolutely no evidence that white supremacists pose any kind of significant threat to minorities, much less American society as a whole today.  First, there aren’t that many of them – maybe a handful here and there in our nation of about 340 million. Nobody takes these crackpots seriously except for those constantly warning of never proven “threats” to minorities and our “democracy” from “white supremacists.” In fact, nobody can even provide tangible proof of how many exist or why we should care.  Not the DOJ, the FBI, or any other government entity. 

The reason is simple: there aren’t enough to count. The magnitude of the threat is completely made up. That’s not to say there aren’t isolated wackos out there who may be dangerous – there always will be – but there aren’t enough to justify mobilizing vast Federal resources, and worse, trampling on our basic rights under the Constitution, ostensibly to “protect” us and our democracy.  

The Feds, politicians on the left, and media types don’t want the public to realize how little we are threatened by such small numbers of loons.  So to keep up the facade everybody in government and the media keeps inferring “white supremacist” movements from unconnected things like NRA membership, support for Trump, opposition to government overreach, parental rights advocacy, pro-life sentiments, living in rural areas, and voting Republican.  

None of these things have anything to do with white supremacy.  Going to church, being politically conservative, and owning a gun shouldn’t make anyone suspect.  

Besides it’s not white supremacists we all see attacking minorities like Asians, Jews, gays, and Hispanic shopkeepers. The attackers are overwhelmingly not white.  And most often the reports of alleged attacks on minorities – especially on blacks – by white supremacists turn out to be hoaxes. Like Jussie Smollett. Like Bubba Wallace. Like so many others.  

Yet, it remains the popular boogey man.  These imaginary white supremacists are supposedly everywhere, according to Democrats and the media.  But nobody knows where they are or how many there are; all we need to know is that – like the demons and witches from the Middle Ages – they are around us all the time and need to be rounded up and exorcised. 

Of course that’s the problem.  You’d have to find them, first.  To do that, you’d have to identify them and in such large numbers we’d all have to accept they’re really a threat. 

That’s never going to happen. Just as the witch hunters never wanted to eliminate all witches. How would a self-respecting witch hunter make a decent living without witches? How would they keep their power to terrify others if they ran out of witches? That’s why they always found more witches (mainly by falsely accusing people they didn’t like).  

Think about that. What would all the DOJ, ATF, and FBI task forces do? What could professional race baiters like Sharpton, AOC, Joy Reid, Whoopi, Marc Lamont Hill, Joy Behar, and all the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC do?  Without the specter of whites targeting and oppressing minorities they really don’t have a lot of other fodder for their shows.  

Still, as fake as the mythical robe-clad white supremacists are, there actually is a threat today from other race-fueled supremacists.  Only this time, they’re black. 

Yes, I am saying out loud what we all know to be happening. 

Ever since a drug-addled, career criminal fat black guy with a bad heart died because a single stupid cop triggered his death, black privilege has taken off. 

Blacks were allowed to burn down cities, attack police, loot, and murder others, because ... well, they had the “right” to do that.  All because of an isolated arrest with tragic results.  

That led would-be black supremacist grifters such as BLM to realize they had now ascended to power they never imagined.  The power to extort payments from corporations for protection. The power to demand and get special treatment by police and the courts. The power to elect representatives to legislatures and even Congress beholden to them, and afraid to cross them. 

Blacks almost overnight became a super class in this country, with special privileges over other citizens.  They had achieved what they always accused whites of having. They had achieved black privilege.  They weren’t held to the same rules. They were excused from responsibility for criminal acts. Their felonies, even for violent crimes, were routinely downgraded to misdemeanors. 

Consequently, with no fear of incarceration or serious punishment, mobs of mostly younger blacks felt entitled to do whatever they wanted, to take whatever they wanted, and to destroy whatever they wanted.  Their mobs rampaged through major cities such as Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and others. 

They’re still doing it. And they’re still not being held accountable. 

So the often violent attacks on Asians, Jews, gays, and other minorities by blacks continue. Storming and looting convenience stores, drugstores, other retailers by mobs of black juveniles remains an everyday thing.  As are their beatdowns of people just waiting for a subway or a bus.  

Blacks are also shooting and killing each other every day in our major cities. It’s not unusual for a city like Chicago to record almost 25 shootings – typically black on black – in an ordinary weekend.  Holidays are even worse.   Black teens are settling scores with other black teens by spraying gunfire indiscriminately at block parties, concerts, festivals, and even birthday parties and funerals. Innocent black kids as young as toddlers are often collateral damage.  

Yet nobody wants to call out what can only be described as systemic violence by blacks. 

Maybe it’s because nobody cares when it’s black on black. Or when a black violently attacks another minority.  Or maybe it’s because blacks now get a pass for just about anything.  

Maybe that’s what their new-found black privilege buys them.     

Sorry, but your kid's probably not really transgendered ...

Having a kid that claims to be trans is the new sign of status. Woke parents are weirdly proud to proclaim publicly that their little Johnny is now a Jessica, and their Suzy is a Sam.
 
Or when one parent said their preteen was still working their way through something called the “gender spectrum” to decide for themselves what they want to be.  And, of course, what pronouns they will insist on.  For now.
 
So by all means stay tuned while we wait for this breathtaking moment in history.  What will these children with their vast life experience at 6, 10, or 12 choose to be for the rest of their lives?  (Or until they change their mind.)  Will they pick new, liberating names to celebrate their transition?  Or a gender-neutral name like Spider or Mango or Buttercup? 
 
And will he or she become a ze? Or a zie? Or a wa/waz or a fae/faeie? Or whatever? Because, you know, you can’t use the boring old he/she they/them stuff – not if you want to feign outrage when someone meets you for the first time and doesn’t know your pronouns. 
 
The bigger problem is that kid’s probably not transgendered at all.  Certainly not in any biological sense.  Confused, perhaps. Socially awkward, most likely, Desperate for attention, sure.
 
But not really somewhere in between or beyond male or female.  At times a child may feel they are; at other times they may also feel like a an Indian princess, or a Viking, or a dinosaur, for that matter. It’s all make-believe and usually temporary. However, their biological sex hasn’t changed from the time they were born. Nor will it any time soon.  That’s a matter of chromosomes.
 
And as of now, no one can change their chromosomes on demand for whatever reason that make them male or female. That’s the real science.
 
Still, what about gender?  
 
A lot’s been made in recent years that gender has nothing to do with biological sex.  Now gender is supposed to be a fluid thing; it depends solely how someone “feels.” As if gender is just a matter of what clothes and makeup you prefer.  You can change it any time you like. 
 
Redefining gender – and especially coming up with terms like transgender – is another in a long line of sad attempts to change the meaning of a perfectly good word that accurately describes a real thing into something now completely meaningless. Something that can be exploited, too. 
 
Because it’s usually done for profit and power. As this is. 
 
There have always been effeminate boys and masculine girls.  There have always been others who aren’t necessarily more effeminate than other boys, or more masculine than other girls, but are sexually attracted to others of the same sex. Still others are sexually attracted to both sexes.  Those things are real.  It’s not a question of gender but according to a lot of real, objective science, those sexual preferences may result from chromosomes, as well.
 
Because some things are predetermined in some way at the chromosome level, it’s not a matter of choice. It’s something some folks are already hardwired to be. 
 
None of that has anything to do with the transgender movement.  More importantly, even less to do with gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy now being pushed on children by adults.  I don’t care much what other adults do to themselves, but I do have a problem when adults are making irreversible life-altering decisions for kids. 
 
I think most normal people feel the same.  Why is it suddenly okay – and actually celebrated – to intentionally and permanently surgically disfigure a child, or pump them full of hormones causing long-term physical changes?  All because some activist wannabe school psychologist or teacher thinks your child suffers from something called gender dysphoria.
 
And why is it so prevalent?  Remarkable, isn’t it?  
 
You have to wonder who profits from our society’s new-found obsession with finding, treating, and “protecting the rights” of the suddenly transgendered. Especially children.    
 
I think it’s all so psychologists and pseudo scientists in academia and healthcare can publish papers and books about it and invent profitable “treatments.” So newly-minted “experts” can get lucrative positions and speaking engagements. So “researchers” can tap new sources for grant money to “study.” And to provide an infinitely small number of people a way to claim to have their own interpretation which makes them extra special victims, and worthy of disproportionate power.
 
Honestly, it’s largely a scam. 
 
I have no doubt some people do in fact have mental issues that make them believe they are a sex other than that they were born with.  Just as some people believe they are getting messages from aliens or instructions from God to kill their landlord. It’s a mental illness, not a “condition.”  
 
And last I checked, in the USA we don’t normally treat mental illness with surgery anymore. Therapy and medicine have taken the place of lobotomies and other invasive treatments.   
 
Furthermore, these days we’re talking mostly about children who aren’t really capable of making informed decisions about something as serious and life altering as gender reassignment surgery.  Dressing up and pretending to be something other than what you are is something many kids do before they reach puberty. And even after.  I understand that. 
 
But after then? WTF is wrong with these parents? 
 
Folks, we are allowing parents to let others unnecessarily mutilate and mentally and physically poison their children. Hospitals and doctors are getting rich. Trans activists in schools are acting like feeder channels to deliver kids to this carnage.  And gloating. 
 
And instead of being arrested, parents, the activists in schools, and the participating members of the medical establishment are all being praised for being on the cutting edge – literally – of a revolution in helping children develop. 
 
It’s insane. There’s no other word for it.    

WTF is wrong with us, anyway?

Seriously.
 
Since when did we just sit by and let clearly delusional people intimidate us with their madness?  Or to permit them to try to gaslight us into believing everything we’ve always known to be true suddenly isn’t? That their “reality” is real, while ours is not? 
 
We know that’s what’s actually happening. Why aren’t we trying to stop them? 
 
Staying silent or cowering in the face of their unrelenting assault on reality is a mistake, as we’ve seen. It signals tacit approval which just encourages more insanity. 
 
Too many appear afraid to say what they honestly believe or even joke about the silliness of it all. They claim it’s not worth it.  If they speak out they fear being targeted by a mob of self-appointed scolds who will harass them and their families at home, at school, and even at work. 
 
All of which, sadly, happens too often.   
 
Still others suspend their disbelief and pretend it’s all okay. Yet they know it’s not okay. We all know it’s not okay. Everyone needs to stop pretending.  
 
Most of what the left, activists, and the media promote these days is not just untrue but increasingly dangerous to our country, our young people, and generations to come. When Biden said: “we choose truth over facts” we laughed.  They didn’t; they agreed. Unfortunately, their “truth” often isn’t remotely connected to reality. Perhaps intentionally.     
 
So why don’t we, as rational thoughtful citizens, stand up and fight back?
 
All it takes is for enough of us to refuse to comply.  Just say no thanks.
 
And when they overreact, don’t go straight to outrage, which is what they want.  Instead, publicly ridicule them. Libs of TikTok on Twitter provides a master class in in this.  They repost videos created by loonies on the left describing themselves and their beliefs.   
 
It’s scary at times, yet frequently hilarious to see people passionately expose their stupidity and bizarre ideas out there for all the world to see. The original creators of these posts never intended this to happen; these were only supposed to be seen by zealots just like them. They expected to be praised by their peers who agree trans women can have periods, children should be taught about anal and oral sex in kindergarten, and teachers should be able to coach elementary students into changing gender without ever letting parents know that’s going on. 
 
Suddenly, when they realize ordinary people might see how they are subverting parents’ rights and indoctrinating their kids on the sly, overtly sexualizing children, while bragging about how they get away with it, they are furious. Showing the world what they’ve posted in whole in original context without editing – in short, exactly what they said in their own words – is hateful.  Transphobic. Homophobic. Anti-LGBTQ. And whatever else they can come up with.
 
But it’s their own words. Out of their own mouths. Stuff they intentionally posted. What I think troubles them most, however, is that down deep they know what they claim to be true just isn’t.  There’s no way they can honestly believe that a man who pretends to be a woman can get pregnant, or that a woman who pretends to be a man can produce sperm. Or that using their authority as a teacher to psychologically manipulate kindergarteners or elementary school kids to choose a different gender or sexual orientation is in any way appropriate. They know that's wrong.  

 

In their videos they think they are revealing their soul, their overwrought hand wringing, and their pride in their misdeeds to what they hope are their legions of followers.  But they end up as the object of well-deserved ridicule on Libs of TikTok. That has to sting.  
 
There’s a reason why the loons on the left and their suck-up pals in the media and Hollywood hate when the quiet things they say to each other, and nod in agreement, are inadvertently said out loud for all the world to see.  Because most of what they want to hide is crazy.    
 
And frankly, they know it.   
 
Our collective mistake is taking it all too seriously. I stopped doing that a while ago and I’ve felt better ever since.  Calmer. More relaxed. More should try it.  
 
The media and our leaders pound us with lie after lie about the threats to our democracy, or very existence, every day if we don’t take them seriously. And how morally bankrupt we are not to accept and embrace their twisted world view. But really, there’s no reason to.  Most of it is silly and demonstrably false.  
 
That’s why we shouldn’t.  I’m surprised they still do.
 
It amazes me that we’re now supposed to ignore basic biology, human physiology, science, our own history as a nation, the role of the Constitution, and a lot more, most of which we learned in public school and college decades ago. Suddenly, we need to question all we ever learned.      
 
But of course, we’re not allowed to ever question them.   
 
If we dare question anything they say, no matter how ridiculous, we are monsters. Racists. Sexists. Homophobes. Transphobes. Religious fanatics.  Science deniers. Right-wing nutjobs. Bigots. Ignorant hillbillies. And, most recently, and most curiously, fascists.
 
Confronted with facts, they have no valid counter argument, except name calling. 
 
Their core beliefs are so preposterous, and so obviously wrong to anyone who graduated public high school more than 30 years ago.  I’m not talking about kids who took accelerated courses, National Honor Society types, or anybody who went to college. Just ordinary high school students graduating with a passing grade. 
 
For the record, there haven’t been huge breakthroughs in biology or basic science in those past 30 years that would make it true that humans have more than two sexes, biological men can get pregnant, bear children or breast feed, or that that anyone born a biological male who later decides he’s actually a girl can suddenly do any of those.  It’s not physically possible, despite bathing him in puberty blockers at an early age, extensive hormone therapy, doing breast implants, or mutilating his genitals
 
Biologically, he’ll always be a boy, not because of how he feels, but because of his chromosomes.  He can grow his hair long, he can dress up like a girl, he can have doctors cut off his testicles and turn his penis into a vagina, and he may appear to be a girl and live as one, but he won’t be.   Despite what many teachers are instructing students as young as kindergarteners, no one can actually change the biological sex they were born with. 
 
And “feeling” like you might be another sex is a far cry from being one.
 
Which is really the problem here: the crazies want us to accept what they “feel” as real.  They have no facts, just feelings. And they demand we accept their feelings and agree to their completely wacko view of human biology, science, history, and much more. 
 
We really don’t have to. And we shouldn’t. 

The Charlie Brown Party ...

Charles Krauthammer often said the difference between Republicans and Democrats was that Republicans think Democrats are wrong, but Democrats think Republicans are evil.  

I’d like to suggest that Democrats not only think Republicans are evil, but also naïve.  I don’t agree about the evil part, but I believe Democrats are right about the naïve bit.  And Democrats and the media keep displaying the gullibility of Republican legislators at every turn.  

Republicans might as well have Charlie Brown as the symbol of their party.  The Democrats always make promises to Republicans in the House and Senate in exchange for something they want.  Republicans believe Democrats will keep their word. Like Lucy, Democrats never do. 

Yet Republicans keep getting fooled. They keep getting humiliated. They keep letting Democrats push through awful legislation.  

The passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act” is a perfect example. 

Democrats promised they wouldn’t use reconciliation to pass a multi-billion-dollar tax and spend bill if Republicans wouldn’t filibuster the “chips” bill for billions in subsidies to chip manufacturers.  As usual, Republicans upheld their end of the bargain and helped pass the chips bill. 

Democrats didn’t keep their word.  Because they never intended to. 

They outplayed Republicans again. The only reason Democrats didn’t want use reconciliation then was because they can only use it once each fiscal year.  They wanted to save the filibuster-proof reconciliation process for something much bigger with all of their favorite things:  a $700-billion blowout for social spending, climate change activities, environmental “equity,” subsidies for the rich to buy electric cars and appliances, 87,000 new IRS agents to add to the government employee unions, and higher taxes for just about everyone and every small business.  

This is what they always planned. Passing Build Back Better, part by part.  

Shortly after the chips bill passed with Republican help Democrat Schumer started working with Joe Manchin to do precisely what they’d promised not to. And because they’d already gotten what they wanted in the chips bill, they could use reconciliation this time and pass another monstrosity – deceptively named the Inflation Reduction Act – with a straight party-line vote.  

Two wins by deception.  They couldn’t resist gloating.  

Biden did a victory lap when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act and lied about how it would bring down inflation. The media claimed it as a great victory for Biden and signaled a turning point in his popularity.  This would reduce inflation and only tax the rich.  

This, despite their own supporters, and Joe Manchin as well, conceding that this new tax and spend bonanza wouldn’t do anything to reduce inflation. At best, analysts reported, under the very best circumstances it might cut inflation by less than one percent.  Other analysts said it would actually increase oil and gas prices through new taxes on production and increase inflation, as well as raise taxes on everyone, including those making far less than $400,000, by about $20 billion. 

Democrats are not above lying to other Democrats, either.  Including Joe Manchin. Manchin bought in to the Inflation Reduction Act for only one reason: Schumer promised that in return for his vote by the end of September Schumer would introduce a bill to fast track permitting which would let a natural gas pipeline to West Virginia held up for years go ahead. 

Just the other day, progressive Democrats in the House promised to oppose that bill if indeed it’s ever introduced because it would betray their climate change agenda. And since Manchin and Schumer already screwed the Republicans and the progressives, good luck getting the bill ever passed in the House or the Senate. Honestly, I bet Democrats never intended it to pass.  

This would all be moot if Republicans hadn’t gotten suckered in the first place. I have two theories why they got taken on the most recent bill. And will probably get fleeced again soon.   

First, Republican leaders like McCarthy and McConnell are stupid, a distinct possibility given their recent track record.  By now they should know better than to trust Democrats.  

Or, perhaps more likely, Republican leaders today simply don’t care what Democrats do, as long as they can keep raising millions by pretending to fight Democrats. In short, Republican leaders find it more profitable personally and much easier to be in the minority. There’s less pressure to perform.  When you’re in control you actually have to do something other than bitch and whine.  

Right now, most voters – not just Republicans – are appalled at Democrats’ priorities. Inflation is raging hurting the poor and working class most.  Food prices are insanely high.  Gas prices are still high, and high home heating oil and natural gas prices this winter will pummel families even harder.  Diesel prices are driving up shipping and distribution costs that affect everything from produce to construction materials. Our borders are being overrun.  And crime is surging.  

But Democrats keep focusing on climate change, gender identity, trans rights, social justice, abortion rights and promoting critical race theory.  Still, Democrats are climbing in the polls before the midterms and may very well keep control of the Senate, if not the House as well. 

There are several reasons.  

#1: Republicans got lazy believing they had the midterms in hand. They were so sure Democrats would defeat themselves they didn’t bother to tell voters what they would do instead.  

#2: Trump’s personal vendettas over the 2020 election pushed out eminently electable Republican primary candidates and replaced these with nitwits and sometimes whack jobs he selected solely because they echoed his claims about the 2020 election.  

#3: Republican loons in several state legislatures used the overturning of Roe v. Wade to reinstate long-forgotten draconian bans on all abortions passed decades or more than a century ago. Others introduced new laws effectively banning abortions shortly after conception.  

Earlier this year I told a friend to never underestimate Republicans’ ability to screw up a sure win.  They do it all the time. Now is no different. Like Charlie Brown they never learn.   

Sorry to say, I told you so.  

It's time for Trump to move on ...

I think he did a lot of good things as President. 

I’ll always appreciate the good he accomplished.  Plus, he had a unique ability – much to my everlasting joy – to mock and humiliate the know-it-all blowhards in the DC establishment and the media. He exposed them for what they really were – a bunch of whiney, self-righteous, over-educated hypocrites who openly despised ordinary working-class Americans.   

He was the antithesis of political correctness.  My anti-establishment hero.  Those who opposed him called him a fascist.  But in reality, they were the fascists working hand in hand with big corporations and tech monopolies, and violent mobs, to crush any dissent and opposition. 

He angered a lot of people. Justifiably so, at times. And, let’s face it, he was exhausting; you never knew what ill-conceived tweet he sent out at 3 AM while in a fit of pique.  

I voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.  Still, I wasn’t completely surprised he didn’t get re-elected. He’d been under assault by the Feds, DC establishment types, and the media for four years.  

I am surprised Biden got 80-some million votes because he is and always has been a weasel, a liar, and a moron, essentially on the wrong side of nearly every important issue in his less-than-stellar 40-plus-year career. Yet I suppose the hatred for Trump, coupled with America’s exhaustion with some of his antics, and the nonstop pounding against Trump by the media, helped Biden hit those numbers.  

The loss was bad enough for Trump’s supporters but what he did next was worse. He became a sore loser who refused to accept the results.  Just like Hillary. He blamed everybody else but himself for his loss. He insisted, as Hillary did, that the election was stolen.  

It might very well have been rigged. Ballot box stuffing happened for sure. But it wasn’t stolen.  No one took votes from Trump, except Trump.  

He can’t get over it.  To this day he hasn’t moved on. He’s still settling scores with those who didn’t support his attempts to overturn the results. It’s sad. It’s also causing damage.  

He blamed the governor and secretary of state of Georgia for his loss there. Mostly because, after a few recounts affirmed the vote totals and his loss, they said there was no basis to overturn the results. In his anger, he encouraged Georgia Republicans not to vote in a runoff and a special election which in turn cost Republicans two Senate seats they should have won easily.  

Which gave Democrats effective control of a 50-50 Senate, where VP Harris can break ties. 

He’s still meddling. He’s still causing damage. Because of his hatred for Kemp, Republican Governor of Georgia, he engaged in unrelenting attacks on him during and even after the gubernatorial primaries. Kemp won in spite of Trump’s vitriol. But the damage was done: Trump’s opened the door to handing Kemp’s job to Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022. 

That would be a disaster. 

In another special election to take on the full Senate term against Democrat Ralph Warnock, he helped his friend Herschel Walker overcome a better and more attractive Republican candidate to face off against Warnock.  Walker has no political experience and may have won a Heisman at UGA, but he also has a history of mental illness, domestic abuse charges, and other baggage.  

But he loves Trump. And supports Trump’s claim that the last election was stolen.  

The Republican he beat in the primaries didn’t and would have had a better shot.  Especially with moderates who would rather have hot pokers stuck in their eyes than vote for Trump.  

The common denominator for Trump’s support clearly is not electability. It’s whether a candidate buys into Trump’s belief that he – not Biden – actually won the last Presidential election. 

Nothing else matters to Trump.  Nothing. Not past racist statements.  Not sexual harassment charges. Not criminal investigations into sketchy business dealings. Not domestic abuse allegations. Not a history of saying nutty things about QAnon and other "conspiracies." Not documented mental health and addiction issues.  

All the things that would otherwise disqualify someone in the eyes of normal everyday voters simply don’t matter to Trump when he endorses a candidate. Just that one thing.  

He continues to rail against anybody who won’t follow him blindly.  He disparages otherwise good Republican candidates just because they don’t pass his litmus test; candidates who could win seats from Democrats and help Republicans take back the House and Senate.  

He’s had some success in a few races so far.  But he’s also had some embarrassing losses by backing candidates that love him but were unelectable from the start.    

So why does he keep going on the same path?  Ego? Anger? Craving for attention? Whatever.  He’s never going to overturn the 2020 election.  Why he persists is unfathomable.  He knows he can’t.  Everyone knows he can’t.  Even his supporters know he can’t. 

Sadly, the memories of the good he accomplished as President are being eroded day by day as he keeps trying to relitigate something that happened almost two years ago.  

He still puts on a great live show, nonetheless.  His rallies still attract thousands. But most are there primarily to be entertained, and to continue to give a middle finger to the DC elites and the political establishment.   

As he did, and still does.  As they always did, too, when they voted for him.    

But the bottom line remains unchanged: the 2020 election is over. He lost.  

That ship has sailed. He should get on board and enjoy the ride. Yet there’s a rumor he might run again in 2024. Please don’t. His base may still love him. And because Democrats and Biden have done such a terrible job Republicans should run the table in 2022 and 2024. 

The only thing that could stop Republicans now is Trump.  That's why the only people seriously promoting the idea that he'll run again are the media and Democrats.