The Media Keeps To It's Worthless Storyline

I just heard CBS News on the radio in my car.  The reporter announced that President Elect Trump has yet to name a chief of staff because his transition is "in chaos".  What utter BS.  The media is back with this chaos garbage just like during the campaign.

Think back to how many times we were told that Trump's campaign was in chaos and imploding.  When Lewandowski was replaced by Paul Manafort, that was it.  Trump's campaign was over.  Of course, it wasn't.  Then when Manafort was replaced, we were again told that Trump's campaign was imploding in chaos.  It was too close to the election for Trump to possibly recover.  The self-proclaimed geniuses in the media knew for a fact that things were just chaotic at Trump Tower.  Of course, they were wrong.

Now we are on the fourth day since Trump won the election.  The media is certain that the transition is in chaos because of two things:  first, Vice President Elect Pence replaced Chris Christie as the chairman of the transition team, and second, Trump has yet to name a chief of staff.  You would think that the media would be embarrassed to report such garbage, but it's not.  Having Pence atop the transition now that he is no longer out campaigning makes perfect sense.  Pence, unlike anyone other than Trump himself, is not looking for a job and can be and appear impartial.  Pence also has a unique insight into Washington and those who are seeking jobs in the administration.  As far as the timing for naming a chief of staff, four days is not a long time.  In 2008, president Obama took roughly four days to name Rahm Emmanuel as chief of staff.  Were there articles back then about the chaos in the Obama transition?  Of course, the answer is no.

It is time for the media to open its eyes.  The American people understand the bias and dishonest reporting.  If it doesn't stop, we are going to witness the end of the media as we know it.

Turnabout? Not a Good Idea

One of my long-time readers commented earlier today that Trump supporters should protest in front of media offices in what he called "turnabout" in response to current events.  I understand the sentiment, but I don't agree with the suggestion. 

First, we don't need to protest any more.  We won.  For the first time in a long time we ought to have a government that actually does what the people want.  A protest would just be a distraction.  Instead, people need to make sure that they express their views to the new Congress and to President Elect Trump.  All those things that were promised no need to be delivered.  By the end of April, America should see 1) the end of Obama's illegal executive actions; 2) a pro-growth change to the tax structure; 3) the repeal of Obamacare (although this can phase in over time to avoid chaos); 4) a plan to improve care at the VA for the nation's veterans; 5) the start of a major infrastructure construction program (that's a real start, no a phony one like with Obama's stimulus); 6) a full review of the anti-ISIS strategy employed by this country so that the destruction of ISIS will be actually likely; 7) immigration law changes including cutting off sanctuary cities, passage of Kate's Law, requirement for the use of e-verify, and authorization, if any, needed for the wall; 8) changes ordered to immigration enforcement including a massive crackdown on violent criminals who are here illegally, the end of catch and release at the border, and forced repatriation if other countries reject returns; 9) rescission of over-reaching regulations of the EPA, Department of HHS, etc.; and 10) nomination and confirmation of a first rate Supreme Court Justice to replace the late Justice Scalia.  This sounds like quite a list, but it can all be done in 100 days without too much of a problem.  If any Republican starts to get wishy-washy on these things, we need to hold his or her feet to the fire.

In addition to all of the items listed above, we should also see President Elect Trump negotiating better deals for NAFTA and the TPP.  Those new deals will likely require more time than 100 days, but here too we need to make sure that the will to achieve them does not fail.

Second, it helps our side to have these fools out there protesting.  Remember, when you hear the morons chanting "This is what democracy looks like", it is in response to an election.  To be clear, an election in which nearly 130 million people vote is what democracy looks like.  Two or three hundred idiots marching in the street and stopping traffic or even rioting is not democracy; it is a temper tantrum.  It is not something that is going to bring the bulk of the people of America closer to the protesters.  And if the media continues to misreport the news, so what.  No one believes it any more.

The Battle Begins

Politico has a story today about how the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat Party is already challenging the state party leadership in a number of places where Sanders beat Hillary Clinton in the primaries.  That didn't take long.  Last summer, the Sanders people found out that the state and national party apparatus rigged the system for Hillary during the primaries, but they had to stay on the team during the campaign.  Now, with Hillary's defeat, the wheels are coming off the party bus.

Just think what a major shift of party structure towards the far left will do to the Democrats.  In many ways, this shift would mirror what happened in the UK when Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership of Labour.  The Labour party members felt good about moving back to the left, but the UK as a whole moved towards the Tories in reaction.  Would a move further left by the Democrats alienate millions of Americans?  Such a move could assuage some of the anger of the Sanders people, but it might push the Democrats into a deeper hole than the one they already occupy.

Bernie Sanders is already making noises about maybe running again in 2020 (when he will be something like 103).  That's not going to happen.  Still, will the party line up to support a strident leftist in four years?  It's wild to contemplate that possibility.

This Proves They Weren't Listening

The media is going berserk once again.  This time they are talking about how Donald Trump is "backing away" from his pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare.  The reason for all of this commotion is that Trump is reported to have told an interviewer that he was in favor of keeping the portion of Obamacare that mandated community rating; in other words, Trump does not want people to be denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition.  This is causing heads to explode in places like the New York Times newsroom; Trump is tossing away his pledge!  The problem, however, is that all this proves is that the media just did not listen to anything that Trump said about policy during the campaign.

Let's look at the history.  In the Republican primary debates, Trump was asked about Obamacare.  He called it a disaster, but he said that he was in favor of keeping the rules on pre-existing conditions.  He said that on national TV last February and has repeated it since.  Trump also spoke favorably during the campaign on occasion about keeping the rule that let parents keep kids on their policies until age 26. 

It seems to me that the editors of most of the major media outlets ought to require someone in their employ to actually fact check what gets written about Trump.  We just went through a campaign in which much of the Trump coverage was imaginary.  Now that Trump has won, it does a major disservice to the country for the coverage to stay imaginary.
 

The Ultimate Identity Politics

The most amazing news of the day is that Keith Ellison, a congressman from Minnesota, is now the leading candidate to take over as chair of the Democrat National Committee.  If this happens, it is the ultimate victory for identity politics among Democrats.

Here's what you need to know.  First, Ellison is an African American and the first Moslem member of Congress.  The latter would make him remarkable as the national chair of the party, but that is far from the most important thing to know about Ellison.  He was a member of the Nation of Islam, the movement headed by Louis Farrakhan and then tried to deny it when it became public. 

Think about that.  Will the Democrats actually choose as their leader someone who was a member of the anti-white, anti-Semitic Black Muslims?  How often in the last few weeks did the Democrats castigate Donald Trump because he was endorsed by David Duke, someone who Trump denounced?  According to the Democrats, Trump was unsuitable because someone else endorsed him; Trump had never been a member of Duke's group or any racist group like the KKK.  Nevertheless, the Democrats are considering making someone their leader who chose to join a virulently racist Black Muslim group that actively promoted hate.

If the Democrats really want to recover from their electoral disaster, this is not the way to go about doing that.

Fear of Deportation

According to news reports, many people around the country are now afraid of being deported once Donald Trump takes office.  The media calls these people "immigrants", but they are actually "illegal aliens".  They are here illegally.  Why shouldn't they be afraid of deportation.  If someone fails to pay taxes, shouldn't that person fear being caught by the IRS?  If someone commits theft, shouldn't he or she fear being caught by the police?  Why are some illegal acts supposed to be acceptable, while others are not?

The truth is that it would be a good thing for the country if the fear of deportation actually got some of the illegals to leave.  They could just move back to their home countries.  Each year, something like half a million people here illegally do just that.  Suppose that the fear of which the media speaks causes that number to increase to 1.5 million each year.  By the end of Trump's term, that would remove four million illegals from the country without any action being taken by the government. 

The key now, however, is not deportation.  No, the first step in getting control of this situation is to get control of the border.  The second step is to arrest and deport the violent criminals included among the illegals.  There is no reason that members of drug cartels or gangs should be allowed to stay here.  Just those two things will take a while.  Once that is accomplished, there will be plenty of time to decide what comes next.

The Real World

I've been watching the protests that have followed the election; it's amazing to see just how many people don't live in the real world.  Think about this:

Students at some universities have had professors cancel exams because the students are upset by Trump's win.  Now imagine what would happen if you were to have called your employer on Wednesday and said that you were staying home for a few days because you were just too upset to come to work.  To quote a line from Trump:  "You're fired!" Right?  These students just don't live in the real world.

People (many of whom are the same students) marched in a batch of cities to protest the election results.  Nothing will change.  Trump is President Elect.  He will still be President Elect after 100 more protests.  This is a battle that these fools can only lose.  It's a rather immature response to democracy.

Some in the media are continuing with their coverage as if the election never happened.  Last night, I flipped the channel to see what Rachel Maddow was saying.  She was in the middle of a monologue about how it would be a bad idea to give Trump control of the military.  I know she knows that Trump has already won.  Nevertheless, she was playing to her audience with arguments that were fine (if a little far out) during the campaign but which are meaningless now.  America has already chosen.  It's time for the Democrats to come back to the real world.

Yesterday, Howard Dean of all people announced that he is going to seek to be the chair of the Democrat National Committee.  The only choice that would be worse for that position would be Anthony Weiner.  Dean is a nasty man who will say anything that he thinks will advance his cause (no matter what the actual facts.)  The key, however, is not his honesty (or lack of it) or his adversarial personality.  No, the key is that Dean is a symbol of the past.  Will the Democrats actually pick a new chair who is a relic of a bygone era?  Do they think that they can win back voters by putting forth an avatar of the very sort of corruption that was rejected three days ago?  They need to re-enter the real world.