How Trump Can Translate His Policy Successes into Political Success

Victor Davis Hanson

He just needs to re-calibrate his messaging and re-emphasize his solid achievements, reminding those he has benefited why and how he has helped them.

"President Trump’s challenges are not really his economic policies and foreign-affairs agendas. For the most part, these are supported by the American people and are resulting in prosperity at home and security abroad.
"The economy continues to deliver near-record-low unemployment, wage gains, strong growth, and unmatched energy production. 
"No nation can remain sovereign and secure with insecure borders. There are few ways to stop massive illegal immigration other than building a wall, insisting on employer sanctions, and recalibrating legal immigration so that it’s measured, diverse, and meritocratic. 
"For all the hysteria over Trump’s foreign policy, many observers quietly concede that the U.S. is far tougher on Vladimir Putin and Russia now than Obama was in 2016: stronger sanctions, more help to the Ukrainians, and greater NATO expenditures. 
"America had reached a point of no return with China. It either had to renegotiate its enormous trade imbalances and confront regional Chinese aggressions or simply acquiesce to China’s agenda of predetermined global superiority. 
"Yet there were few levers other than temporary trade tariffs to force China to trade equitably and follow global commercial norms.
"The status quo that Trump inherited with North Korean nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles was an unsustainable proposition. So was an Iran deal that would have guaranteed eventual Iranian nuclear capability. Yet Trump cannot consistently reach 50 percent approval in the polls. And, like most presidents, he experienced a rebuke in the House during his first midterm elections. 
"So what might Trump do to translate his policy successes into 51 percent majority support?" . . ..

What Hillary Could Learn From Barbara Bush (A dead Republican, like George)

. . . Hillary Clinton could learn a lot from her fellow former First Lady. Chances are, she won’t. Either way, America was blessed by such a genial and gracious lady.

 

RedState, April 18, 2018;  . . .  "Certainly, the philanthropist will be exhaustively eulogized over the next few days. Much will be spoken of her time in recent years as well as her tenure as First Lady. What I find especially profound, however, is her poise and elegance in the in-between — specifically, in the aftermath of her husband’s crushing 1992 loss to Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. Her refinement and composure in the wake of that shortfall stand as a stark contrast to the acidic, belligerent nature of the First Lady who replaced her, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Bush imagined a day when a woman would indeed become President; but her vision was one of hope, not power-lust or egocentrism. The same cannot be said of the former senator from New York.

Less than two years after H.W.’s expulsion from the Oval Office, in support of her newly released, self-titled memoir, the Bush matriarch appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live to discuss family and friends, her 4-year White House residency, and life onward. Given her husband’s defeat, she might have conveyed bitter feelings about the election or his opposition. Rather, she was a picture of class, voicing gratitude for her treasured time as First Lady:

“I told George this on the phone…Last night before I went to bed, he called. I awakened Monday morning in New York City…and I looked…and a lot of things happened… the Pope…Arafat met with (Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin…a lot of things happened. And I sat and watched the news. Darling Jessica Tandy died, and Hume [Cronyn], I thought about…I knew every single person and place that was on that television set, thanks to George Bush…Every single person knew me and I knew [them]. I told George, I said, ‘It really struck me how really great a life you’ve given me.'”

"One can hardly imagine Hillary Clinton having anything nice to say, had her husband fallen by the political wayside after his first presidential term. At present time — a year and a half after her failure in the 2016 election — she has made a veritable career of tastelessly spouting rancor, continuing to heave incendiary insults not only at the foe who bested her, but his supporters as well. Speaking at an Indian conference in March, Clinton said of Trump and the voters who elected him, “His whole campaign…was looking backward. You know, you didn’t like black people getting rights, you don’t like women getting jobs.” . . .

Bush 41’s death reveals the truth of the cliché: the only kind of Republicans the media like is dead ones . . . "The playbook is always the same.  Democrats, including most of the media, pretend they love Republicans when they die after they trashed them when they ran and lived." . . .

MSM/Dems are certain for the umpteenth time that the end is near for Trump admin, this time with Michael Cohen guilty plea

Thomas Lifson  "Once again, Robert Mueller’s team is nailing a witness they want to use to incriminate President Trump in some nefarious scheme with a guilty plea for lying, and thereby discrediting any future testimony against the intended target. Well, at least it gives them a scalp to nail to the wall to justify the tens of millions of dollars already expended over the last two years in an effort to unseat a sitting president.
. . . 

"No less than lifelong Democrat and Hillary Clinton voter Alan Dershowitz is pointing out that rather than uncovering past crimes, Mueller’s modus operandi is to generate new crimes in the course of investigation:

The recent guilty plea of Michael Cohen of lying represents the dominant trend in Mueller's approach to prosecution. The vast majority of indictments and guilty pleas obtained against Americans by Mueller have not been for substantive crimes relating to his mandate: namely, to uncover crimes involving illegal contacts with Russia. They have involved indictments and guilty pleas either for lying, or for financial crimes by individuals unrelated to the Russia probe. If this remains true after the filing of the Mueller report, it would represent a significant failure on Mueller's part.

Mueller was appointed Special Counsel not to provoke individuals into committing new crimes, but rather to uncover past crimes specifically involving alleged illegal coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian agents. No one doubted that Russia attempted to influence the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump and against Hillary Clinton. But Mueller's mandate was not to prosecute Russians or to point the finger at Vladimir Putin. His mandate was to uncover crimes committed by the Trump campaign with regard to Russia's attempts to influence the election.

"Meanwhile, actual evidence that the Hillary Clinton campaign colluded with Russian intelligence agents (via cutouts Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS) to influence the election is apparently of no interest whatsoever to Mueller. It’s almost as if this entire effort is a cover-up…. "

How's this for collusion with Russia?

How Did Shane End Up?

Victor Davis Hanson

The gunslinging outsider saved the vulnerable farmers, but they didn’t love him for it.

. . . "Stevens’s movie gives us the familiar paradox of the ostracized outsider and savior in tragic literature and film (The Magnificent Seven, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider . . . ). Although they hesitate to say so, the farmers, if they are to survive, must rely on the very antithesis of their own idealistic commitment to law, order, the settled life, and the way of the future. Shane himself wants to reject gunslinging and stay civilized.

    "But to do so would mean that Shane’s newfound friends would be killed or driven off by the cattlemen, and their farms returned to the open range — they don’t have the skills to win a range war against cowboys and hired guns. Yet by picking up his gun and going outside the law to take down the evildoers, Shane himself — apparently a former Confederate, Yankee-hating hired gun — loses his recent claim on civilized life. 

    "Even the very farmers whom he will save are uncomfortable with the idea that Shane is willing to shoot someone to save them. Or as one self-righteous farmer puts it when Shane warns the sodbusters about the dangers of the cattlemen’s hired gun, Wilson, “I don’t want no part of gunslinging. Murder’s a better name.” Shane himself appears impatient with gradual change and seems to believe that he alone, not the distant law, can stop the murderous bullies. 

    "The movie ends in classic tragic-hero fashion: Shane rides into cattlemen’s town alone, wins his gunfights, is wounded, and finally rides off alone into the stormy Grand Tetons — content that he rid the farmers’ valley of the hired guns. The means he used to save the sodbusters are precisely those that must have no place in an agrarian world that, thanks to him, is now peaceful. Only a small boy, Joey, will yell out, “Shane! Come back!” 

...."Stevens leaves the exact fate of Shane is doubt — at least sort of. We do not know the true extent of his wounds. And where will he end up on the trail? As a gunfighter, he can never settle down in the turn-of-thecentury, civilizing West that no longer has a place for either him or his enemies. Or, as Shane puts it at the end of the movie to Joey, the son of his farming hosts: 

A man has to be what he is. . . . Can’t break the mold. There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks. There’s no going back.

    "In less melodramatic fashion, we see variances of the Shane paradox in all aspects of our lives, and we are now also witnessing something similar to it in the current Trump administration, especially in these confusing and unsettled times after the midterms." . . .

Paula Jones still ignored

Mueller has indicted and harassed Trump's family and friends in a manner that jeopardizes our Republic. If the people cannot elect a president of their choosing then why bother with elections.Clinton was more malleable. He could be bought off. President Trump cannot. That is why Official Washington hates him.

Don Surber   "Peggy Noonan today gave the Washington Establishment version of the Clinton impeachment. Her employer, the Wall Street Journal, summed it up: "It was a tragedy for Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and America. He could have averted it by apologizing."
"Oh I agree. Had Clinton apologized to the victim of his sexual harassment, we would never have known about it. But he refused. Still does. No one has.
"In a 1,300-word essay on this historic event, Noonan does not even name Clinton's victim because it is not Lewinsky.

"It is Paula Jones.

"Two decades after James Carville branded her trailer trash and the media followed (Jay Leno, how could you?) hers is now the name none dare speak.

"Noonan wrote, "I see it all now more as a tragedy than a scandal. I am more convinced than ever that Mr. Clinton made the epic political miscalculation of the 20th century’s latter half. He had two choices when news of the affair was uncovered: tell the truth and pay the price, or lie and hope to get away with it.
"What is the tragedy? Lewinsky wanted it. Clinton wanted it. The press didn't want to hear about it. Even when Lucianne Goldberg got the story out, Newsweek refused to publish it.
"They would have gotten away with it too if not for that meddling Matt Drudge.
"This story is a reminder that the Internet has freed the truth from the choke hold of corporate media." . . .

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Former Shell Oil President Says Obama Had Nothing To Do With Increased Fuel Production

Daily Caller

"Former president of Shell Oil Company John Hofmeister said former President Barack Obama had nothing to do with America’s increased oil production and actually frustrated many areas of the energy sector.

"Obama claimed he was responsible for America’s recent oil boom during an event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute on Tuesday night and Hofmeister challenged his assessment.

“ 'American energy production — you wouldn’t always know it, but it went up every year I was president,” Obama said. “That whole, suddenly America’s, like, the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas — that was me, people.”

“ 'The facts are the facts. And, yes, the production did increase throughout his term,” Hofmeister said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “But, frankly, he had nothing to do with it.”

Keep reading…

Cry Me a Rivera

Stilton's Place

"Things are heating up considerably on our southern border, where the (ahem) "caravan" of Hispanic men (with a small sprinkling of women and children, densely surrounded by photographers) are aggressively - and illegally - trying to enter our country.

"The Left is horrified that tear gas was deployed defensively against the violent, rock-throwing miscreants attempting to injure (or worse) our law enforcement officers. Although strangely, headlines about the confrontations tend to read "Trump gasses children at border," as if he was personally marching the weeping toddlers into the cyanide shower stalls.

"Little mention, however, is made of Barack Obama using tear gas against "immigrants" at the border some 80 times during his administration. But that was okay, because he was Black. Well, Black-ish.

"But when it comes to the media overreacting and distorting the story, one can hardly find a better example than Geraldo "Want to see my semi-naked tweets?" Rivera. On Monday's edition of Fox News's "The Five," the volatile Rivera erupted in a lengthy tantrum about how disgusted he is with our country for the vile treatment being shown to these poor, angelic refugees.

"Here are his comments, interspersed with some questions and observations of our own (in bold).
. . . 
"Geraldo then wrapped up his diatribe with a predictable dash of racism, suggesting that the problem isn't that millions of people are violating our immigration laws and draining our resources, but rather that stinking, evil Americans don't want them because "they look different than the mainstream." Showing that Geraldo clearly hasn't looked at the "mainstream" in Texas any time recently." . . .

Invasion of the US and it's Fifth Column among us

What's a Fifth column you say?  "A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group—such as a nation or a besieged city—from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize openly to assist an external attack." . . .

MS-13 gang member arrested at border after traveling with caravan

. . . "Critics will downplay the arrest, claiming that Villalobos-Jobel is just one MS-13 member out of a caravan of several thousand.  All I can say to that is, does anyone really believe he was the only MS-13 gang member to blend in with the caravan and try to cross the border illegally?

"The 7,000 migrants currently on the border with the U.S. in Mexico are not all innocent women and children.  We are told that about 75% are single males.  But you'd never know it, as the airwaves are saturated with images of mothers trying to protect their children from beastly border patrol agents who get their jollies by tear-gassing mothers and kids. " . . .

If Liberals Cared About Immigrants, They Would Not Support Open Borders  . . . "Not surprisingly, members of the liberal media have little care for people who have to cope with these migrants or the border patrols who have to keep the peace while being pelted with rocks.  All their sympathy is extended to the migrants themselves, who are simply "looking for a better life." Skyler Turden (Steven Crowder's liberal alter-ego) captures this sentiment well in the last episode of "Devil's Advocate" where he argues about immigration with Stefan Molyneux.

"Many people on the left tend to blame immigration laws and borders for illegal immigration rather than the lawbreakers themselves.  They rail against ICE and the border wall and seem to believe that the most compassionate thing to do for people crossing the border is to let them.  Denying them entry and deporting them is needlessly cruel." . . .

Lice, hepatitis, TB, chicken pox, scabies plague a third of the caravan migrants – and now there's rain . . . "And as the left continues to press Trump to allow the migrants in, the reality remains that to allow foreign nationals into the U.S. bearing chicken pox, hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis, infections, scabies, lice – and the whole plethora of new ailments that is sure to come of the plague of rain on Tijuana – is absolutely irresponsible, a recipe for spreading disease into the U.S. citizen population.  In times past, Ellis Island screened out arriving immigrants for any sign of disease.  Today, illegal immigration dispenses with that nicety, and all comers enter.  Open borders means open disease, and for everyone.  Mass illegal migration has since coincided with an amazing collection of new disease outbreaks now being seen in California, the nation's pestilence capital, and the home of a quarter of the nation's illegals.  San Diego got a hepatitis outbreak. " . . .
Some Caravan Migrants Have HIV/AIDS and TB, Say Mexican Authorities

Caravan Migrants Tell MSNBC, 'We Want To Go Home'  "The MSNBC reporter on scene claims that after speaking with migrants biding their time in shelters near the border, that many of the would-be asylum seekers were told that crossing the border would be a relatively painless process, and that most of them would be eligible for available work programs designed to help them integrate into American culture and society.

"That didn't turn out to be the case; it appears many of the members of the "migrant caravan" were sold a bill of goods, and are just coming to realize that crossing the border will be much more difficult than they imagined, particularly in light of the weekend's violence." . . .

Will Trump's only lasting Legacy be the not-yet-built border wall?

Ann Coulter  "For those of us who were ecstatic the night Donald Trump was elected president, who watch election night videos over and over again, it used to be easy to defend him against the charge that he is just a BS-ing con man who would say anything to get elected. 
"It's getting harder. 
"Trump was our last chance. But he's spent two years not building the wall, not deporting illegals -- "INCREDIBLE KIDS!" -- and not ending the anchor baby scam. 
"Within 10 seconds of Trump's leaving office, there will be no evidence that he was ever president. Laws will be changed, executive orders rescinded, treaties re-written and courts packed. 
"Trump will leave no legacy at all. Only a wall is forever. 
"We had no choice. No one else was promising to save America. 

"On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall. We will use the best technology, including above- and below-ground sensors, that's the tunnels. Remember that: above and below. Towers, aerial surveillance and manpower to supplement the wall, find and dislocate tunnels and keep out criminal cartels ..." -- Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump 

"But then he signed a spending bill expressly prohibiting him from building any part of the wall. 
""I will never sign another bill like this again. I'm not going to do it again." -- President Trump, after signing a spending bill that blocked any funding for a wall. 
"Today, eight months later, Trump is about to sign another spending bill that will give him no money for the wall. 
. . . 
"Is it Paul Ryan's fault that Trump did a 180 on "Dreamers," called them "INCREDIBLE KIDS" and tried to give them amnesty? 
"Every day that Trump does not keep his promises on immigration, thousands of immigrants turn 18 and start block voting for the Democrats, while thousands of traditional Americans die off. 
"Florida and Texas are about five years away from turning solid blue. Trump was our last chance. "After this, the country is never going to elect a Republican president again. 
"So the next time you watch one of those election night videos, remember: If Trump doesn't keep his immigration promises, Hillary might as well have won. 
"Trump will leave no legacy whatsoever. Without a wall, he will only be remembered as a small cartoon figure who briefly inflamed and amused the rabble. " . . .

You know Trump's recovery is real when Obama wants credit for it

Obama Touts Paris Agreement, Proceeds to Take Credit for Booming U.S. Oil and Gas Production  . . . "Obama spoke in Houston at an event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute, where he praised his administration's commitment to the Paris climate agreement before taking credit for the United States being the biggest producer of oil and gas during his administration." . . . 
"Obama has not been viewed as a friend of the oil and gas industry, but during his administration U.S. oil production did rise in each of his first seven years in office, according to Forbes. While natural gas production increased by 50 percent between 2009 and 2016, the production boom took place almost solely on state and private lands, where the Obama administration had very little control.
"While Obama signed legislation in November 2015 ending a long-term ban on crude oil exports, he would go on to impose environmental regulations and would later pursue international agreements like the 2016 Paris Agreement to fight global warming.

Rush Limbaugh is incensed over Obama's remarks: "You tried to shut down oil production everywhere you could! You wouldn’t authorize pipelines! You’re building stupid windmills and solar panels everywhere! What do you mean, the oil boom is you?"
There is no honor deserved by others that Obama will not inject himself into; the photobomber-in-chief.

. . . "Obama can run around and talk about nope, nobody on my team was indicted. That’s because nobody had the guts to investigate! Nobody had the guts to criticize this administration! Obama had a boundary around him that never was gonna be permeated. It wasn’t even gonna be approached. It’s called race. This permitted the media to act like Obama was a straight arrow and a moderate, mainstream guy with the sharpest crease in his slacks any president had ever had.

"No accountability, constant platitudes, slobbering, fawning, favorable coverage. And now they get to hear about Obama talk about his scandal free presidency with zero pushback. They don’t even talk about what happened in Benghazi. And if you don’t, you’re the problem. So now let’s go to the – (interruption) is there one more to this? No, he did say about the oil that he was responsible for the boom. Suddenly America’s the largest oil producer. “That was me, people. Say thank you.' ” . . .

More articles at The Tunnel Wall

Report: Anti-Trump ‘Murphy Brown’ Reboot Cancelled After One Season

Breitbart  "CBS is cutting bait with its re-booted, President Trump-bashing sitcom, Murphy Brown, announcing it will not renew the show after its first 13 episodes, according to reports.
"The Candice Bergan-fronted comedy came back with much fanfare as a full-throated attack on President Donald Trump, but lackluster ratings dogged the show from its very first episode."

This was all as originally planned

For Murphy Brown, the rebooted series was always intended to be a closed-ended order of 13 episodes. The multicamera comedy, featuring the return of star Candice Bergen and from original creator Diane English, has underperformed (6.2 million total viewers and a 0.9 in the key 18-49 demo) in its prime Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. slot and remains in consideration for a renewal. Fellow multicamera comedy Fam, starring Nina Dobrev and Tone Bell — which has already changed showrunners — will take over Murphy Brown's slot starting Thursday, Jan. 10.

Hollywood slams ICE via Murphy Brown. Naturally, the illegal immigrants are sweet, loveable victims and the ICE agents only reluctantly "follow orders". Hollywood provides the courageous, compassionate champion. I'm sure this was a hit with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voters.