Oddly, the day after the election, there was little talk of the emerging Democrat majority in the House.
               Instead, President Donald Trump hosted an epic 90-minute press conference in the White House, during which he fielded dozens of questions and engaged in presidential theater the likes of which few have seen. He even claimed a Republican victory in the midterms, thereby taking some of the wind out of Democrat sails.
               Rarely has a political party ever won such an important electoral victory that felt more like a stinging defeat. But that’s the state of contemporary American politics, in which congressional elections are characterized by the media as referendums on the sitting president.
               So much for the old adage that all politics is local. Politics today is a national affair, but why?
               As Jay Cost writes at National Review, “The rise of mass communications and the growth of federal power during the 20th century created the mammoth executive office that now exists. The president draws the attention of the people toward him and away from Congress, the courts, and the states. So even though Congress remains at the center of constitutional government, it is the president who dominates public opinion. It is in this way that the president can influence Congress so enormously.”
               Cost’s analysis has some merit, but it also misses some important points. For example, one of the reasons why the presidency draws so much attention is that Congress has abdicated its own authority to check the executive’s power.
               Jim Fossel explains at The Press Herald said, “The president starts wars and signs international agreements on his own, and the opposition party grumbles, but rarely offers any serious oversight. Instead, they use their grumbling to motivate their base, then turn around and do the exact same thing once they get the Oval Office back in their hands.”
               How convenient. Members of Congress no longer have the courage to fight for anything, but they then blame the president when things go awry. That’s how republics become dictatorships, but in this case the House and Senate are intentionally empowering the presidency.
               Another factor, of course, is the media. Fossel adds, “This is reflected in the growing tendency of the press to report breathlessly on everything the current occupant of the Oval Office does on a day-to-day basis, even if it’s not particularly relevant to policy or governance. This has had a corrosive effect on our culture at large, as the country has become more divided with each administration, and everything — from sports to entertainment to technology — is viewed these days through a political lens. It’s thanks to the prevalence of the president in our socio-political lives that the country is increasingly split into two political tribes that value loyalty to their party (or, indeed, to one person) above all else.”
               Sure, President Trump himself contributes to the political circus with his odd-hour Twitter barrages and banal press-conference controversies, but the media invariably takes the bait and gives him outsized attention while virtually ignoring Congress. Congressional candidates, too, could help out by not nationalizing their campaigns.
               None of this is good for a constitutional republic, and our Founders didn’t envision this for our country. For two centuries, Congress asserted its authority to declare war, approve budgets, and serve as a check on the power of the presidency. In the last 50 years, however, Congress has established a pattern of deferring to the president on too many important matters.
               As Paul Kane and Derek Willis at The Washington Post lament, the Congress of our Founders now “functions more as a junior partner to the executive, or doesn’t function at all when it comes to the country’s pressing priorities.” Sure, Congress has always been criticized for moving too slowly on legislation, but that’s what the Founders wanted in order to prevent the national government from becoming too powerful.
               What the Founders did not want — in fact, greatly feared — is a Congress unwilling to perform its basic constitutional duties while bowing low to an imperial presidency.  ~The Patriot Post

             When the Florida results came in late Tuesday evening, it seemed apparent that Republicans had won both a Senate seat and the governorship. In the race for governor, socialist-Andrew Gillum conceded to Rep. Ron DeSantis, as he was behind by 80,000 votes and mathematically eliminated from possible victory. The race between Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Democrat Senate incumbent scumbag-Bill Nelson was tighter, with Scott holding a 60,000 vote lead by the end of the night. However, even though he was mathematically eliminated based on the initially reported overall vote totals, Nelson refused to concede defeat. Doing the math, Scott declared victory and went to bed.
               Cue the Democrat shenanigans. In two of Florida’s bluest counties — Broward and Palm Beach — irregularities in reported vote totals began to emerge. Both counties’ Democrat election supervisors added tens of thousands of previously uncounted votes, and there is still no word yet on how many total votes were cast in either county, even three days after the election.
               By Thursday, Scott filed lawsuits against Broward and Palm Beach County election supervisors demanding access to public records, including the total number of ballots cast and the number counted. “I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people of Florida,” Scott stated. Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) posted video footage appearing to show ballot boxes in Broward County being transported in private vehicles. Rubio noted, “This violates all chain of custody requirements for paper ballots,” adding, “has anyone in local media looked into this claim or asked elections dept. about it?”
               Scott and Rubio have good reason to be ringing the alarm bells over potential voting fraud, as Broward County election supervisor Brenda Snipes has a history of questionable behavior. In 2016, a judge ruled that Snipes broke state and federal laws by destroying ballots. In August of this year, Snipes was ordered by the court not to open mail-in ballots in secret or before the county’s three-member canvassing board could meet to determine a ballot’s validity. So it’s beginning to look like legal fights may come into play before all is decided in Florida. Sound familiar?
               Meanwhile in Arizona, things aren’t looking good for Republican Senate candidate Martha McSally, who now finds herself down by more than 9,000 votes to Arizona-hating Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as the vote numbers continue to trickle in. Evidently, there are still 400,000 votes yet to be counted, but some have suggested they are coming from areas that favor Sinema. We may not know until Monday who won the Senate race. We hope this ridiculously slow vote-counting process will push the state to develop a more efficient system.
               So it’s possible that, if everything goes Democrats’ way in Florida and Arizona, Republicans will have picked up just one Senate seat. That could have serious ramifications for judicial nominations and most specifically a potential Supreme Court nominee, as it would give Republicans little wiggle room. This is precisely why Dems are fighting so hard for seats.  

~The Patriot Post

             As we predicted back in May, the Boy Scouts’ announcement didn’t sit well with the Girl Scouts. Now a legal fight over gender-based branding rights is brewing.
               It’s ironic that, in the name of inclusivity, the BSA has effectively ignored the important distinctions between the sexes. When the name that once served to clearly define the focus of an organization is no longer applicable due to fundamental changes in the very nature of the organization, it might help be helpful to no longer claim the name. It’s false advertising.
               The Boy Scouts of America issued a statement saying the lawsuit was under review, adding, “We applaud every organization that builds character and leadership in children, including the Girl Scouts of the USA, and believe there is an opportunity for both organizations to serve girls and boys in our communities.” Well, if both organizations decided to allow both boys and girls to participate, why not merge, rebrand as The Scouts, and remove gender distinctions entirely? Then everyone would be happy, right?

~The Patriot Post  

             The Wall Street Journal notes, “The GOP lost House seats in the suburbs of Denver, Dallas, Houston, Des Moines, Minneapolis (two seats), Kansas City, Chicago, Richmond, Phoenix, and even Oklahoma City. They also lost in the longtime GOP stronghold of Staten Island.”
               There are a number of reasons the GOP lost in the suburbs. Pete Sessions blamed his loss in a Texas district he represented for 16 years on the late rino-John McCain’s decisive vote against the limited scumbag/liar-nObamaCare repeal in 2017. Other Republicans may have lost in heavily red states for turning their back on President Donald Trump, or because they embraced him too tightly. In some cases, it was just lackluster candidates.
The fact is, the suburbs have become the crucial battleground, and Republicans fell short in holding what had been a key to their coalition. Some of it was just the historical pattern of midterm elections. Part of it is due to understandable discomfort with Trump’s rhetoric and brash style. A fair bit of it was due to the constant lies that Republicans are racist, usually when they don’t do what Democrats want on immigration or other issues. That so many Americans believe that is a testament to the power of the Leftmedia and Silicon Valley.
               We can’t do much about Trump’s rhetoric. At 72 years old, he is set in his ways. While he speaks the truth about media bias and issues like border security and illegal immigration, he makes people who would otherwise be persuaded cringe with how he talks about them. He is a very good campaign asset — as four GOP senators who defeated Democrats in these midterms can attest to. Unfortunately, he’s also a liability in too many areas.
               In any case, good strategy and tactics are hard to find on the GOP side, and both are necessary due to Democrats’ storytelling advantage. But there are some things the GOP can do policy-wise and on the candidate recruitment side to make things better.
Health care is a big issue. For eight years, the GOP has opposed scumbag/liar-nObamaCare but had no coherent plan to replace it, and it finally bit them in the rear. Republicans need to start moving the ball forward in a free-market direction. Major changes are off the table until 2021 at the earliest, but they can nibble at the edges while they develop an election strategy.
               Another move is to pursue a major military buildup. With Democrats promising defense cuts in the face of a more dangerous Russia and China, this should be a given. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard all need major boosts in their force structure.
               Third, Republicans need to push for an end to lawless actions on all fronts. Not just immigration, but bureaucratic abuse, the violent acts of antifa, and even the actions taken in corporate boardrooms against the Second Amendment need to be exposed in oversight hearings. Executive action is also an option (Trump still has the pen and the phone).
Finally, the GOP needs better candidate recruitment. As Republicans have a habit of doing, there were some duds nominated. In Virginia, Corey Stewart dragged down GOP representatives who were at risk. On the flip side, socialist-Beto O'Rourke’s unexpectedly strong performance helped Democrats take some seats in Texas. The key will be to find candidates who can push a Trump-like agenda while being capable of fighting back when falsely smeared as racist, homophobic, or worse — all with a more suburb-friendly tone. In other words, not your stereotypical Republican.
The Battle for the Suburbs hasn’t ended; in some ways, it has just begun. But the stakes are enormous in 2020. We will either see Democrats take even more control, or we will have a chance to restore a government to its constitutional boundaries.

~The Patriot Post  

             In perhaps the most-watched race in the country, Democrat Socialist Andrew Gillum lost to Republican Ron DeSantis. Florida is a critical bellwether state, and DeSantis’s victory — combined with outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s win over incumbent Democrat Sen. scumbag-Bill Nelson — is a welcome sign. And yet there’s a cloud. Also on Tuesday, Florida restored voting rights to 1.5 million felons, who vote overwhelmingly Democrat. Donald Trump won Florida in 2016 by a little over 100,000 votes.
               Neighboring Georgia remains uncalled, as Democrat Socialist Stacey Abrams refuses to concede until “every vote gets counted,” but as we go to press, Republican Brian Kemp leads by nearly 100,000 votes out of almost four million cast. Two factors are at play in the race remaining uncalled. First, Georgia law requires the winner to exceed 50%, which Kemp currently does at 50.5%. Abrams is hoping that absentee and provisional ballots will pull Kemp under that 50% threshold and put the two in a December runoff. Second, and maybe more to the point, Abrams’s entire campaign was built on painting Kemp as a racist vote suppressor. As executive director of the New Georgia Project, she worked to flood Secretary of State Kemp’s office with voter registrations and then insisted he was racist for working to weed out the fraudulent ones. She’s dedicated to keeping that message going.
               Notably, Barack scumbag/liar-nObama hit the trail for both socialist-Gillum and Abrams and appears to have come up empty.
               Other notable races include Scott Walker’s defeat in Wisconsin. He won two terms and a recall, but he couldn’t keep the streak alive in a state that isn’t as red as Republicans once hoped. Likewise, Kansas turned blue, as incumbent Republican Kris Kobach couldn’t overcome the negative baggage of Sam Brownback’s administration, and Illinois ousted the worst Republican in the country, Bruce Rauner, opting for unified Democrat control under governor-elect J. B. Pritzker. Yet in the Northeast, Republicans held on in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, meaning they still hold four of 10 governorships in the region. And Republican Mike Dunleavy flipped Alaska, even after the incumbent independent dropped out and endorsed Democrat Mark Begich.
               Much of the nation’s economic progress depends on state administrations, and Republicans will still control a majority of governorships.

~The Patriot Post  

So Much for the Blue Wave — GOP Expands Senate Majority

by Thomas Gallatin:  More history was made yesterday in the era of Donald Trump. As USA Today reports, this midterm election result “was the first time since the nation started directly electing senators in 1914 that a party has won control of the House without gaining seats in the Senate.” That’s right — not only did Democrats fail to gain in the Senate but they actually lost ground. Republicans picked up at least two seats and likely four or five; we’re still waiting for the final results in Arizona, Montana, and a special election in Mississippi, as well as Bill Nelson’s futile call for a recount in Florida. So what are the takeaways for Trump and Senate Republicans going forward?
               First, any Democrat fever dreams of removing Trump from office are gone. He’s here to stay. We’ll see if sick-Nancy Pulosi and the House Dems are foolish enough to follow through on their impeachment threats, as doing so would only prove to be futile.   

by Nate Jackson:  Get ready for subpoenas, investigations, obstruction, and maybe impeachment in 2019, as the one thing the underwhelming “blue wave” did manage to accomplish yesterday was flipping the House to Democrat control. Democrats needed to pick up 23 seats and they’ve gained at least 27. For perspective, however, scumbag/liar-Bill Clinton lost 52 House seats in 1994 and Barack scumbag/liar-nObama lost 63 House seats in 2010. By comparison then, 2018 GOP losses are what former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer called “in line with the historical average” and what Demo cheerleaders in the Leftmedia consider a “heartbreaking” disappointment.

             In fact, despite not being on the ballot and his party losing the House, President Donald Trump might be the night’s biggest winner. Yes, likely incoming Speaker sick-Nancy Pulosi plans to push legislation antithetical to the Trump agenda — new gun laws, Demo-friendly changes to scumbag/liar-nObamaCare, expanded special protections for “LGBTQ” Americans, and legal status for “Dreamers” and no border wall — but those bills will die in the Senate, while Trump will find a willing partner for his desired infrastructure spending.
               Most importantly, however, Trump does best when he has a “foil” — an enemy to run against. The #Resistance House Democrats, suffering as they do with Trump Derangement Syndrome, will fill that role perfectly. sick-Pulosi even mused recently that “subpoena power is interesting … in terms of negotiating other subjects.” She claimed Tuesday night that the midterms were about “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances on the Trump administration,” as well as that the House’s job will be “stopping the [Senate] GOP.”
               Trump didn’t wait to fire back, declaring this morning, “If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!”
               That Trump did so little to shore up GOP prospects in the House lends credence to the idea that he’s setting up just the foil he needs for reelection.
               Notably, women favored Democrats by 19 points. Democrats were strong in the suburbs with more moderate candidates, though the leadership is still moving ever more to the extreme left. And Democrat Socialist commie-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may remain the “new face” of the party after her landslide win. Thus, the Demo majority may be difficult to maintain in 2020 — if the GOP narrows the gap with women. Footnote: One Leftmedia list of “first” female House victors excluded Young Kim, the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress. Why? She’s a Republican.

~The Patriot Post  

             While some conservatives have complained that the sanctions don’t go far enough, pointing to the fact that eight nations were granted a waiver from the sanctions to continue purchasing oil and gas from Iran, others argue that this gives the U.S. greater room to make the argument that the sanctions are targeted at the regime in Tehran and not the Iranian people. The Wall Street Journal notes, “Even with the waivers, the expectation of sanctions has already taken 1.1 million barrels of Iranian oil a day off the market. That’s a lot of lost income for the Iranian economy. Note, too, that the Administration didn’t spare the European Union from the oil sanctions following its refusal to cooperate with helping the U.S. renegotiate Barack scumbag/liar-nObama’s flawed nuclear deal with Tehran.”
               On the other hand, The Washington Free Beacon reports, “Iran is being given a pass from the administration to continue nuclear projects at the Arak, Bushehr, and Fordow facilities, all contested sites that have been at the center of Tehran’s secretive nuclear enrichment work in the past.” Evidently the Trump administration values economic pressure over tightening other restrictions at this time. We’ll see if that pans out.
               While this latest action may not be perfect, it goes a long way in correcting the course on Iran. scumbag/liar-nObama helped make this mess and Trump is left working to clean it up, and thus far it’s a good start. Europe’s leaders are likely to continue squawking their opposition, but in the long run, their financial ties to the U.S. will motivate them to get in line and follow along. Remember the ultimate goal here is to see the end of the current Iranian regime’s threat.
               Footnote: The Democrats’ favorite anti-Semite, Louis Farrakhan, was in Iran over the weekend, where he declared, “America has never been a democracy and has always leaned towards the wealthy and powerful class.” He then led a crowd of law students in chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Perhaps he’d prefer to stay out of our country, then.

~The Patriot Post  

             Trump noted that he would be releasing the “comprehensive” order next week, adding, “Those who choose to break our laws and enter illegally will no longer be able to use meritless claims to gain automatic admission into our country. We will hold them — for a long time, if necessary. The only longterm solution to the crisis, and the only way to ensure the endurance of our nation as a sovereign country, is for Congress to overcome open-borders obstruction.” He also emphasized, “We will end catch and release. We are not releasing any longer.”
               This is indeed a welcome announcement from Trump. For too long the U.S. asylum system has been abused by illegal aliens who are caught sneaking across the border. If one’s asylum request is legitimate, then go to a legal port of entry and apply.
               Trump is also making it clear that he is interested in stopping illegal immigration, not legal immigration or the legal process for making genuine and needed asylum requests. This is not, nor has it ever been, a quest to stop legal immigration or asylum. Nor has it been about the ethnic background of those seeking entry into the U.S. It hasalways been an issue of enforcing our nation’s sovereignty and laws.
                  The truth is that most illegal aliens who sneak into the U.S. do so because they know they don’t meet the asylum requirements. That fact is borne out by the regular practice of illegal aliens making requests for asylum only after they have been apprehended by the Border Patrol. Secondly, as Trump noted, escaping poverty is not legitimate grounds for asylum. Socialism south of our border is certainly bad, and these countries are often economically wrecked, but that’s not sufficient to grant access to our own lavish benefits.

~The Patriot Post  

             You may have guessed already — that “scholar” is none other than Barack scumbag/liar-nObama, the same hypocrite who “decided on his own who’s an American citizen” with his unconstitutional DACA gambit. Remember? Armed with his phone and pen, scumbag/liar-nObama decided that since Congress had declined to advance his preferred legislation to grant citizenship to “Dreamers” — immigrants of a certain age brought here by their parents — he would do so himself. And that was despite scumbag/liar-nObama’s previous repeated declarations that the president had no such authority.
               To be sure, there’s a key difference between  scumbag/liar-nObama’s action and Trump’s proposal — beyond the fact that Trump hasn’t actually done anything yet. As we explained last week, we believe it’s clear the authors of the 14th Amendment did not intend to extend citizenship to the children of illegal aliens. That means, contrary to breathless Leftmedia assertions, Trump would not actually be changing the Constitution with an executive order. He’d be changing the executive branch’s interpretation of it to match the original intent.
               Yet Trump quickly tempered his idea by saying that he’d rather see Congress address the issue. He’s on far better footing with that suggestion, but that doesn’t make scumbag/liar-nObama’s demagoguery any more accurate.
               Meanwhile, scumbag/liar-nObama is the same guy who also not long ago hypocritically lectured, “I’d like to think there are compassionate conservatives out there who think there’s nothing compassionate about ripping immigrant children from the arms of their mothers at the border and putting them in pens.” You know, like his administration did.
               On a final note, scumbag/liar-nObama wondered at another rally, “Why is it that the folks that won the last election are so mad all the time?” First of all, conservatives are mad that hypocrites like scumbag/liar-nObama are still sanctimoniously telling us how evil we are. Second, conservatives are pleasantly happy compared to the rage of the Left.

~The Patriot Post  

             Despite controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, Republicans couldn’t muster enough votes to pass the PROSPER Act in 2017. Instead of having enacted their own reforms to higher-education standards and student-loan reforms, including the assurance that freedom of speech and fiscal responsibility were key components of the new act, Republicans may well be handing this one over to dummycrats-Democrats.
               And don’t think for a moment that the dummycrats-Democrats don’t have a plan.
               House and Senate dummycrats-Democrats are planning to reauthorize the Higher Education Act in the form of the Orwellian Aim Higher Act, which will largely take student-loan borrowers off the hook for repaying their loans while leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. If dummycrats-Democrats have their way, billions of dollars in student loans will be forgiven in a move that takes us one step closer to their dream of “free” college for everyone.
               Of course, the AHA doesn’t bother to tackle government spending, ensure education quality, or incentivize lower tuition. Even illegal immigrants who quality for DACA will be free to rack up student-loan debt with no responsibility to pay it back. Prisoners, too, will be able to tap into Pell Grants and earn a college degree.
               The only thing that changes in the dummycrats-Democrats’ plan is that even more federal money will be spent on higher education. As with all other socialist fantasies, “free” education is anything but free — except for those most responsible for running up the tab.
               Jason Delisle and Cody Christensen write at National Review that payments on student loans under the revised program would barely cover the interest on those loans: “Such generous repayment terms transform federal loans almost into grants, signaling that borrowing more is better than borrowing less. For graduate and professional students who, unlike undergraduates, can access unlimited federal loans for tuition and living expenses, the Aim Higher Act would turn the loan program into a veritable ATM that dispenses taxpayer dollars, at least for those who ended up earning middle-class incomes.”
               One aspect of the new proposal that seems too bad to be true is that students who’ve borrowed a higher amount may simply be able to run out the clock on their debt. “Thanks to the income exemption in the Aim Higher Act,” Delisle and Christensen add, “payments are low enough that the additional principal and interest owed on debts higher than $65,000 for a borrower with the given income profile are simply forgiven at the 20-year point. A $165,000 loan costs this borrower the same as a $65,000 loan. Either way, monthly payments would be identical for 20 years, and then all remaining debt is forgiven. Graduate students who do not max out their loans under such incentives would literally leave free money — provided at taxpayers’ expense — on the table.”
               dummycrats-Democrats always claim that offering free public services will actually save money and reduce the national debt. In the end, forgiving more student loans under the Aim Higher Act will only add more weight onto the shoulders of future generations. Just last year, Money reported that student-loan debt had topped $1.3 trillion. But as long as college-age voters flock to the dummycrats-Democrat Party, no one in their leadership ranks really cares about the cost.
               As Margaret Thatcher once famously stated, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Free college for all? Don’t fall for it.

~The Patriot Post  

             Though Bredesen was originally considered a sacrificial lamb, a placeholder but not competitive, that shifted earlier this year for several reasons.
               First would be that the dummycrats-Democrats’ national strategy is “HATE TRUMP,” and Bredesen has received enormous support from out-of-state leftists, including $3.5 million in ad support from dummycrats-Demo Sen. Chuck scumbag/clown-Schumer (D-NY), and big-dollar support from New York leftist Michael Bloomberg. Second, opposition from some wealthy establishment Republican elitists who don’t like Blackburn’s alignment with Trump (or more likely have problems with strong women) has helped turn Bredesen into a viable competitor. Last, even retiring Sen. Corker, who last year got into a distasteful spat with Trump, has offered tepid support for Blackburn, saying only that he will vote for her and has maxed out his donations to her campaign.
               As with many dummycrats-Demo campaigns across the country, Bredesen’s team has endeavored to paint him as a “moderate,” but that is a fallacious deception.
               To drive home that point, Marsha’s team developed what should serve as a model opposition ad for every Republican facing a “moderate” dummycrats-Democrat — pulling clips from Bredesen’s phony claims of bipartisanship and comparing those with identical fake claims by Barack scumbag/liar-nObama and scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton.

VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLUQfBingQo

~The Patriot Post