Russia, Israel, and 408 Tanks.

I've intentionally steered away from writing since the election for a number of reasons. First, there is an ever-growing number of Senators, House members, journalists and pundits that have collectively lost their minds. Secondly, even reputable news sources, like Foreign Policy magazine and the Economist have clearly jumped the shark with anti-Trump headlines. Third, the Elites have clearly missed the message of this election. They are dug in like ticks and it is seemingly impossible to pull them out. Trump will not drain the swamp, if at all, alone.

While I am thankful that ordinary Americans do not seem to yet be infected, I feel compelled to make a plea for reason nonetheless.

Russia

Newsflash: Russia has been influencing elections in the United States since 1788. That's right, since the inception of our nation, foreign powers have made every effort to persuade our people to support one candidate or another through money, threats, fear and direct action. Just because it is done through "hacking" rather than newspaper plants in 2016 doesn't suddenly make it worse or more remarkable. 

Another newsflash: The United States has been influencing "elections" in Russia since 1917. That's right, America has taken direct and indirect action to change events in Russia since the Communist Revolution. Most recently, the CIA, at Hillary Clinton's instruction, paid influence peddlers in Russia to arrange protests of Vladimir Putin's "reelection." As we say down south, he took that kinda personal like. And turnabout is fair play.

These are all well known facts. So, to sit self-righteously and peddle a false narrative like "Russia hacked the election" is naive and can only be designed to weaken Trump for political gain. It is unpatriotic and should stop immediately, lest we have a real war with Russia and need our Commander in Chief to be strong.

Finally, blaming Russia for hacking John Podesta's poorly secured emails is like leaving the keys in your unlocked Ferrari with a "steal me" sign on it and then blaming the thief. They spy on us. We spy on them. They hack us, and we hack them. That is unremarkable to me. What is remarkable to me is that the same administration that funneled money to a faux political group in Israel to oppose Netanyahu now whines that their not so super-secret, embarrassing emails were hacked and used against them in humiliating fashion during an election. Again, turnabout is fair play. Get over it.

And just in case there are some truly uninformed folks out there who still listen to MSNBC, Russia did not "hack the election." Not a single voting machine was tampered with by Russia. Not a single polling station reported Russian spies standing outside with money or guns. No votes were changed. We are all responsible for our own votes and, yes, Trump actually won the election fair and square. 

Israel

The Obama administration seems intent on settling scores with foreign political rivals in the final days of its presidency. Obama and liberal Democrats want to start a war with Russia (a nuclear power) because they were politically embarrassed. John Kerry, Samantha Power and President Obama want to make sure Israel's bargaining position in the middle east is completely undermined because Netanyahu embarrassed Obama in the Congress over the Iran deal. The lesson here is, do whatever you want, but do not embarrass Democrats. Hell hath no fury...

Israel has been at war with all non-Jews in the middle east for more than 5,000 years. There is no American President or Secretary of State that will ever change that. When your culture is ancient, you tend to take a long view of things. Jews have taken the long view of the current conflict with the Palestinians, as well they should. It reminds me of the story of Beethoven visiting Prince Lichnowsky in the Austrian court. After a perceived insult, Beethoven famously said: "There have been and still will be thousands of princes, but there will be only one Beethoven."

Israel will stand until the end of time, regardless of what President Obama or John Kerry say. Unfortunately, the end of time can be hastened by Iranian nuclear missiles. All nuclear strategy and diplomacy is dependent on what has been known as the "rational man theory." That is, our strategists  have traditionally based their analysis on the premise that a rational man has his finger on the big, red button in Russia, or wherever there are nuclear weapons. The idea goes something like this; a rational man would not press the button because he is virtually assured of reciprocal destruction. The theory can be reduced to "mutually assured destruction" or "MAD" for short. 

MAD is fantastic, if you have a rational actor on the other side. But, what happens when you have a crazy Jihadi, dreaming of his 72 virgins, with his dirty little hand on the button?

Boom.

The German Connection

Germany, a member of NATO, is down to its last 408 tanks. Most of those are not considered main battle tanks, and not all of those are in service. Some sources put the number of operational main battle tanks in Germany at around 80. 

You cannot be a serious military player with 80 tanks. Even with 408 tanks, comparable military powers include, Kazakhstan, Chile, and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Congo. (For comparison, Egypt has 4600 and Russia has 15,000). Nevertheless, Germany, through its bizarre immigration of Syrian refugees, has opened the gates of Europe to the gates of Hell. The nation least capable and least willing to fight Jihadism has sealed Europe's fate. 

The number of known refugees from the middle east currently in Europe now exceeds one million. It is probably many more than that and, while it is true that the vast majority are peaceful, it takes only a small percentage to destabilize the continent. As I've said before, it would only take 3,000 Jihadis with guns to lay siege to a large city or overtake a small town. If you think holding 300 people hostage in a nightclub is bad, wait and see what holding an entire town hostage looks like.

And that's without a nuke.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but the time for silliness is over. Hurt feelings over the election, safe spaces and crying rooms are no match for the very scary enemies we face. Yes, Russia is an adversary, but let's be adult about their misconduct. George W. Bush should have stopped Putin when he invaded Georgia. He didn't. Obama should have stopped Putin in Crimea. He didn't. He again could have intervened in Ukraine and didn't. I have no patience for intervention now just because he and his friends are embarrassed over a hacking scandal. Again, silliness.

The challenges we face are identical now to the challenges we faced before the election. America chose a new President and presumably a new direction for handling these challenges. The collective wisdom of the American people always impresses me. We are smarter, more resolute, tougher and wiser than the entire class of elite, self-proclaimed "experts" that have mucked up our world over the last 25 years. Let's have some faith in ourselves and our new leadership.

Trexit

Facebook walls and the Twitterverse are exploding this morning. Emotions are running high, friendships are being strained and Americans are moving to Canada. The American Republic has cast its votes and Trump has won. Here are some quick takeaways.

1.  There Is A Silent Majority.

The polls were all over the place in the days before the election. Some of that is because some polls were inherently biased or constructed in such a way as to make a Clinton win look inevitable. Mostly, however, it was because the pollsters were asking the wrong questions of the wrong people, and people were not being honest about their answers.

As I said several weeks ago, you generally do not win a jury trial by calling the jurors bigoted cavemen. Clinton's entire strategy was to make Donald Trump radioactive. She focused her efforts on calling him names and labeling his supporters as misogynists. She had to make it unacceptable in gentle company to voice support for him. So they kept quiet.

This strategy failed because not everyone lives in posh homes in Washington and New York. In fact, the vast majority of the nation lives in "fly-over country," has never eaten arugula and generally will not pay $7 for a cup of coffee. Clinton lost these votes because she deeply offended the average person with her labeling. 

2.  Identity Politics Has Reached Its Breaking Point.

We still do not have all the numbers, but the exit polling shows that Trump over performed with women, African Americans and Hispanics. Hillary Clinton spent most of her campaign telling minority voters that there is no place for them in "Trump's America." She defined Trump's America as white, bigoted, and uneducated. She drew her line in the sand - Us non-white women vs. those angry white men.

The angry white men won because they and their wives still make up 70% of the electorate. Hillary Clinton alienated a huge segment of this very large voting block with predictable results. As unpalatable as she had made Trump, she still could not gather enough minority votes to make up for the white voters she shoved off the cliff.

The same is true for her gender politics. Our country is about half male and half female. When not focused on calling Trump and his supporters racists, Clinton proclaimed herself the great champion in the final battle of the sexes. She would raise her fist and smash, once and for all, those oppressive fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, boyfriends, etc. She apparently expected men to just lay down and take it. Instead, they voted against her in record numbers. She knew this would happen, and planned to create a gender gap of her own among women. That gender gap did not materialize on Election Day the way it had in the polls. This is most likely due to the fact that men and women really are not that far apart on the issues. Also, as I've written before, wives and husbands tend to vote together or don't vote at all. The Clinton fantasy that a bunch of angry wives would come out of their oppressive kitchens, knife their husbands and then race to vote for Clinton was just that, a fantasy. Instead couples talked about the election and made a collective decision.

In the future, if the Democrats want to win, they will have to reach out to majority voters as Trump did; the Forgotten Men and Woman left behind by the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama new world order.

3.  The Establishment Will Suffer.

This election was a rejection of both political establishments. Nevertheless, the voters are sending Trump to Washington with control of both houses of Congress. He will be able to fill Supreme Court vacancies with ease, end regulation, and pass his version of immigration reform. In other words, voters were not just giving the Establishment a collective middle finger. They also wanted Trump in a position to actually succeed. Lucky for Paul Ryan and company he lifted them up, even as they tried to drag him down.

The Conservative Elite Media will not be so lucky. A number of careers are either badly damaged or outright destroyed. All the Karl Roves, George Wills, Bill Kristols, and Erik Eriksons lost. They lost in spectacular fashion. Not only were they completely wrong about the electorate, but they have misread their own audiences. The first rule of being an opinion writer is making sure your opinion matters. George Will's opinion of Trump and his voters no longer matters.

In the days and weeks ahead Trump owes it to the nation to begin to heal some of the divide. It is not entirely his fault, but some of the damage is his and he has a duty to fix it. The Clinton/Bush Era has finally come to an end. It is up to Trump supporters to show the world how good, old fashioned, red state values can fix a nation.

This Disappointing Election Was Decades In The Making

As the presidential election comes to a close, a full 85% of Americans would prefer a candidate other than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It is not difficult to understand why. Secretary Clinton has proven to be corrupt and Donald Trump has proven to be foul and boorish.  We have ourselves to blame as voters, but even so, it is not all our fault. Established political elites from both parties forced a process in which two unacceptable candidates became inevitable. The Democratic primary was literally rigged, as we now know from Wikileaks. The Republican voters, after suffering years of rigged primaries of their own finally rebelled. The result was Donald Trump.

The Republican Party Will Be Unrecognizable

If you are an ordinary voter, that is, not some talking head or Neocon opinion writer, you are probably somewhat unhappy with Donald Trump as the message bearer. That is not to say that you would have changed your vote in the primary, but you wish his populist, antiestablishment message had been promoted by some other outsider who is more polished. But Trump was selected for a reason. He represents a complete rebuke of the Republican Establishment Elite and their hangers on in the conservative media. Donald Trump was selected because Donald Trump is a caricature. He's a realty TV star who appears on the Howard Stern show and says lewd things. He is the antithesis of the polished, plastic political Ken dolls the Republican elite have been shoving down voters' throats for decades. If you were to pick the perfect messenger to deliver a stunning rebuke to your establishment, Trump is it.

In the wake of their humiliating defeat, the Republican Establishment Elite wasted no time exposing themselves to their base. Paul Ryan, the sitting Speaker of the House, before any salacious sex stories were uncovered, refused to endorse Trump. Instead he summoned the newly selected nominee to Capitol Hill to lecture him on Republican Establishment values. Trump was having none of it and, rightfully, withheld his own endorsement of Ryan and his agenda. 

The Bushes refused to endorse Trump. After decades of being defended by the Republican base for some very foolish decisions, the Bushes have now turned on their own voters.

Members of former Republican administrations have publicly announced that Donald Trump is too dangerous to be President. And, of course, conservative media icons like Bill Kristol, George Will, Rich Lowery, Karl Rove, and others have taken every opportunity to bash Trump, call him names and predict his demise in an effort to ingratiate themselves to the elites in Washington. 

Their actions are hypocritical. Karl Rove, for example, excoriates Trump for pandering to his base of white male voters. Well, it was Karl Rove who implemented that same strategy in Ohio in 2004 to get Bush reelected. Mr. Rove, sensing he could increase Republican turn out, put gay marriage on the ballot in that state. Yes, that's right, Mr. Rove used what has now been judged to be anti-Gay bigotry to drive President Bush to reelection. This is, of course, nothing new to the Bushes. George Sr. was propelled to victory over Michael Dukakis with a racially offensive ad featuring Willie Horton; an ad that has been used against Republicans for decades now to label them racist. Trump's rhetoric may be over the top, but he has yet to actually stoop to the extremely low levels that Rove and the Bushes did in their elections. They should keep their mouths shut.

Conservative media elites are no better. This is the same crew that has always endorsed mild mannered men who later go on to lose. They despise the Republican base, the Tea Party, and any voter who disagrees with their Neocon agenda. And what is that agenda? It has been an agenda of perpetual war, globalism, symbolic regulatory and tax reform, and the consolidation of power around squishy moderates. 

The Republican Establishment Elites have utterly failed the party. Consider this, in the last 26 years, the Establishment has controlled the process. They have won exactly three Presidential elections. Establishment picks in the last 26 years:

George H.W. Bush - Lost reelection to Bill Clinton.

Bob Dole - Lost.

George W. Bush - Won twice, but lost the popular vote once.

John McCain - Lost.

Mitt Romney - Lost.

For almost three decades, the Republican Establishment has controlled a process that has produced defeat. If you were to remove from consideration the Republican Revolution of 1994, led by Newt Gingrich, and the two Tea Party victories, the same pathetic record would exist for Congressional races as well. To be direct, the Republican Establishment stinks at politics. 

Donald Trump has battled his own party, the news media, and the Democrats. The friendly fire he's received from elites in his own party will not be forgotten by the voters and, since the voters favor Trump over Paul Ryan by a 70 - 30% margin, it is pretty obvious who the real losers will be in the inevitable Republican civil war. 

Without the base of the party, there is no party. The base has utterly and completely rejected establishment politics and is now even more incensed after watching these elites show their true colors. It would be enough if they simply did nothing to help Trump and kept their mouths shut. It is something entirely different when the party elite actively work to undermine their own nominee's campaign. It is tantamount to rejecting the will of the voters. Well, the great unwashed masses have already washed their hands of Republicanism and that has been reflected in every poll since Mitt Romney won the nomination in 2012.

The party will splinter into nothing. In the near future, Bill Kristol will be writing fluff pieces about how brave Paul Ryan is putting the Republican coalition back together ... as the minority leader. George Will can rejoin the ever shrinking minority party in good conscience, knowing that he stood up to the disgusting Republican base and helped take them out. As Laura Ingraham so poignantly said, they can all go back to their think tanks in Washington and dream up a bunch of "conservative" policies that no Republican will ever be in power to implement.

Good for them.

The Trump Accusers

Surprise, Donald Trump, a reality TV star and beauty pageant sponsor, is more boorish than your average man. I say "more boorish" because almost all men are capable of saying and doing some boorish things. As any married woman, especially any married woman with teenage boys can tell you, boys are gross and sometimes think, say, and do icky things. This understanding of the male species is nearly universal, unless you are a journalist, a Democrat, a Republican Ken doll, or a Hollywood actor. Because, of course, those people never say or do anything boorish...

It is a good thing, for example, that no President ever raped his black slaves. It is a good thing that no President had an affair with his wife's secretary while brave men were dying on the beaches of Normandy. We are lucky that no President had multiple affairs in the White House with staffers during the Cuban Missile Crisis, including at least one who was underage. And thank God that, while we were bombing Iraq and dealing with the transition of power in Russia, the President wasn't fiddling around with cigars and an intern in the oval office. If those things had been true, this nation would be in shambles...Right?

It is not okay to grope women. It is not okay to talk about groping women. It is really stupid to talk about groping women if you don't actually grope women, and it is supremely stupid to talk about anything off color at all with an Access Hollywood reporter. However, Donald Trump was not running for President at the time and had no plans to. He did not talk about it in the oval office, and the accusers that have come forward have some problems with their stories.

I would remind all of my liberal friends, particularly those who do any defense work, that these types of allegations are disproven all the time. Most people jump to the conclusion that a man is guilty of sexual assault or harassment before any investigation has taken place. There is a good reason for this. Most of us would never, ever lie about such a thing, so we cannot fathom a woman lying about such a thing either. However, it is an unfortunate truth that women sometimes lie, and they sometimes lie about sexual assault or sexual harassment. 

Of the four women who have come forward, one sent emails to the Trump campaign asking him to visit her new restaurant. When he said no, the allegations began to pour out. Of course, it begs the question. If Trump was so horrible to her, why was she inviting him to come promote her restaurant during the campaign?

Another accuser claims Trump fondled her on an airplane. Unfortunately for this accuser, there was an eyewitness, a British man, who was so incensed by the story, and the implication that he had done nothing to stop it, that he came forward to refute her version of events. According to this eyewitness, Trump "did nothing of the sort," and in fact, "she was doing the flirting."

The third accuser wrote an article about Trump's new marriage to Melania. According to her, Trump took her into another room and tried to kiss her. Of course, this obvious attempt at infidelity did not make it into the People Magazine story about Trump's marriage. Although this accuser made contemporaneous statements which would tend to corroborate her story that something happened, it seems unusual to ignore an obviously tantalizing opportunity to destroy the Donald and make news.

The final accuser claims that Mr. Trump was alone in a nightclub and groped her. First, as Mr. Trump has pointed out, he is never alone in a nightclub. If he had been alone, he would have been recognized anyway. Moreover, it is well known that Donald Trump does not drink alcohol. The Donald, alone in a nightclub, just looking for an opportunity to grope someone seems unlikely. 

All of that being said, if Donald Trump is guilty of this misconduct, he should be sued or charged, lose and then be impeached. I am quite certain that there would be no shortage of Republican Establishment elites who would jump at the chance to remove Trump from office and replace him with Mike Pence. Between the elites and the Democrats, they could probably do it by unanimous consent...

Twenty days before an election is simply not long enough to adjudicate allegations of sexual misconduct, but Trump, like all accused, is entitled to at least some presumption of innocence.

The Trump Message

Drowned out by the scandalous news media coverage is Trump's message. Trump has certainly done his part to drown out his own message, but the media bias in this election surpasses anything anyone has ever seen before. Donald Trump can spend 45 minutes talking about policy and make one misstatement about Mexicans and the news media only reports the misstatement. 

The Trump message, however, is popular and easy to understand. He wants to secure our borders, end bad trade deals, revitalize manufacturing, rebuild our military, renegotiate NATO contributions to the common defense, appoint conservative judges, protect the Second Amendment, ban partial birth abortion, cut taxes, cut regulation, and end the revolving door between public service and lobbying.

Donald Trump wants to end Establishment nest feathering, crony capitalism, and dirty backroom deals. His agenda is exactly what this country needs and at exactly the time we need it. Our country has suffered from anemic growth for more than a decade now, and regular folks have begun to lose hope in our country. When you cannot find a good job, when you cannot support your family on one income, when you cannot find something you are proud to do, then you become despondent.

The Forgotten Man remains, at best, forgotten. At worst, he is ridiculed for clinging to his guns and religion, or labeled irredeemable and deplorable. He is labeled a redneck, uneducated, and a racist bigot who hates women. But the Forgotten Men are the men that fight our wars, grow our food, build our cars, mine our coal, drill our oil, and preserve our traditional pioneer values. These are the men that are voting for Trump.

Establishment elites and other snobs continue to ridicule these men as troglodytes, and men of low character. Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of men and the vast majority of white men will be voting for Trump in this election. You can label Trump whatever you want, but be very careful how you label his supporters. Without them, there are no factories, farms, or soldiers. Without them, the elites and their sycophants would be on their own, without any arugula to eat, Navy Seals to protect them, or Cadillacs to drive. They most certainly will not survive the coming confrontations with other serious men, like Vladimir Putin.

The Danger Of Clinton Corruption

If Hillary Clinton were competent and not corrupt, I would vote for her over Trump. Unfortunately, she has proven to be both incompetent and corrupt. Bernie Sanders would have been a much better candidate and would be a much better President. 

But Clinton corruption prevailed in the primary. Wikileaks has been able to prove that Clinton was able to leverage the DNC, the news media and some very dirty tactics to rig the system against Bernie Sanders. Some of the revelations are sickening. She was going to attack him as a Jew. She was going to attack him as a communist. She was going to question his mental health. She actually went so far as to try to convince election officials in Illinois to move the date of the Illinois primary to stop Sanders' momentum. She colluded with DNC officials to marginalize Sanders, and the DNC was more than happy to oblige. 

In the general election, leaked emails show that Clinton has a near despotic relationship with the media. Just as Putin controls much of the Russian media, we now know for sure, thanks to WikiLeaks, that the American news media actively colludes with the Democrats. Clinton has reviewed news articles before they are released to the public. She was given the questions by CNN analyst Donna Brazille before the second debate. News organizations ignore her obvious misconduct and have helped develop and disseminate the Clinton narrative. 

Recent revelations from WikiLeaks should make every American fear for our democracy. What they show is a pattern of bias and corruption that is usually only seen in places like the Soviet Union. We know from credible but anonymous FBI sources that the career agents and prosecutors in the Bureau  were adamant about indicting Clinton for her misconduct while Secretary of State. We know that top officials at the State Department offered political goodies to FBI investigators who would help to bury classified emails that were found on her personal server. We know that she knowingly lied about the intelligence coming after the attack in Benghazi. We also know from WikiLeaks that she initiated a major cover up to protect herself and President Obama from any scrutiny. 

Hillary Clinton thinks she is above the law because she is above the law. For that reason alone, she is more of a danger to our democracy than Trump could ever be. She openly ignores the law, she applies questionably legal tactics to get what she wants, she conspires to destroy anyone that gets in  her way, she routinely lies to the American people and Congress, and she refuses to face any media scrutiny or take serious questions about her misconduct. If Hillary Clinton is elected, our nation will continue further down this path of crony capitalism, pay to play, nest feathering, lies and basic incompetence. 

If there is anyone who is still uncertain as to the level of self importance harbored by Democrat elites, consider this: 

Russia invades Crimea, nothing. Syria uses chemical weapons, nothing. Russia invades Ukraine, nothing. Russia supports Assad and kills U.S. allies on the ground in Syria, nothing. 

But...

Russia hacks into the DNC and publishes embarrassing emails, Obama threatens an all out cyberwar with Russia. I guess we know where their priorities lie...

These Democrat elites, and Clinton in particular, represent a fundamental threat to our democratic institutions. Where the rule of law means nothing, where collusion and bribery are commonplace, where the American people are constantly manipulated and balkanized, and where significant American strategic goals are traded for personal gain, there is no democracy. America becomes just another banana republic racing towards its place on the great trash heap of history. 

Hillary Clinton cannot become President.

The Home Stretch

Like most people, I've never been so disappointed in our political system. It is rigged, the voters are ignored, and the common man or woman cannot get a fair shake. We have obviously lost our way as a nation. There is nothing about this election that will fix that, but it may be enough to at least beat the bushes and force the snakes to show themselves. If Trump is elected, the established elites of the Republican Party will be humiliated and marginalized, probably for a long time. The party can then begin to rebuild from the ashes of this horrible election. If Trump loses, there will no longer be a Republican Party as it is currently known. What comes out of that ash heap is anyone's guess.

If Clinton is elected, it is likely that Paul Ryan and company will be in a small minority in Congress. Clinton will appoint liberal judges who will support her plans to take away your guns and your right to carry a weapon. Partial birth abortion will be carved into the law for decades. Globalism will continue to erode U.S. manufacturing, and regulatory burdens will continue to force American businesses, and their jobs, overseas. American energy production will be attacked, and your taxes will go up. 

This is as terrible a choice as an electorate could face in the modern era. But, in my mind, the orgy of corruption from the Establishments of both parties must be put to an end. That means, as abhorrent as he may be, Trump is the right choice for America at this moment in history. 

Midwestern Common Sense Trumps Personal Attacks

In case you missed it, last night's Vice Presidential debate pitted a calm, genuine Mike Pence against an overly aggressive, rude Tim Kaine. Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, channeled his inner Paul Harvey and, with a classic Hoosier accent (half Southern, half Midwestern), he proceeded to gently but firmly expose the Clinton campaign strategy for what it is. 

By contrast, Tim Kaine did little more than bark insults at Trump and his supporters in more that 65, yes 65, interruptions. To be fair to Senator Kaine, the format of the debate lended itself to verbal clutter. Two minutes is simply not enough time to answer a complex question about Syria, much less answer the question, rebut the opponent's last statement and then ad lib as necessary. Also to be fair to Senator Kaine, it seems clear that Clinton's strategy was to relitigate as many Trump misstatements as possible with an eye towards solidifying her position with her voting base. Clinton's singular focus has been and continues to be to label Trump and all of his supporters as bigots. This, of course, is nothing new. Democrats have avoided responsibility for their own failures in minority communities for decades by labeling the other party a cabal of Klan members just waiting around for an opportunity to bring back Jim Crow. The strategy has been very effective. Republicans receive almost no African American or Latino votes. But in the context of a debate, it is my guess that this strategy will prove to be largely ineffective. Governor Pence likely capitalized on that and won over some undecided voters.

Hilary Clinton already has almost all of the Hispanic, African American and single woman vote. There is an old saying in debate, when you've won your argument, stop arguing. Clinton has won the argument for these voters. Dedicating 90 minutes to solidifying her position with these groups, while at the same time alienating undecided white voters of both genders is a mistake. Kaine's tone alone, with his constant interruptions of both the moderator and Governor Pence, represents the debate style that viewers hate the most. If a voter is going to take 90 minutes out of his or her life to listen to a couple of politicians speak, he or she wants to actually hear what each candidate is saying. That is particularly true if that voter is still undecided. Ad hominem attacks are universally unpersuasive in debate. Any judge, debate coach, or expert debater will tell you that. Kaine's style likely alienated those voters.

Worse, it probably served to solidify Trump supporters. No one likes being called a bigot. Spending 90 minutes shaming Donald Trump as a bigot is 90 minutes spent labeling his supporters as bigots as well. Americans are not stupid. The natural response to being called a bigot is to resist the charge and double down on the candidate being attacked. In other words, labeling people as racists is counterproductive and unpersuasive.

Governor Pence went into the debate with a different agenda. His was to show that he has the temperament to be President and the influence to moderate his running mate's temperament as needed. Mike Pence is an Establishment favorite and it's easy to see why. He is plain spoken, smart, informed, and quick on his feet. His demeanor was his strongest weapon in the debate. With each attack, Pence dismissed his opponent like a gentle, rural grandfather dismissing an obstinate teenage boy. He didn't take Kaine to the woodshed, but he did make Kaine look petty and off message. 

On substance, both sides acquitted themselves well. There is no question that Kaine is competent and can execute the duties of the office. By Democrat standards, Kaine is more to the center than, say, Elizabeth Warren. It really is too bad that he spent his time on ad hominem attacks rather than demonstrating his obvious command of the issues.

Pence should have run for President. Whether he could have changed the outcome of the primary in such a clear anti-establishment environment is uncertain. To my Establishment friends who loathe Trump, I would refer you back to one of my earlier posts on the primary. Jeb Bush and a potential Romney revamp sucked the life out of all of the other potential Establishment candidates like Pence. Pence didn't run because he didn't want to compete against these perennial Establishment behemoths. It seems clear to at least this Republican that Pence would have been a good choice, and the Party needs to do a better job managing the behemoths out of the process in anti-incumbent years. 

A few thoughts on the moderator. Like the last debate, it is difficult to watch these moderators. Elaine Quijano was no better than Lester Holt. Between Kaine and the moderator, Mike Pence was statically interrupted far more than he was not, including during key moments in the debate. For example, Kaine was able to repeat his "Trump is a bigot" line of attack at least five times without interruption, much less without any challenge from Quijano. Mike Pence, on the other hand, only tried twice to attack Clinton on her emails or the Clinton Foundation. Both times Quijano interrupted Pence with a dismissive tone and then deferred to Kaine to continue the interruption. Whether by accident or by design, Quijano appeared biased. At best Quijano appeared to have totally lost control of the debate and Tim Kaine. Something tells me that didn't bother her one bit.

The next Presidential debate is Sunday. It is a townhall format, which should favor a candidate like Trump, who tends to be more comfortable with extemporaneous speech - that is, when he doesn't get too far off message. The stakes are extremely high for both parties. The polls are essentially tied, with Clinton holding a slight lead overall and a very slight lead in the battleground states. One classic Hillary flub, like "basket of deplorables" would sink her. Likewise, one personal attack on some private citizen from Trump will sink him. Message discipline will be the key, and for that reason you have to bet on Clinton. 

  

If nothing else, these debates have served the public by illustrating the stark contrast between these candidates. Whatever the outcome of this election, no voter will be able to say that he or she didn't know what they were voting for. Neither candidate is being deceptive about their agenda.  In that sense, we will get exactly the government for which we vote. Quite frankly, I'm not sure, having nominated these two candidates, what that says about us as a nation. 

Lester Holt Proves Media Bias

There were no questions about Benghazi. There was not a single question about Secretary Clinton's private email server and the subsequent deaths of intelligence assets overseas. There were no questions about the Iranian money for hostages trade. Mr. Holt didn't ask Secretary Clinton about the failed Russian "reset," the cringeworthy Iran deal, her statement about half the country being a "basket of deplorables," immigration, her refusal to hold a press conference, or her recent collapse in the heat at a 9/11 function. 

Mr. Trump, on the other hand, was asked about being a "birther," asked about his tax returns, his past statements about women, his position on the invasion of Iraq (before he was even a politician), his bankruptcies, and his temperament. It was an all out assault on his character.

Now, many people will argue that there is simply more to attack Trump on and so that's how the debate went. That is partially true, but even the most hardened Democrat can recognize that Secretary Clinton was not pressed on any major misstatement or policy mistake. Holt just handed her a win that she didn't even need.

Even taking all of that into consideration, it was a lively debate in which the candidates took control. Neither candidate did anything to win over undecided voters. If you were for Clinton, you are still for Clinton. If you were for Trump, you are still for Trump. Trump's negatives are already baked into the pie. The media and the Clinton campaign have spend hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of hours of time attacking Trump on every dumb thing he's said or done in his life. If you were persuaded by that, you're not going to suddenly change your mind. Likewise, if you know all of these things about Trump and were willing to support him anyway, nothing he said Monday night will change that. In that sense, the debate was a draw.

This debate did do one thing really well. It drew a stark contrast between the candidates. Trump is an unconventional candidate that approaches politics from the outside. He has been the target of government regulation and interference, and he knows first hand how government can destroy prosperity. He also knows how inefficient government is and why. Secretary Clinton, on the other hand, is the epitome of a wonky insider. She knows the issues, she wants to explore them by committee, engage other "experts" in the resolution and then implement that resolution. She approaches problems from a technocratic perspective, but one that is devoid of actual experience in the trenches with ordinary Americans or businesses. Hers is a theoretical approach, he is results oriented. She will accept the status quo, he will not.

This election is about experience; it's just a question of which kind of experience we want. Donald Trump is an experienced builder and business man. He actually employs people, builds buildings, deals with regulators, lawyers and the courts. He lives with the consequences of government everyday. He mingles with other businessmen and hears their concerns. He has been in the fight his entire life and he has succeeded. Secretary Clinton also has tremendous experience. She has been in government in one form or another for her entire adult life. She knows how politicians think and how to mobilize them to act on an agenda. She understands the nuances of diplomacy, even if she tends to come up short in the end when the deal is done. She has access to "experts," who will provide her with reasonable advice.

There really is a stark choice in this election, perhaps more so that in any other election. Their life stories, agendas, temperaments, experiences and policies could not be more different. All of those Establishment Republicans that were afraid Donald Trump is a secret democrat can't possibly still hold onto those illusions now. Bernie Sanders supporters can no longer hold on to any hope that Clinton will stay to the left during the general election. She will most certainly continue to move to the center in an effort snag those final few undecided voters. 

Lester Holt's agenda aside, the debate was pretty even. The candidates had the chance to project the image they wanted to project. It will soon be in the hands of the voters.

Republican Insider Elites Finally Drink Their Hemlocks As Hillary's Emails Kill A "Friend"

You couldn't make up a more fitting end to the Republican Establishment Elite than what is currently taking place. Dozens, if not hundreds, of old guard Establishment Republicrats are racing to the fields to hang themselves before the American public. For a year now, we've heard that Trump is "not a true conservative," and "not even a Republican." Yet, it is the liberal Republicans who are screaming mea culpa in the streets. After watching for a year as the party switches sides like a predictable version of Iago, I have to say, I'm glad to hear them scream.

The "Never Trump" movement is based on the idea that he is unfit for command. Now, putting aside the fact that he has never been in command outside of the private sector, a vote against Trump is a vote for Hillary Clinton. If you are still willing to allow Hillary Clinton to get elected after news broke this week that she very likely got a spy killed in Iran, you should reconsider your position.

This week, on the heels of a $400 million cash for hostages trade, Iran announced that it hanged Shahram Amiri. Mr Amiri was an Iranian nuclear scientist who was, in all likelihood, placed deep inside Iran's nuclear program as a spy. (The Obama Administration failed to secure his release with their $400 million). Mr. Amiri is now dead, and the question is, after being hailed as a hero by Iran, what changed? 

We know what changed. Hillary Clinton and her various foolish staffers outed Mr. Amiri as "our friend" in unsecured email communications running through her unsecured server. She discussed his placement, what he may know, and his identity.

Scooter Libby went to jail during the Bush administration for allegedly outing Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, a fact that was common knowledge in the cocktail circuit in Washington. Other Republican elites, like Karl Rove nearly went to jail with him. Secretary Clinton not only discussed his mission in unsecured communications that the FBI assumes were intercepted, but she revealed his identity. If we were to assume, as the FBI does, that these communications were intercepted and used by foreign powers, like Iran, then Hillary Clinton's "recklessness" has now led to its first known casualty. It is likely one of many casualties to come, and one of many that have already happened that we simply don't know about.

So, yeah, vote for her George Will. Let her become President, Erik Erickson. Trust her with your national secrets Michael Chertoff. See if she keeps us safe, Susan Collins. 

The American people are neither stupid nor fooled. Donald Trump won more votes than any other candidate in the history of the Republican primary, and he had 15 other opponents. Had it just been him and, say, Jeb Bush, his margin of victory would have been legion. The fact that these party insiders can't make up their minds about whether he is "too liberal" or "too conservative" tells you all you need to know. It's not about ideology. It's about them. It's about their own power and preserving their own influence. And for putting their own personal interests ahead of those of their nation, they deserve to be held up to ridicule as their "consciences" will not support Trump, but instead allow a corrupt female version of Dr. No to hold her finger over the button.

The Republican Party chose Trump. They forced him to sign a loyalty pledge, even if they never intended to honor it themselves. They were terrified that he would form a third party and defeat Jeb Bush the same way Jeb's father was defeated by Ross Perot. Now, when forced to choose between two deeply flawed candidates, they would have you believe that they cannot in good conscience choose the person who says stupid things over the person who does stupid things.

We will likely never know what other leaked state secrets have now been used to harm our nation or to execute spies. As Secretary of State, she had access to the most critical information, all of which passed through an unsecured server in her basement. The fact that it cannot be proven is of no real concern to a reasonable person. A poor outcome can be presumed from reckless conduct. Her conduct has now cost another life. She is unfit for command.

Democrats And The Media Use A Fallen Soldier To Insult America

You've never sacrificed anything for your country. Did you know that? You may have worked hard for your entire life, you've dutifully paid your taxes, you've given to charities, you've been there to help your neighbor when he needs it, you've chopped the wood, dug the ditches, operated the machine, tilled the field, and raised a family. But you haven't sacrificed anything for your country.

Captain Humayun Kahn was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2004 as his Humvee was patrolling a neighborhood in a stupid war supported by Hillary Clinton and waged by George W. Bush. His death, like all deaths in most modern wars, is tragic. His death was 12 years ago. In that 12 year period, Obama withdrew from Iraq, leaving a power vacuum now occupied by ISIS and Russia. Clinton supported the withdrawal, which has turned out to be the second greatest strategic blunder the U.S. has committed in that region. Tens of millions of people have been killed, tortured, raped, enslaved, or displaced as a result of that epic lack of judgment. But that's not what Clinton or the media want to talk about. They want to talk about racial politics, and they used the memory of Captain Kahn to do it.

Who knows what Captain Kahn would've thought of his leaders 12 years later. Who knows whether he would've voted for Hillary Clinton, or voted at all. I would venture to guess that his feelings would mirror those of most other veterans, who felt sick as they watched ISIS march into hard fought towns like Fallujah, where so many of their friends were killed. I would also venture to guess that Captain Kahn, like most other veterans, was not thinking about his racial or religious background the day he died.

The Clinton campaign put Captain Kahn's father on the stage of the Democratic National Convention, not to celebrate his son's life, not to highlight the importance of fighting terrorism, not to honor the memories of all our fallen Iraq War veterans. No, it was none of those things. Hillary Clinton wanted Captain Kahn's father to talk about his son's race and religion and use his death to accuse Donald Trump, and anyone else who wants to suspend immigration or build a wall, of being racists. Moreover, as Mr. Kahn intimated, unless you've served or lost a child to the service, "you haven't sacrificed anything" for your country.

The Media, of course, loved it. His speech was a perfect amalgamation of all things progressive; race, religion, identity politics, and an opportunity to insult Americans who want to curtail illegal immigration and keep terrorists out. The problem is, the media and Hillary Clinton are in the minority in their views. In three different polls, anywhere between 48% and 54% of Americans (all Americans) support a "temporary ban on Muslim immigration." If the question is phrased in terms of banning "immigration from Muslim countries that support terrorism," the percentage jumps up significantly. Likewise, Rasmussen, NBC and FoxNews polls show that anywhere between 51% and 55% of Americans (again, all Americans) support "building the wall." 

The message coming out of the Democratic Convention to the majority of Americans is this: You are a racist bigot who never sacrificed anything for your country. 

The Clinton campaign used Captain Kahn's family to deliver those insults to Americans in flyover country, assuming that a Gold Star Family would be beyond reproach. It was clever and cynical, but they were right. That said, it represents the worst of Establishment politics and Progressive ideology. "You didn't build that;" "you've never sacrificed anything for your country;" "you are a bigot," and "you're not allowed to argue with me about it because I have a protected status." 

Do not be fooled. These are insults, regardless of who says them. They may also be the determining factor in this election as they were in the primaries. Americans are sick of being told that they are stupid, lazy, bigots by a bunch of elites who in turn ask us to sacrifice even more of our hard work on the alter of liberalism. 

Trump is often a poor messenger for those of us who are now staunchly opposed to Establishment politics. He is clumsy and often misses the mark with his criticism. To some degree, that's what people like about him. He is genuine, even if he is sometimes inarticulate, but it is pretty obvious that Americans are open to his message. Part of the reason for this is that the liberal Establishment continues to insult and out right harm white, blue collar workers who make up a huge portion of the electorate. When Hillary Clinton promises to "put a lot of miners out of work," she is telling the truth. When Mr. Kahn, speaking on behalf of the Clinton campaign, accuses Donald Trump or people like him of having never sacrificed anything for the country, those same miners hear it. It is doubtful that they are impressed by that message.

The tenor and tone of American politics has fallen far below what should be acceptable to voters. However, it is voter anger that is fueling much of that negative tone, and the anger stems from the complete and utter failure of the political Establishment to govern effectively. For example, Captain Kahn should never have been in Iraq in the first place, but he was, due to the poor judgment of our leaders in both parties. If you want to honor his sacrifice, vote for the candidate that won't send our heroes to fight a perpetual war without any strategy for victory.