It's well past time to put Trump in the rearview mirror.

The right-wing Trump machine is doing a great job of spinning some legitimate voting concerns into a massive conspiracy of fraud on a huge scale. When one has a loathing and mistrust of The Swamp it's easy to go down that rabbit hole. If it turns out The Resistance committed the crime of the century I wouldn't be surprised and we'll likely know before the 2024 contest or even 2022 mid-term.

Too many people who are not swamp creatures, people that are knowledgeable. People who are reasonable and fair to MAGA world. They point clearly to the folly of continuing to contest the results. It is transition time, hope for the best, do one's best to keep Biden honest. It is time to win the Georgia firewall. That is where my head is at. Does my loathing of Trump the man make that position easier to take? Absolutely.​

A real businessman genius would know how to delegate.

There is feeling out there that Biden has won this thing. A right of center cynic would say a media crafted narrative that Biden has won this thing. If I'm betting my ribeye and wine money I'm betting Biden has won this thing. I knew Trump would lose back in March. 

Maybe saying I knew is a bit of a stretch but I had a strong feeling. During the first years of the Trump administration I questioned whether being presidential was important. On the day president Trump announced the Corona Virus Task Force the idea of Trump being presidential wasn’t something I considered anymore. That ship had sailed. So, when Trump announced that Mike Pence would head up a corona virus taskforce I had two immediate thoughts. First, good move Pence is right for this task. Second, Trump’s ego won’t allow Pence to head up the taskforce. By the third press conference I knew I was right and thought Trump was going wreck his chances to win a second term. 

Mike Pence is a former congressmen, former governor, former AM radio talk show host. Mike Pence is the calming presence you want at the podium. Pence will study knowing his facts. Pence will stick to the script. Have the answers to legitimate press questions and politely deflect the bias “gotcha” questions with a relaxed ease. All that was needed by Trump is to show up every few days at the briefing room, convey that he’s been briefed by Pence on the work of the taskforce, thank the taskforce then leave the room. Leaving the rest of the pressing briefing to Pence, Birx and Fauci. Trump wouldn’t have been out there flailing around, jousting with the press, going off script so his comments could come back to bite him in the ass. Watching it live seeing Trump give biased White House Press Corp journalists the smackdown was entertaining but when the clips are cut in the editing room then rebroadcast Trump looks bad. Going off script allows the press to run with “hoax”, “injecting bleach”, “use fish tank cleaner”. 

​The reality is the fight against COVID-19 is won or lost on the ground, locally in your state or town. The federal government provided the states what they needed. Removed the red tape for rapid vaccine development. The sad reality is some 200,000 Americans would have died no matter who was in the White House.

If Trump loses this election it was lost during the daily corona virus briefing.   Where the media was able to craft an image of incompetence, an image that stuck in the minds of the public. Mike Pence would have prevented that, those scared seniors watching too much TV news would have been reassured at the message coming out of the White House. 

What is about Biden and Democrats you fear so much?

I had these questions posed to me today. First let's dispense with most important election in our life time. One can make that argument but I believe that is a bit of hyperbole. That doesn't mean we don't face a significant choice. I don't want to rely on fractures within the Democratic party but they do exist and could be a barrier to the most frightening of possible outcomes.  

I will grant that the fundamentals of the economy B.T. were sound. Yet, during the Obama years some common narratives were people in their 50's couldn't find new work, young people couldn't get good work, wages were stagnant, energy prices were expensive. The USA was basically only capable of being an information and consumer servicing economy. Despite the Noble Prize winner in office endless wars would rage on, drone strikes would continue ill will yet ISIS would thrive.

Trump started with a simple message to American business before winning the office, I will release the shackles burdening business. Others paid lip service to cutting unnecessary regulations, Trump did it. Trump cut taxes that benefit nearly everyone except those who enjoyed deducting high SALT from their federal. Trump put the UN, our allies and our adversaries on notice, that the US checkbook was closed. You can argue the mixed results thus far but Trump took a hardline with China that was long over due.

What was the results? Historic unemployment, rising wages, US energy independence, adversaries kept in check. The Democrats refuse to recognize any of that and make promises to enact policies that will undue all of it. The Democrats also seem set to squash dissent through legislation, bureaucratic regulations and the courts.

As for COVID it is an outlier, next spring after the thaw of winter it will be part of our past. It is also mainly a local issue, another example of people wrongly putting too much emphasis on the federal government. I'm concerned about the future, about back to normal. 

I voted for Jo Jorgensen, there is so much about Trump I don't like but that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to a Biden presidency and a Pelosi house of representatives. 

Rush Limbaugh said "there is no Plan-B".
Despite his role as Trump cheerleader fear has begun to appear through the callers to the Rush Limbaugh Show. At one point recently Limbaugh raises his voice in frustration, “there is no Plan B if Plan B equals losing. We are not going to lose. And I’m not gonna tolerate anybody out there thinking we’re gonna lose. If you think we’re gonna lose, then you keep it to yourself”.
 
Almost no one who really follows Washington DC politics believes that Joe Biden is up more than ten points. Much of the current polling is set to demoralize The Deplorables and the Trumpbots, while exciting THE RESISTANCE. The truth is Trump is behind in crucial swing states, he has lost ground with white seniors and suburban white women. His campaign and debate performance has not been able to stick Biden with dementia. No matter what your opinion of COVID is the fact it is still with us is bad for Trump. Had the virus been in our collective rearview mirror in August we’d be looking at a Trump re-election. I could get granular going on for hour on the subject, the Trump campaign is dead. For those who detest the idea of a Biden presidency It’s time for Plan -B.
 
The problem is there really isn’t a Plan-B. No one is talking about the GOP retaking house. The conversation is the GOP could lose the senate, which is the only barrier to the radical progressive powerbase of the Democrats. The economic recovery we’ll need post COVID will be tepid. All the progress on reducing burdensome regulations will halt. The progress on dependable, affordable energy will halt. Taxes will rise. A return to malaise isn’t good for anyone, its’ hardest on marginalized communities. The fleecing of America by allies and enemies will resume. The deep state willing go on working behind closed doors.
 
A Democrat sweep in November won’t mean the end of America but a lot of damage can be done in two years. Part of the Democrat agenda will be thwarting any attempt at losing power. Still at some point the progressives will over reach, an inevitable backlash will come.  

What is Plan-B? Comment below if you have one. Things to watch over the next few weeks is the poll numbers of African Americans and Hispanics. 

Had Jo Jorgensen been on that stage last night she'd be polling at 30% by Friday.
For the first two years of his administration people would question when Trump would learn to be presidential. Enjoying the high of the economy and the America first foreign policy I questioned whether being presidential really mattered. Maybe that is an overrated skill mostly important to the swamp. Then Kung-Flu happened, COVID-19 may be the most significant event for a generation. This was a time for message discipline. For the sanity of the American people and yes for the re-election campaign of a president. When you know the press is hostile toward you message discipline is even more important. When the American people needed calm steady leadership from the top, they got a muddled mess as Trump’s daily briefings turned into a snipe fest with the Washington press corp. Trump gave the media enough to run with half truths and out right distortions, a.k.a lies. How could he do that? Lack of message discipline, the inability to be presidential. Making the virus response and reopening the economy seem political. Prudencio, give us another example of why being presidential is important, you ask. The peaceful transition of power. Despite the images of burning cars through out American cities the USA is not a third world banana republic. Our long history of the peaceful transition of power is practically sacrosanct. His constant delegitimizing the voting process and inability to promise peace after election day is disqualifying. Simply tell the American people the voting process will be watched closely, that both campaigns have teams of lawyers, should our campaign not prevail there will be an orderly peaceful transition.
 
Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch had the perfect analogy. Imagine you volunteer to be a youth basketball coach at your kid’s school with no experience and little knowledge of basketball. You’d study the game, you’d study coaching basics. You wouldn’t tell the kids before each game that the contest was rigged. Trump can't be bothered learning the job. If the question is “if you lose will there be a peaceful transition of power”? The answer is YES.
 
Clearly president Trump is someone who has issues with honesty, issues with being presidential, being someone your kids can look up to as a role model. Certainly, Joe Biden is better choice, right? No.
 
No matter how much Team Biden wants to claim that they handed Trump a great economy that is false. The fundamentals of the economy were solid but the economic engine was just sitting at idle. Trump and the Republican congress cut taxes, cut regulations and provided the environment for inexpensive reliable energy. With every metric used to measure the health of the economy the Trump administration made it better. Including wages and minority unemployment, items claimed to be so important to Democrats. On the foreign policy front the Trump administration closed the American checkbook, took a hard stance with China and showed out of the box thinking would be employed. These are items that really matter when judging the effectiveness of the executive branch. None of this is especially complicated. The Obama/Biden administration could have achieved similar results, they simply chose not to. Biden is an empty vessel to be filled with the wishes of a more socialist leaning Democrat controlled house of representatives. Which means higher taxes, higher prices for energy, more restrictive regulations and slowly cratering job opportunities. Only a weaker GOP majority in the senate can blunt a Biden complete transformation of the country. The Democrats have a decent shot at taking the senate. Please keep in mind a roaring economy is not just good for suburban 401K plans, it provides opportunities for poor and marginalized communities to succeed. Biden is also a known liar but he can appear presidential to your kids. That is not good enough.

Jo Jorgensen is currently polling at 4%. Had she been on that debate stage last night she’d be polling at 30% by Friday. While the old men were sniping at each other Jo Jorgensen would have been answering Chris Wallace’s questions with better ideas. She would have presented a positive vision, a path forward for better economic growth and more liberty.  

If senator Klobuchar thinks she has washed away the taint of corruption from the beltway elite with her smack down of mayor Buttigieg during the last debate, she is flat wrong.

Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg is one of the fresh faces on the Democrat presidential hopeful scene. The other is businessman Andrew Yang. Both men but Buttigieg specifically don't shy a way from being labeled inexperienced. Pointing out that Washington DC experience is at best inert, at worst running a criminal enterprise with the average American being the assaulted victim. I'm unaware that the Libertarian Party has some official position on youth and inexperience being preferable to the well seasoned and experienced. Youthful idealism to want engagement in the political process without the desire to enrich oneself at the tax payer's expense is appealing to the libertarian. Having a congressional history going back 20, 30, 40 years puts one at the center of ineptitude and graft. It begs the question if things are so lousy what have you done to fix it? Rattling off a list of legislation your name is attached to is not really impressive to most Americans. They want to know what positive outcomes have you influenced.  

Mayor Buttigieg for most of the race thus far looked like a long shot. After a tie for first with Bernie Sanders in Iowa and positive momentum heading into New Hampshire. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a moderate struggling to gain traction thought it was time to take off the gloves. At the debate she tried to make the argument that experience, Washington DC experience was of vital importance now. Deridingly labeling Buttigieg a "cool newcomer". Then the coup de grâce "we have a newcomer in the White House and look where that got us". By the audience reaction in the debate hall there is no doubt the crowd liked that quip. 

What it got us senator Klobuchar, is a better more robust economy than seen from the last two previous administrations. Trump being an uncouth braggart, loose with the truth is on him but much of the angst from scandal is on the Democrat Party's wish to satisfy the RESISTANCE. Satisfaction with the president is rising. There is little sign from polling that the public is tiring of the outsider. One of the ironies of Bernie Sander's stardom amongst the progressives is that he's been roaming the halls of the capitol since 1991. Yet he's seen as an outsider. 

The people have finally come around to seeing that elected officials of both parties don't really care about their constituents. They care about retaining their seats through donor service. Senator Klobuchar may want to wake to this reality if she hopes to win the White House.  

Being an insufferable douchebag is not grounds for articles of impeachment. Although clearly representative Al Green of TX thinks it is so.  He called for president Trump to be impeached in May of 2017 and he was serious. In September of 2017 representative Maxine Waters lead thousands in a chant of "Impeach 45". Maxine Waters was one of many on MSNBC before inauguration day talking about impeaching Trump. Washington DC Democrats and the RESISTANCE were hoping the Mueller Report would be the document that articles of impeachment would be based on.  When that didn't work the Democrats grasped at the perfect phone call. In their rush to get the articles of impeachment passed before Christmas 2019 the Democrats put forth a flimsy case. So flimsy was the house's case that the chattering class in Washington DC knew acquittal was a forgone conclusion. 

So, where are we now a couple of days after the State of the Union address and Trump's acquittal? Despite the bold proclamation the state of our union is not strong. Still, despite fact checking the speech. Trump announced an impressive list of accomplishments, true enough that Democrats are rattled. Satisfaction with race relations has increased 14% since Trump's election despite Democrats labeling the president Racist in Chief. Average satisfaction across 27 issues is higher than when Trump took office, according to Gallup's January 27th poll. There are still areas of disapproval and Trump is still the most polarizing president in modern times. Any other president would be a lock for re-election with all the positive metrics. Despite the boasting of the campaign staff, so disliked is Trump the presidency is up for grabs come November. 

news.gallup.com/poll/284033/americans-improved-mixed.aspx

What the Democrats should do is focus on a message competency, being able to lead and govern. The election is 270 days away. The electorate will become increasingly less interested and feeling less invested with investigations. 

Unfortunately, there will be no coming together. Back in 2016 the FBI became concerned about Russian interference in both campaigns. The Obama administration and Clinton campaign were informed of the possibility of such Russian interference. A counter-intelligence investigation of the Trump campaign was opened. The Trump administration genuinely believes the FBI investigation was a Deep State hit piece. The Investigation of the Investigators has begun, with the IG report of Michael Horowitz giving the FBI some 17 poor marks. Federal prosecutor John Durham is said to be preparing criminal indictments.  All this will play out just in time for electoral impact. The Democrats will offer counter TV programing with more investigations, painting the administration as a criminal organization. 

The issues I'm concerned with will be lost in the white noise. We should be told whether or not the USMCA and China trade deals are effective. We should have an infrastructure bill passed into law. Will president Trump keep his promise to end the Endless Wars and really bring troops home? Will the American people see true, sweeping and effective healthcare reform? Will comprehensive immigration reform happen? None of that will get the serious attention it deserves by our elected leaders or the news media that covers them. The food fight, the monkeys flinging poo, that will continue.

Notice I haven't mentioned the deficit and debt? They won't either. 

One fascinating possibility could be a Sanders vs Trump race. Two populist bulls in a China shop representing complete contrasting views. What path would Americans choose? 

​

In 1988 I was finally able to vote. I wanted the Reagan agenda to continue, the 80's were some great times. George HW Bush was supposed to be the shepherd of the third Reagan term, so he got my vote. By 1992 I was already feeling my independent roots taking hold. Ross Perot was a candidate speaking frankly about important issues that the Democrats and Republicans didn't seem to really care about. Despite dropping out of the race only to return a few months later I stuck with Perot. I was a naïve young man believing an alternative to the Democrats or the Republicans could win. After that until 2016 it was a successive trail of uninspired GOP votes for president.  

I just wasn't wired to vote for most Democrats. I didn't believe in ever expanding government, in ever expanding tax bills, in public sector unions. The GOP's three main pillars of principles seemed the better fit for me. Once described as a stool with three legs, the strong military and leadership role of the USA was one leg which I supported. The fiscal responsibility leg of lower taxes and less spending appealed to me. Then there was the morals leg which I found myself less enthusiastic about. It's not that I was in favor of debauchery and removing prayer from school. I just didn't really believe it was the government's place to tell us how to live. Credit the Democrats for having the artists and musicians, for staying out of people's bedrooms.  

Over the years as the Democrats ignored the debt. I learned the GOP was really only paying lip service to it. I realized neither party really considers the blowback of the USA involving it self in everyone else's affairs. I increasingly noticed we're losing our liberties to an ever growing police state. With a legislature that believes there isn't an issue they shouldn't get involved in. Notice I didn't say anything about solving problems. Our elected federal government doesn't really care about solving pressing issues. They care about re-election, about continuing to enrich themselves off the backs of the citizenry. They care about pleasing donors.

My break up with the GOP was long, drawn out. First the GOP committed the greatest foreign policy blunder of my lifetime, leading us into Iraq II: Shock 'N Awe. Then they handed the party over to Trump, who isn't a conservative. He's a big government authoritarian. I was never a fan, he's uncouth, a braggart, he orders his steak well done with ketchup. Next the GOP had control of both houses of the congress and the White House but they didn't have a healthcare plan? Seriously, bitch about Obamacare for almost eight years then when you have the reins no healthcare plan? No market based plan rifted from Heritage? That was the last straw. Democrats, Republicans, a pox on both their houses. 

I learned there was a movement, even a political party where civil liberties were of the upmost importance. In a sound bite, fiscally responsible and socially inclusive. I voted for Gary Johnson in 2016 and became a card carrying member of the Libertarian Party in 2019. Now no political party is perfect, not even the Libertarians. They can't win big national elections and too many in the party don't seem to care. Happy to be characters from the Mos Eisley cantina scene.

The Libertarian Party in my opinion seems too concerned with being a global movement. Don't get me wrong a world of liberty is a noble goal but I'm more interested in the Libertarian Party as a functioning alternative to our current two party system. If the people of Venezuela, Iran or North Korea want liberty they best work for it themselves. If one wants economic liberty from some failed government come to the USA legally. Immigration that is legal I support. Running an open boarder by effectively ignoring immigration law I do not support. I want a significantly curtailed federal government. Too many libertarians seem to want no government at all. While that impression holds with much of the electorate the Libertarian Party will continue to be challenged in gaining higher elective office. 

Who or what is The American Libertarian? A citizen blogger wanting our government to find solutions through supporting liberty. This blog will examine the issues of our day through the lens of an American Libertarian.