President Trump’s agenda has produced widespread benefits, particularly for those our elites overlook.
February 20, 2020
ITEM #1: The left loves to smear conservatives as supporters of policies that allegedly only benefit the wealthy and privileged. The reality, of course, is precisely the opposite. When you limit government and remove barriers to prosperity and opportunity — policy ideas conservatives support and work to advance — the positive effects reverberate throughout the economy … and are felt by people of all backgrounds and socioeconomic status.
The economic boom that the United States is experiencing under President Trump has been nothing short of stunning. Last week, we highlighted a video showing that even news outlets that have been hostile to the President can no longer deny the success we’re all enjoying on his watch.
But it’s worth driving home a key point that can easily be lost in the top-line numbers: The policies President Trump has put in place have been helpful to all Americans, yes, but especially to those whom our political elites usually neglect — or, just as often, look down upon.
Writing for the Washington Times, Kay C. James has a great piece that examines how the President’s agenda has delivered big-time for the “forgotten Americans” — those in our country that the elitist class delights in viewing with contempt and condescension, and those who often have the most difficulty getting ahead.
James writes:
"President Trump’s 'forgotten men and women' are the farmer, the factory worker, and the middle-class men and women who have been ignored or even sneered at by Washington politicians. They are the people of 'flyover country' and 'Middle America.' They are the people CNN host Don Lemon and his guests recently made fun of when they called Trump supporters rubes and used mock Southern accents to paint them as uneducated, illiterate and unable to find places like Ukraine on a map.
"Mr. Trump’s 'forgotten' are the average, patriotic hard-working Americans who pay taxes for government programs many of them will never use. Many are religious. Some are gun owners. A surprising number are Democrats, independents or political agnostics."
And especially damning for the left is that the rising economic tide is lifting up those whom they claim to speak for and care about most. As James explains:
“Indeed, African-Americans are part of the forgotten, too. For decades, politicians have repeatedly promised urban communities good jobs, good schools and safe neighborhoods. Instead, they have delivered policies that more often increased crime, degraded educational standards and made it harder to get work. …
“While some in the media have tried to claim that Mr. Trump’s forgotten Americans are just disaffected, angry white voters, the president has always made clear that his policies to create jobs, lower taxes and open up opportunities would help everyone, including blacks and other minorities.”
As James goes on to detail, that’s exactly what they’ve done. But don’t expect our country’s left-wing elitists to acknowledge any of this. No, they’ll continue with all the smears — while Americans from all walks of life continue to enjoy all the prosperity.
ITEM #2: If you missed President Trump’s flyover in Air Force One at the Daytona 500 on Sunday, click here. It’s awesome.
Trump was also the first American president to give the infamous race command, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” before taking “The Beast” — the presidential limo — for a spin around the track. The fans LOVED it, chanting “USA! USA!” over and over again.
For those who didn’t hear, there was a huge, fiery crash at the end of the race. Which prompted this tweet by @Zookeepers4Pete:
“Ryan Newman endorsed Donald Trump for president. So many #lgbt #minority #dreamers have been hurt by Trump. Newman deserves SOME bad karma.”
It’s just unconscionable that anyone would actually root for someone to be seriously injured in a car crash because of that person’s political views.
ITEM #3: A recent Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial noted that some students at Oxford University, who are agitating for increased measures to fight climate change, have demanded that the school “divest from fossil fuel companies.”
To which school principal Andrew Parker made a counter-offer:
“I am not able to arrange any divestment at short notice, but I can arrange for the gas central heating in college to be switched off with immediate effect. Please let me know if you support this proposal.”
One student replied:
“This is an inappropriate and flippant response… It’s January, and it would be borderline dangerous to switch off the central heating.”
As the R-J noted:
“A word of advice to those concerned about climate change. Before you advocate draconian energy policies, be ready to propose solutions you’re willing to tolerate yourselves.”
This perfectly encapsulates the reality-free debate we’re having these days — especially when it comes to the “green” agenda.
ITEM #4: What is the left doing to fix education? As the Las Vegas Review-Journal explained in an editorial on Monday, by replacing A-through-F grades with “EX,” “M,” “DV” and “E.”
A Madison, Wisconsin, school district “had to provide a key to help parents decipher” its new grading system. EX means “exceeding.” M means “meeting.” DV means “developing.” And E means “emerging.”
Yep, that should do it. Problem solved. Next?
ITEM #5: Three high school girls in Connecticut have filed a lawsuit to stop two guys who “identify” as girls from competing in girls’ track-and-field competitions. The two guys have reportedly won “15 girls state indoor and outdoor championship races since 2017.”
“Mentally and physically, we know the outcome before the race even starts,” said one of the girls. “That biological unfairness doesn’t go away because of what someone believes about gender identity.”
The girls argue in their lawsuit “that allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities.”
It’ll be interesting to see how those on the left who claim to champion women’s rights as well as transgender rights handle this. It’s got to be one or the other; both cannot succeed in sports.
ITEM #6: The Boy Scouts have now filed for bankruptcy in response to a blizzard of lawsuits filed by men claiming to have been “molested as scouts by scoutmasters or other leaders decades ago but are only now eligible because of recent changes in their states’ statute-of-limitations laws.”
This isn’t right. If the victims want to go after the people who actually committed these acts under a lengthened statute-of-limitation law, fine. Get the people who actually did it.
But to destroy an entire 110-year-old organization that has been so good and so important for so many young men for so long because of the actions of a comparatively few bad apples is so wrong.
INSANITY IN AMERICA: The Associated Press reports on the latest news from the “Snowflake Generation,” this time from Michigan:
“State lawmakers and a gun-rights group are calling for changes to Michigan's terrorism law months after a Lake Superior State University student was charged for posting a photo of a rifle on social media and saying it would make ‘snowflakes melt.’
“Twenty-year-old Lucas Gerhard faces the charge of making a terrorist threat, a 20-year felony, over an incident that occurred in August.
“Before returning to the school for his junior year, Gerhard sent a photo of his newly purchased AR-15 rifle to a group of friends on Snapchat.
“He was arrested two days later.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
NOTABLE QUOTES
“A Sanders candidacy simply guarantees a Trump second term.” - Las Vegas Sun editorial
“Last night on CNN, Bernie (Sanders) called me a political hack. That’s exactly who the f*ck I am! I am a political hack! I am not an ideologue. I am not a purist. He thinks it’s a pejorative. I kinda like it! At least I’m not a communist.” – Democrat strategist James Carville
“The forgotten — black, white, Hispanic, whatever-Americans — are seeing unprecedented successes under a president who said he wouldn’t forget them. Imagine the possibilities if those in Washington opposed to the president put aside their personal animus, ceased looking for ways to stop him, and realized that the successes he is achieving are successes for the American people.” – Kay C. James