The clueless, out-of-touch Biden administration

Ambassador Grenell offers a dose of reality.

July 8, 2021

ITEM #1:  Joe Biden’s main pitch as a presidential candidate (and throughout his very, very long political career) has been to present himself as someone down to earth and relatable. Someone who understands and can empathize with the struggles of regular, working-class Americans.

He’s cast himself, with considerable help from his media allies, as the embodiment of working-class values. Indeed, the “Scranton Joe” image is as carefully crafted as any in American politics.

The reality, of course, is that Biden is a completely out-of-touch elitist. As are those members of the press who consistently carry water for him.

All of which makes the Biden administration’s recent bout of complete tone-deafness all the more hilarious and ridiculous.

The White House recently got its excitement levels up over the news that — are you ready for this? — a barbeque apparently costs 16 cents less today than it did in 2020.

Not exactly a “stop the presses” moment. Yet the administration and its media cheerleaders nevertheless held it up as an indication of how much Biden’s policies are helping ordinary folks.

As you’d imagine, they’ve come in for quite a dose of deserved mockery, including from Richard Grenell, former Acting Director of National Intelligence and U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration, who had this to say:

“Sixteen cents won't get you on the other side of the Washington Post paywall, where all of the newsrooms in Washington, D.C., across the political spectrum, are celebrating the 16 cents. And so what happens in Washington, D.C. is, is that they read each other. They retweet each other, they recycle each other's news, and then they go into the newsroom and they say, wow, this is such a popular story of saving 16 cents. But they never really realize is that they're literally retweeting and talking among themselves.

“This is the problem of Washington. It's so insular. I'm here in California. People mock this story. They know that when they drive to the grocery store, they just blew through way more money than 16 cents. And there's a whole list of things that are more expensive. And so only in Washington, D.C. does this type of narrative work. And Joe Biden will keep ignoring questions about foreign policy because he gets to the media, will allow him to when in Washington, D.C. But when you talk to regular people, they're laughing.”

Ambassador Grenell made his remarks during an interview on Fox News, and you can watch a clip and read more from the transcript here.

Even better, he’ll be among our amazing roster of speakers for the 6th Annual Basque Fry, coming up on August 14 in Gardnerville. Click here to get your tickets today, and come hear what else he has to say about the many challenges facing our country … and the solutions it will take to meet them.

ITEM #2:  This past weekend, millions upon millions of Americans celebrated Independence Day, taking the opportunity to join with their fellow patriots in expressing gratitude over being able to live in the greatest country that’s ever existed.

Sadly but predictably, it was an occasion for a barrage of left-wing anti-Americanism as well.

A few of the lowlights…

A group of D.C.-area students struggle to say whether they’re proud of the United States, and make it clear they’re embarrassed by their own country. …

Georgetown University students take the occasion of Independence Day to rip into America … though they prove unable to cite another country where they’d prefer to live. …

A Washington Post writer takes aim at the Statue of Liberty for being a symbol of "hypocrisy and unfilled promises.” …

PBS takes some much-deserved heat over its decision to have Vanessa Williams perform the “black national anthem” during its July 4 coverage. …

And NPRI decries the Declaration of Independence as a document with "flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies."

But don’t you dare question any of these people’s patriotism!

ITEM #3:  The Supreme Court issued a decision recently upholding the State of Arizona’s voting rules that are designed to ensure election integrity. And the mainstream news media are taking it … not so well.

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie has the details:

"A number of liberal news organizations openly expressed their disappointment with the court's ruling while continuing to claim Arizona's rules amounted to 'voting restrictions' and dismantled the Voting Rights Act, despite the majority opinion rejecting the claim that the rules made it harder to vote.

"'[N]either Arizona’s out-of-precinct rule nor its ballot-collection law violates §2 of the VRA,' Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s majority opinion. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Only Justices Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

"Although the court used precise language in its decision to say that Arizona was not restricting the ability of its citizens to vote, the media was quick to continue using terms intended to paint the rules as discriminatory, restrictive, and even racist.

"'The Supreme Court ended its term today with a major decision on voting rights. The justices upheld voting restrictions in Arizona, and their decision could have a profound effect in a number of states,' CBS News' Norah O'Donnell said in her Thursday evening report before CBS reporter Jan Crawford highlighted criticisms of the court's decision.

"Far-left MSNBC host Chris Hayes suggested the court's decision was about race when he claimed the justices were 'working in tandem' with the right 'against America's multiracial democracy.' Meanwhile, fellow MSNBC host Joy Reid smiled and nodded in agreement as she listened to a guest rant that Arizona's laws were 'racist' and that the justices were basically saying it was fine to take away people's votes 'as long as you don't say the n-word.'"

As Gillespie reports, the Washington Post, CNN and NPR got in on the hysteria act as well. None of which is surprising, of course. Their complaints are entirely without merit, but since when does the left ever let something like the facts get in the way of a good narrative?

ITEM #4:  Also unsurprisingly, the left’s unhappiness with the Supreme Court’s recent decisions has fueled a new round of calls for court-packing.

As Tyler Olson reports:

"Democrats on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the Supreme Court's final decisions of its 2020-2021 term, accusing the justices of doing 'severe damage' to the political system and in some cases re-upping their calls to pack the court with liberal justices appointed by President Biden.

"One decision was on a challenge to Arizona election laws, including a ban on ballot harvesting. The other was about a California law that required nonprofits to disclose their largest donors to the state government for law enforcement purposes. ...

"Biden weighed in on the Arizona decision in a statement that was remarkably critical of the Supreme Court for a sitting president.

"'I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act,' Biden said. 'In a span of just eight years, the Court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure.' ,,,

"Some Democrats were even harsher in their responses to the court's final rulings of its term, lashing with demands to pack the court. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., responded specifically to the Arizona ruling, saying that the alleged reduction of voting rights stemming from the decision should necessitate adding Democrat-appointed justices.

"'Today’s ruling is another blow to voting rights. We have no time to waste to protect the right to vote. We must abolish the filibuster and pass the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act,' he said. 'And we must expand the Supreme Court.'"

ITEM #5:  It seems woke culture, already prevalent in so much of our public education system, is seeping into America’s private-school sphere as well.

Sam Dorman explains:

"An Ohio private school is denying reenrollment to several students, alleging that their mothers breached part of their contract by leading a public campaign against the school's purported attempt to 'indoctrinate' students with left-wing ideas.

"The decision capped off months of efforts by parents Andrea Gross and Amy Gonzalez to probe Columbus Academy's (CA) activities, which allegedly included divisive concepts about race and anti-conservative sentiment.

"Fox News has obtained copies of the school's letters notifying Gross and Gonzalez, who lead the Pro-CA Coalition, of the decision. The school, which includes pre-K through 12th grade students, effectively expelled two of Gross' children and one of Gonzalez's. According to the moms, their coalition includes hundreds of other CA parents who are also concerned about recent changes to school materials."

Mark Young, host of the podcast “Blunt Force Truth,” summed things up well with his reaction: "These people on the left are just like everybody else on the left. You can't reason with them. You can't deal with them. The only thing you can do is defeat them."

ITEM #6:  Yet more trouble at our Southern border:

"Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley Sector announced this week that they have arrested four gang members and two sex offenders since June 30. One migrant arrested at Padre Island on Friday was found to have been previously arrested for statutory rape and sentenced to 10 years probation, while other agents elsewhere picked up members of the 18th Street gang, the Gulf Cartel and MS-13.

"One migrant, an El Salvadoran national, had previously lived in New York and had been arrested for criminal possession of a weapon and intent to use, and separately for second-degree assault, being sentenced to prison time in both cases. Separately, agents near Brownsville, Texas, apprehended a group of migrants that included a Mexican with a previous arrest for sexual assault.

"On Monday, agents apprehended a Surenos 18 street gang member who Border Patrol said had a lengthy criminal history including aggravated homicide and extortion. They also located a Honduran who had been arrested for negligent homicide and sentenced to two years in jail and was later deported.

"On Tuesday, agents apprehended a group of 67 migrants, which included a 39-year-old Honduran convicted of attempted murder in Chicago.

"Meanwhile, agents in the El Centro Sector this week arrested two illegal immigrants with convictions for sex offenses. The agency said that in fiscal year 2021, they have so far arrested or removed 31 illegal immigrants in the sector who have been convicted or wanted on sexual offense charges."

Those are just some of the apprehensions detailed in Adam Shaw’s story, available here.

Especially chilling is the assessment from Virginia Congressman Bob Good, who told Fox News that:

"[T]he U.S. has 'no operational control' of the border after a trip to Texas in which he and a number of other Republicans saw migrants streaming into the U.S. and being put on flights to other states.

"'We have no operational control, no legal control, no law enforcement control of our border,' Good said in an interview with Fox News.

"He raised the question of how many were getting past Border Patrol, as well.

"'The crafty, the most cunning, most dangerous ones are trying to evade apprehension and they’re estimating tens of thousands of those on a monthly basis as well, and all of it controlled ... by the Mexican crime cartels who are making hundreds of millions of dollars a month off of this,' he said."

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Biden administration’s point person on the border crisis, could not be reached for comment.

ITEM #7:  Add President Biden himself to the list of those peddling the imbecilic theory that global warming may have contributed to the condo collapse in Miami. 

Here is Morgan Phillips:

"President Biden raised concerns about global warming during remarks on what could have potentially contributed to the Surfside Condo collapse near Miami last week.

"The president said he doesn’t have any 'firm proof' on what caused the collapse that left 18 dead and 145 still missing, but that there was all kinds of 'rational speculation,' including 'whether or not rising sea levels had impact.'

"Biden spent three hours with the families of the victims, after touring the scene of the 12-story collapse, and said he was surprised how many of them talked about the impact of global warming. 'I didn't raise it. But many of the survivors and many families talked about the impact of global warming,' the president said.

"'They didn’t know exactly but they talked about sea levels rising, a combination of that and concern about incoming tropical storms.'"

We’ve asked it before, and we’ll ask it again: What is WRONG with these people?