Notes from the 'So What?' Department
The Friday Letter / No. 550 / August 4, 2023
To our readers: Click at the upper right on “app” or “online” to see the website version, which is updated as needed, and to post comments and see older posts.
Updated at 4:10 p.m. EDT Sunday, Aug 6
Let’s put aside the fact that under Biden’s watch he has overseen the worst border crisis in U.S. history, the highest inflation in four decades, a historic crime wave in Democrat run cities, a disgraceful and embarrassing exit from Afghanistan, weakness towards China, indecision and mismanagement towards the war in Ukraine, appeasement towards Iran, betrayal of Israel, pathetic pandering defense of “LGBTQ rights,” including supporting providing life altering puberty blockers to minors, attempting to jail his leading political opponent for the same supposed “crime” that he committed, and let’s not forget, a corrupt family that sold our country out, while raking in millions from China, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. – An anonymous writer at American Greatness
Yes, let's put that aside, because unless Republicans figure out what to do about the snookering they continue to take from Democrats, it won't make any difference in the 2024 election.
Stop expecting answers from the GOP
As we slog through the Dog Days of August, the Republican brain trust seems oblivious to its fading relevance. Looking ahead 15 months, does anyone have any real confidence that Ronna McDaniel and the RNC have an actual plan for retaking the White House?
We've long urged patriots to donate to individual campaigns, not to overpaid perennial losing consultants, and certainly not to the Republican National Committee. Assuming one desires to be realistic, that means at the presidential level giving only to Trump or DeSantis. That's who we should see on the debate stage, two strong characters having at each other, making their pitch to that minority of voters who work at staying informed.
I would throw in Larry Elder. He has no chance of winning but would keep the other two honest while entertaining us with his infectious wit and insight. Pretenders to the throne can watch the debates on television like the rest of us. They are at best a distraction.
And yes, that includes Vivek Ramaswamy, the election fraud denier who believes that sexual deviants and those suffering from sexual dysphoria somehow enhance our military's ability to fulfill its mission. Having sissies run around in pink tutus pretending to be Navy girls is hardly the way to strike fear in the hearts of those who would destroy us.
Ronna McDaniel has a winning formula – for herself. She's been at the helm during three national election disasters in which Republicans took a thrashing, in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Like political consultants Karl Rove and others who feed at the Republican campaign trough, Ronna sits happy as a pig in slop, highly paid, popular (though not taken seriously) on the DC cocktail circuit, content to follow the GOP creed: lose with honor.
In the meantime, our thought leaders need to convene, outside the orbit of the RNC with its silly debate rules, to craft an actual plan for expanding the party's House majority, winning back the Senate, and regaining the presidency.
(Winning back the Senate includes purging it of Mitt Romney.)
Lots of names come to mind, but here is my pick: Doreen Borelli, Tammy Bruce, Harmeet Dhillon, Newt Gingrich, Mark Levin, Leo Terrell.
Three women, three men, three white or close to it, three black, one Jew, a bi-sexual feminist, a civil rights attorney and former Democrat. Four of them lawyers – by co-incidence, not intent. One historian and former Speaker of the House.
You may have other suggestions. Great. My picks aren't based on their identifying characteristics like race, sex, or sexual proclivities. I base them on my belief that they know how the GOP can win in 2024.
These folks could have the support of our nation's deep thinkers, some of them on politics, all of them on culture, people like Jason Whitlock, David Webb, Victor Davis Hanson, Dennis Prager, and Bob Woodson.
Our strategists will have their own candidate preferences, but they must stay focused on winning issues for the general election. It starts with their unequivocal support of the eventual nominee, whether it's Trump or DeSantis. That shouldn't be a problem.
Their task will be to identify four or five top issues, define them, and then hammer away at them relentlessly. The DeSantis list of 19 issues is important but too long for the sound-byte attention span of your average persuadable voter.
And it's not too early to start long range planning for 2026. Establishment liberal, swamp-dwelling Never Trumper Senators Cassidy of Louisiana, Collins of Maine, and Sasse of Nebraska, all facing voters in 2026, need to be shown the door. It's time for patriots to start laying some pipe and grooming the next generation of leaders, beginning now.
Short takes on the news
Red State
Encouraged by the prospect of President Trump and other political enemies of the Democrat Party sent to prison, Senate leftists propose criminal charges and prison time for fossil fuel industry executives. Bernie Sanders, Socialist of Vermont, is joined by Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon in demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland indict energy executives for their “climate disinformation campaign.”
New York Post
Tanya Chutkan, an Obama federal judge who worked at the Boies Schiller Flexner law firm with Hunter Biden while he was shaking down Romania and Ukraine on behalf of his vice president father, is the judge who will try the latest charges against President Trump. Trump is charged with four counts of obstruction and conspiracy, including his call to supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” in a Jan. 6, 2021, rally. Chutkan has sent several Jan. 6 defendants to prison with sentences that exceed what prosecutors had sought, including four whom prosecutors sought no time at all. She is a native of Jamaica with close ties to the Democrat Party. The Federal Election Commission reports she donated more than $4,300 to Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns.
Washington Times
Joe and Hunter Biden's former business partner Devon Archer told a congressional hearing Monday that President Biden's family “was in the business of influence peddling.” The Washington Times reported that sources close to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee said “the panel had uncovered new bank records connecting the Biden family to foreign deals in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.” On his radio program Tuesday, Mark Levin said he bought copies of the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA today on Tuesday, and not one of them reported Archer's testimony on their front pages.
Daily Caller
Wisconsin's Republican voters didn't consider last May's Supreme Court election worth the bother, but Democrats, as always, did. The result is liberal control for the first time in 15 years. When the court opened its new term Tuesday, the new liberal 4-3 majority wasted no time purging the court of Republican staff members. Randy Koschnick, director of state courts for the last six years, said the liberal justices who fired him did not inform the three remaining conservatives. The court is now expected to overturn Wisconsin's voter ID law and to gerrymander its congressional and legislative voting districts.
Recommended
“A Century of Impotency: Conservative Failure and the Administrative State”
Theo Wold at American Greatness
Today’s headline
Babylon Bee - Fake news you can trust
“Job Listing for Obama’s New Personal Chef Receives Zero Applications”