No, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Doesn’t Need More Funding. It Needs You to Support Police

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On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump tweeted the early crime statistics for Chicago in 2017, noting that murders are already “up 24% from 2016” in the city. Trump warned that if Chicago leaders fail to effectively address the city’s skyrocketing murder rate, he will have the federal government intervene:

Tuesday’s tweet marked the second time this month that Trump has called attention to the city’s disgraceful body count and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s failure to effectively address it. Trump tweeted the 2016 crime statistics for Chicago earlier this month, again with a vague, yet ominous warning of federal intervention:

On Wednesday, Rahm Emanuel —Chicago’s progressive mayor, and former Obama chief of staff — offered a smug response to Trump’s criticism: If federal intervention means more money, bring it on.

“Chicago, like other cities that are dealing with gun violence, wants to partner with federal law enforcement entities in a more significant way than we are today — whether that’s the FBI, the DEA, and the ATF,” Emanuel said, per USA Today.

“I still firmly believe that part of that solution is resources to police and resources that can come in technology and that space. Over the years, the federal government when it comes to after school (programs), summer jobs and investment in kids has walked away, while we’ve had to step up and take responsibility.”

Emanuel has used the “not enough funding” excuse countless times during his mayoral tenure, raising taxes and passing expensive gun control legislation that has drained the already-bankrupt city, with virtually nothing to show for it.

Chicago’s crime epidemic has little to do with money and everything to do with the failure of city officials to support police. Because of this failure, the Chicago Police Department has experienced what City Journal contributing editor Heather Mac Donald calls “the Ferguson effect: the phenomenon of police officers in high-crime areas backing off of proactive policing, resulting in the emboldening of criminals.”

Many officers have commented on the stifling effect this abandonment has had on department morale. Speaking to The New York Times last month, Dean Angelo Sr., president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police union, condemned what he perceives to be the politicization of policing by city officials. He added that many Chicago leaders are “more anti-police in their platform as opposed to being anti-crime.”

Poor community-police relations are just part of the many cultural problems the city of Chicago is facing. Other issues include family breakdown, gang culture, failing public schools, and apathetic and/or clueless community leaders. All of this points to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s gross failure to “step up and take responsibility” (to use his own words) for the citizens of Chicago.

The best thing the Trump administration can do is continue to call attention to Rahm Emanuel’s failure to serve the people of Chicago, and to be a strong advocate for police everywhere. It’s something the Obama administration certainly failed to do, and it wouldn’t involve lining the greedy pockets of the notorious Chicago political machine. (For more from the author of “No, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Doesn’t Need More Funding. It Needs You to Support Police” please click HERE)

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Why the Electronic Immigration System Is Broken

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On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general took the extraordinary step of speaking out against the reinstatement of the Electronic Immigration System to process naturalization benefits for immigrants.

Though the system should theoretically streamline immigration and naturalization processes by automating immigration applications and adjudication, it has become a sinkhole of government funds in recent years, costing $1.2 billion so far, despite the original estimated cost being $536 million.

For all the extra funds that have been extended to support the system, problems continue to abound, leading to the suspension of the program for naturalization benefits in 2016.

The problems that led to suspension of the program included nearly 20,000 missing or duplicate green cards that could be abused by criminals or even terrorists. The inspector general also identified numerous other deficiencies within the system, including problems with interfaces, which harmed the department’s productivity.

Additionally, though over $1 billion has been spent on the Electronic Immigration System, only two types of immigration benefits out of a total of about 90 can be applied for online.

The Department of Homeland Security has also struggled with the related problem of failing to digitize old immigration records, which has allowed illegal immigrants with outstanding deportation orders to become citizens.

Homeland Security employees are now being forced to focus their time and energy toward fixing the problems that have been created by this failed system.

Since the system has not met minimal technical and functional requirements, nor has a risk-based analysis been conducted, the inspector general is urgently recommending the system not be reinstated for naturalization applications.

With the swearing in of Gen. John Kelly as secretary of homeland security, there are certain things that must be focused on over the next four years.

Immigration has been a hot topic in the U.S. for the past several years, and restoring integrity to the immigration system should be high on the new administration’s to-do list.

To that end, automating immigration benefits and adjudication is a great idea to reduce paperwork and simplify the legal immigration and naturalization process. But it must be done correctly in order to keep the American people safe.

So far, the Electronic Immigration System has failed to do so on nearly all counts.

There is a lot of work yet to be done before U.S. Customs and Immigration Services should consider reinstating the Electronic Immigration System for naturalization applications.

The fact that the inspector general has urgently commented on the issue should be a red flag to all that this failed system needs serious attention. (For more from the author of “Why the Electronic Immigration System Is Broken” please click HERE)

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Why Neither Trump nor Obama Deserve Credit for a Record Stock Market

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There is a lot of excitement over the record-breaking performance of the stock market this week, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke the 20,000-point threshold for the first time ever Wednesday.

Acolytes of President Trump are naturally hailing the historic mark as major validation for the president’s economic agenda and influence. As Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway tweeted, this is the so-called “Trump effect.”

But the hard truth is, if you are going to directly attribute performance of the benchmark index to national optimism in President Trump, you must be intellectually honest and consistent.

Indeed, the reality is that, as the Bespoke Investment Group noted in June, the stock market had done “exceptionally well under President Obama”:

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s performance [under Obama] of 120.6% ranks as the sixth best of any US President since 1900, just behind Reagan and comfortably ahead of Truman, who at 74.4% is far behind.”

Now, an objective analysis of the past administration will tell you that the Obama economy only led to the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II, at least.

So, how do you reconcile that with the soaring Dow of years past? What you need to understand is that stock markets are merely reflective of the investors’ whims and expectations. Investors speculate and put their money where they think they will make a good return.

And the president can have some influence over stock prices by affecting expectations. For example, President Trump has promised to repeal “out-of-control” regulations that are inhibiting entrepreneurs and manufacturers from building in America. That sends a certain signal to investors.

But the president does not have unilateral control over the economy. The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of interest rates, for example, likely had a tremendous role in the soaring of stocks during the Obama administration. But, in the end, the stock market is a very poor measure in trying to gauge the health of the economy, because investors can misinterpret signals. Such was the case in 1929, as the stock market soared on the precipice of the Great Depression.

Again, the stock market is merely an economic indicator for investment. It is not an indicator of economic health as a whole, nor does it signal the success, or lack thereof, of the president. Be careful not to treat it as such. (For more from the author of “Why Neither Trump nor Obama Deserve Credit for a Record Stock Market” please click HERE)

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How President Trump Could Make the IRS Great Again

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The president, Congress, and the American taxpayer are none of them fans of the Internal Revenue Service. Voters were justifiably angered by well-publicized mismanagement in recent years on the part of high-ranking IRS executives, many of whom are gone but are probably collecting sizeable government pensions. These missteps included:

Lois Lerner’s stone walling of Tea Party groups;

IRS employees subsequently pleading the 5th before Congress;

an extravagant Disneyland training conference;

a multi-million-dollar technology contract awarded to a military school drop out with a fictitious injury who is now doing hard time for killing his wife;

and IRS executives goofing off during the workday to practice line dancing (at least it wasn’t disco dancing) and making skits parodying Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island.

Despite all this, the IRS is not an agency out of control. The IRS answers to an alphabet soup of other government agencies which monitor its operations, such as the Government Accountability Office, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the IRS Oversight Board. The current IRS commissioner has clamped down on abuses and in many ways the pendulum has swung the other way. Now rank and file employees (the people who didn’t create the problems but have to clean up the mess) must complete a form and get high level approval to attend a free training conference across the street from their offices. Bathroom passes are probably next.

The bad news is that the IRS is now being starved of resources which it needs to keep the government running — the government which you the voters just elected and inaugurated. On Monday, President Trump signed an Executive Order freezing all federal hiring not directly related to the military, public safety, and public health. President Trump should have also exempted the IRS. Here’s why:

Why IRS Needs Funds Restored

The Federal Government’s fiscal condition is dire. The national debt hovers around $20 trillion ($20,000,000,000,000), with almost $9 trillion added during the Obama Administration. In 2016, the federal government ran about $1 trillion in the red. The voluntary compliance rate hovers only around 81%, and the Gross Tax Gap, the estimated amount of taxes that should be collected before enforcement efforts but is not, stands at $468 billion. This figure does not include the unpaid taxes from illegal activities such as pimping and drug dealing.

Despite the ballooning national debt and massive annual budget deficits, Congress has slashed the IRS budget 19% in constant dollars since 2010. This has resulted in the IRS hemorrhaging employees, from 95,000 in 2010 to 80,000 in 2015. This decline in personnel has resulted in fewer auditors, investigators, tax collectors, and people answering the phone. There are fewer people working at the IRS now than when Ronald Reagan took office.

In 1998, the IRS had about 3,300 highly trained special agents combating tax fraud, money laundering, and related financial crimes (I was one of them). Today there are fewer than 2,300. The same trend exists for revenue agents (the people who conduct field audits) and revenue officers (they do the actual collections). At this rate, getting caught cheating on your taxes is going to be about as likely as Publishers Clearing House knocking on your door.

The money invested in the IRS produces astronomical returns. The IRS uses the $5 billion Congress gives it for enforcement and reduces the Gross Tax Gap by $62 billion, resulting in an estimated annual Net Tax Gap of $406 billion. In other words, for every dollar you give the IRS for enforcement it returns $12 to the Treasury. MIT-trained economist Dr. Jeff Dubin wrote in a 2007 article that a $353 million additional investment would result in $16.8 billion, between in additional dollars collected and greater voluntary compliance. No business owner would forgo the opportunity to earn that kind of return on investment.

To tackle America’s fiscal nightmare, President Trump should exempt the IRS from the hiring freeze and press Congress to appropriate the funds necessary to close the Tax Gap. Start with an extra $2 billion. That would bring the IRS budget back to 2010 budget levels. Then hold the IRS accountable for every dime. Tell it to start with cracking down on the pimps and the dope dealers who never did an honest day’s work (I have a few names they can start with). Then go after the fraudulent tax preparers who add fake dependents and abuse the ITIN system to bilk the Treasury out of tens of billions of dollars in bogus refunds. Stop chasing the little guy, like my friend who is a semi-retired septuagenarian who filed his corporate return late (he was in the hospital) and is fighting a $1,700 fine.

President Trump has big plans to Make American Great Again. To do that, he needs to make the IRS Great Again. To my friends at the IRS I say this: Sharpen your pencils and double knot your wingtips. It’s time to get to work! (For more from the author of “How President Trump Could Make the IRS Great Again” please click HERE)

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CNN Responds to My Application for Its Fake News Position

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The following is the CNN human resources department’s reply to Rachel’s application for their new position of fake news editor. You can find her application here.

Dear (not to imply a level of intimacy that would make you uncomfortable) Ms., Miss, Mrs. Alexander (not to imply a marriage status or non-fluid gender identity, not that there’s anything wrong with that, if that’s who you feel yourself to be, and not to exclude Mr.),

We have reviewed your request to join our team (not that it’s a competitive type of team, everyone is equal here) as a reporter on fake news.

You must have misunderstood what we are looking for. We don’t run fake news here. We consider ourselves a ministry of truth, as the most trusted cable news network. We are looking to expand the work that our fake news expert Brian Stelter is doing.

We are looking for someone with a Media Matters, Snopes or Politifact approach to fake news. This means calling out biased, fake news sources like Fox News, The Washington Times and the Drudge Report. Or The Stream, a right-wing Christian site based in Dallas.

For example, Politifact has a great article entitled, “Fake News Purveyors Cheer On, Echo Trump Team’s Lies About Inauguration Crowd Size.” Not only does the article call out several offensive sites, but it goes further and notes that the sites all make revenue from Google advertising, so they are violating the company’s terms of service by providing misleading content. Politifact went the extra mile and is trying to shut these sites down.

To be honest, Ms./Miss/Mrs./Mr. Alexander, we don’t think you could do this. We think you’d be too biased.

Further, we want our new reporter to reach even higher levels of accuracy and zealousness. A really good reporter would go beyond what the Politifact article did and break down the Trump team’s inauguration numbers, explaining why they were fake. Or better still, keep repeating that the numbers were fake with smug authority and furrowed brow until it becomes accepted common wisdom.

We don’t think you understand that readers can only trust reputable sources like CNN, the New York Times and Huffington Post. You can generally distinguish a reputable site from the riff-raff because we use the AP Stylebook (the Times has its own stylebook, but it’s very similar). This guarantees our objectivity. For example, AP style requires the neutral term “anti-abortion” instead of the biased term “pro-life.”

The fake news sites use prejudicial terms like “Islamic terrorism” and “illegal immigrant,” so they should be easy to spot. We were alarmed to notice when reviewing the writing you submitted that you used these terms. We do not hire bigots who think that Muslim freedom fighters are “terrorists” and that undocumented visitors to this country are “illegal immigrants.”

We’re afraid we also doubt your ability to recognize fake news. How good are you at parsing every word in order to find one that looks off? President Trump’s Twitter feed should be a gold mine for this position, but we suspect you do not agree.

Take this tweet, for example, where Trump brags about meeting with “automobile industry leaders.” That looks objective, right? But that’s the genius of rightwing fake news. Who are these men really? What would the objective journalist call them? They’re greedy, wealthy white men and polluters largely responsible for the massive increase in manmade global warming.

This position requires the ability to create effective sound bites, in order to make sure the fake news exposés go viral. The stronger phrase “fake fake news” should be reserved to describe the worst offenses, like any story about someone connected to the Clintons who died under mysterious circumstances. “Trump fake news machine” should be used anytime the president says anything incorrect, which seems to be every other tweet.

Although it looks like your skills and the needs of CNN do not mesh, feel free to reapply and submit some samples of your work exposing the “real fake news.” Getting published in Media Matters will improve your chances with us. We hired Stelter in part because he came from one of the world’s most honest publications, The New York Times.

In keeping with our tolerance and diversity policies, we write you in peace and solidarity with all the oppressed peoples of the earth, the whales and all endangered creatures, and especially with the Palestinians oppressed by Israel.

Right on, sister (or brother if you wish)!

Your comrades at CNN

(For more from the author of “CNN Responds to My Application for Its Fake News Position” please click HERE)

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Trump Just Kept 3 Major Campaign Promises. Here’s What You Need to Know.

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On day one of his first week in office, President Trump kept several campaign promises in a series of executive orders issued Monday.

The first executive order was the fulfillment of a long-standing campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

“Great thing for the American worker, what we just did,” Trump said as he signed the order at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

Secondly, President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze on all federal workers, excluding the military. This policy was the second point in the president’s “Contract with the American Voter.”

Thirdly, the president reinstated the Mexico City abortion rule – a rule that requires foreign non-governmental organizations to not provide or promote abortion services if they receive funds from the U.S. government. The rule was put in place by President Ronald Reagan, and President Obama overturned it in his first week in office in 2009. Now that President Trump has undone what the Obama administration did, hundreds of millions of dollars used for international family planning funds will no longer go to organizations that promote abortions.

Hopefully, President Trump’s actions on federal hiring and on funding for abortion signal that his administration will be serious in his campaign’s commitment to reducing the size of government and to the pro-life cause.

Conservatives should be encouraged by today’s executive actions and look forward to ensuring the president fulfills the rest of his campaign promises. (For more from the author of “Trump Just Kept 3 Major Campaign Promises. Here’s What You Need to Know.” please click HERE)

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President Trump Could Build Bridges to Some of His Reasonable Critics

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“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”

So spoke Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address, to the seceding South. Even in that late moment of national division, a man who would go on to be perhaps the greatest of all presidents sought to bring healing to a broken country.

It is time for President Trump to do the same.

Seeking Healing After Division

The recent “women’s march” in Washington represents the profound fissures running through our republic. Of course, the “march” was a rally, and represented only some women. Those believing unborn children possess sufficient dignity to merit the right to life — in other words, about half of the women of the country — were excluded publicly and deliberately.

I am not suggesting that the President extend to Gloria Steinem an invitation to the Oval Office. She is so ideologically rigid that finding common ground with her would be a waste of time. Rather, there are many women in the nation who need to hear President Trump talk thoughtfully about his commitment to providing economic opportunity for disadvantaged women and ensuring that their children get a healthy, hope-filled start in life.

If President Trump shows by his demeanor and his tone that he cares about serving not only his supporters but even his most vociferous critics, he might win some good will from his more reasonable critics.

Additionally, if he meets with leaders willing to work with him on issues of mutual concern — sentencing reform, support for Israel, fighting human trafficking, and rebuilding our inner cities are a few that come to mind — he could help dissipate the genuine fear of many who did not support him.

When All You Can Do is Pray

At the same time, there are those who use the pretext of political opposition for mere thuggery. These were the people who destroyed storefronts and set fire to the American flag in the streets of American cities the day of the inauguration.

Seeing a flag that represents liberty, justice, hope, and human dignity burned by people so cowardly that they hide behind facemasks is enraging. It reminds me of Margaret Thatcher’s remark that the veneer of civilization is very thin. They are tearing that veneer, and they deserve whatever legal justice affords them.

It was hard not to take their activities personally, as two of the stores they vandalized — the Atrium Café and the 7th Street NW Starbucks — are places I patronized regularly when I worked for over seven years at the Family Research Council, which is only about a block away from each restaurant in downtown D.C. I had many good lunches and coffees with interns, colleagues, and friends at these places and got to know some of their employees on a first-name basis.

The Atrium Café is owned by Korean immigrants and staffed largely by Latinos. These are hard-working people who deserve respect and appreciation, not shattered glass and threat-filled screams. The black-clad phonies who decried President Trump’s “fascism” are the moral descendants of Mussolini’s “blackshirts,” the collation of disaffected brutes that helped him retain power in Italy.

With such persons, outreach by the new President would be pointless. So it is with such ludicrous, self-parodying “celebrities” as Madonna and the sad proponents of radical sexual autonomy (“Abortion on Demand and Without Apology” is their doxology). Such persons need prayer and personal compassion, not political dialog.

Trump’s Opportunity

Yet there are many well-intended Americans troubled by President Trump’s personal history and often inflammatory pronouncements. They might be won over, or at least disabused of their wariness.

To this end, the President has a tremendous opportunity. He can assure them that he and they must not be enemies, but friends. He can speak to their hopes and dreams, hopes and dreams common to all Americans, as he did eloquently in his inaugural address when he said, “Whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their hearts with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator.”

All decent Americans — and that number vastly exceeds the small number of pathetic criminals who immolated the flag and destroyed property — can identify with these things. President Trump must seize the opening days of his term in office to identify himself with these ideals and the people who share them.

As Mr. Lincoln said so long ago, “Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” (For more from the author of “President Trump Could Build Bridges to Some of His Reasonable Critics” please click HERE)

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It’s Time for Leaders to Earn Back the People’s Trust

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Conventional wisdom holds that the great malady plaguing American life today is the toxic combination of political polarization and social fragmentation.

And there’s a great deal of truth to this diagnosis. We are, as one astute observer put it, a “fractured republic,” fraught with intense divisions and deep anxieties that are not easily resolved.

But I believe our polarization is merely a symptom of a far deeper problem in America today—a problem that actually unites us, more than it divides us.

Ask the American people to share their opinions on a particular public policy—be it immigration, health care, same-sex marriage, or any hotly contested issue—and you’ll likely receive a wide variety of responses. These are our dividing lines.

But ask them whether they think their opinions actually matter to those charged with making policy—ask them whether their elected representatives truly represent their interests—and the public is suddenly unified.

A recent public poll found that three-quarters of Americans believe most elected government officials “don’t care what people like me think.”

What do they care about? Catering to the narrow agendas of the powerful and well-connected, according to the same supermajority of respondents, who said the federal government is “run by a few big interests” rather than “for the benefit of all the people.”

The American people know they are no longer in charge of their government. They know each year their elected representatives in Washington grow increasingly indifferent, if not downright hostile, to their interests and concerns.

And they know—thanks to last year’s election—that they no longer have to tolerate a political establishment committed to taking power away from the people, first by pulling it up away from states and localities and toward the federal government, and then by consolidating it in the hands of Washington’s unelected bureaucrats.

This drive toward centralization of policymaking power is rooted in an unspoken distrust of the American people’s capacity to govern themselves. But the history of America, and the principles of the Republican Party, prove this distrust to be utterly unfounded.

As Abraham Lincoln—America’s first Republican president—put it in his first inaugural address: “Why should there not be patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world?”

On the eve of America’s Civil War, Lincoln placed his trust—and his hope for a brighter future—squarely on the side of the people. As we seek to heal the wounds of division in our own day, we should follow his lead.

Winning back the people’s trust must be the primary goal of the Republican Party as we assume unified control over Congress and the presidency, and there’s only one way to accomplish it: by putting our trust back in the people. (For more from the author of “It’s Time for Leaders to Earn Back the People’s Trust” please click HERE)

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Here’s One Thing Conservatives Must Cease and Desist Immediately

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As conservatives we are supposedly attempting to conserve things.

Things that are predetermined by nature and nature’s God — so they are, by definition, reality. Things that history has proven are what are best for the human condition this side of eternity. And the things that gave birth to American Exceptionalism.

When your ideology is based on such objectively defined criteria, there really shouldn’t be as much disagreement among us as there is. After all, shouldn’t the Left—with its self-centered emphasis—be the side constantly arguing among itself? Unfortunately, that all too often doesn’t seem to be the case. This column is about one of the main reasons that happens.

Our movement is so driven by what we’re against we have forgotten to conserve what we’re actually for. Even to the point of allowing our opponents to determine for us what/who is shrewd, noble, and virtuous for us to support and pursue. Now, why you’d ever want to trust the words of those who cry “racist” every time you dare to disagree with them is beyond me, but here we are.

I swear, if I hear someone allegedly smart on our side say one more time “since the Left hates it/him/her that must be good,” I’m gonna pull a Waiting for Guffman and go home and bite my pillow in a fit of frustration.

Permit me to share a recent example of this foolishness to drive my point home.

A month ago I conducted an interview here at CR with Andy Schlafly from Eagle Forum, based on his research into the judicial records of several judges known to be on Donald Trump’s short list once he becomes president. While I obviously think enough of Schlafly’s work on such an important subject to highlight it, and think it’s something conservatives should definitely consider, I also think there’s certainly room for conservatives to disagree with his assessment.

I’ve even read some on our side who disagree with Schlafly’s conclusions, and that’s healthy for our movement. Didn’t a best-selling book once say something about there being “wisdom in a multitude of counsel”?

So this week in response to my interview with Schlafly, a conservative activist with more than 10,000 Twitter followers contacted me on social media. He was incredulous that Schlafly would dare to deem some on Trump’s wish-list as not true conservatives in the Antonin Scalia mold. That’s fine, I love a good back-and-forth, but before I could respond to him he had sent me a follow-up tweet. This one included the source of his incredulity. Can you guess what it was?

Was it Ed Whelan at National Review, who is a Schlafly critic? No.

Was it the Federalist Society standing up for its own? No.

Was it anything all that analyzes such matters from a conservative viewpoint? No.

His source was none-other than the paid, leftist trolls at Think Progress. Because, of course, since they think these potential Trump judges are going to create internment camps for trannies they must be just grand.

Before you laugh, please realize this is how much of our movement thinks and/or communicates—including some very big names. Why? Some of it is intellectual laziness, sure, but most of it is the oldest motivation of them all.

It’s heavy lifting advocating for conservatism given the spirit of the age. Especially because just as there are lots of people who have never given their lives to Christ, but think they’re Christians because they went to an Easter service once and know a few of the Ten Commandments. There are also plenty in our movement who, because they hate the nanny state, believe they are conservatives when they don’t even know what we’re trying to conserve.

However, just because you’re against what we’re against doesn’t mean you’re for what we’re for.

Yet in this day and age it’s much easier to click-bait those who still nurse on intellectual milk and aren’t ready for such solid food. Low-hanging fruit such as easily-debunked conspiracy nitwitism and straw men arguments draw an audience and generate traffic. Like when Drudge fired his siren on Tuesday night after noted Trump shill Roger Stone claimed to Alex “what makes the friggin frogs gay” Jones he was poisoned by his political enemies.

Low information, it’s not just for the liberals anymore.

Let’s face it, too many people on our team are really just clock-punchers and check cashers. So when you’re selling something you don’t really believe in, you peddle infantile tripe such as “this makes (fill-in-the-blank liberal) really mad, so it must be good.” And you help train a generation of earnest activists hanging on your every word, like this one who contacted me on Twitter.

For the critical thinker would realize there are people on both sides who are simply compensated to gaslight and demagogue the other. That if Trump gave the Rainbow Jihad everything it wants, and even offered to undergo gender re-assignment surgery himself, the dutiful trolls at Think Progress would still call him a bigot. Because in their eyes Trump’s chief crime isn’t what he stands for, it’s that he’s a Republican.

Which is the same reason race-baiters like Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. (F, 22%) boycott the inaugurations of George W. Bush and Trump, even though each man’s approaches and messaging as it pertains to minorities couldn’t be much different. For Lewis has himself transitioned from civil rights icon to Democrat Party hack, who has attempted to label every GOP standard-bearer in my lifetime a racist.

If Trump tried to appoint Obama’s pick Merrick Garland to replace Scalia, Garland would suddenly become “the most anti-reproductive choice judge ever” according to the likes of the George Soros funded Think Progress. This is the way this gaslighting game of demagoguery is played. I can’t believe I have to spell this out, but apparently I do.

We must cease and desist allowing phony outrage from the perpetually grieved fake victims on the Left determine who or what is conservatism. But that will be hard, because although reactionaryism isn’t conservatism, it sure pays well. (For more from the author of “Here’s One Thing Conservatives Must Cease and Desist Immediately” please click HERE)

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Living under a President You Didn’t Want: Four Words of Encouragement for Liberals

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Liberal Americans, may I speak to you for a moment? I have some words of encouragement for you.

I know that today, Inauguration Day, is a rough day for you. Very rough. Actually from my perspective as a conservative it looks like you’re in a panic.

As I write this, you’re planning protests all around the country — “massive” ones, according to some reports. The ACLU is printing 10,000 leaflets on protestors’ rights, for use in Washington alone. At least one other legal group has laid plans to be ready to help you if you get arrested.

It’s going to be a long day for you. I’m sure you see it as the start of a long four years.

There are conservatives, too — #NeverTrumpers — who would prefer it if we were swearing in someone else as president today. But I haven’t seen any sign that they’re joining in with your protests. I’m sure that’s partly because they, like all conservatives, have practice in this already.

You see, we, too, know what it’s like to have a president we didn’t want.

When Barack Obama was inaugurated we expected things would be rough — just as you are expecting as Trump is inaugurated today. Undoubtedly you see his administration in a much better light than we do, but for us, this past eight years has been disastrous in matters including health care, energy policy, marriage, right to life, and a host of foreign policy matters.

But we made it through not just one but two inaugurations, plus eight years of Obama in charge, without the kind of panic many of you are displaying.

I know it’s risky to offer unsolicited advice, but I think our experience may be instructive to you. So let me offer you four words of encouragement if I may: four things you can do to make it through the Trump administration with patience, with grace, and especially without splitting apart the country more than it already has been.

Don’t Forget It’s a Democracy

President Obama reminded us eight years ago that “elections have consequences.” Conservatives would have to live with his leadership and his agenda, he said, because the country elected him president: “At the end of the day, I won.”

He won twice. Now someone else has won. Donald Trump will be our president, because elections have consequences.

Some of you love to proclaim, “Not my president!” Please understand how anti-democratic this appears from our point of view. Barack Obama was president for both liberals and conservatives. If we had denied that, we would have denied American democracy itself; for America’s historically revolutionary democratic processes are defined by our free elections and the country’s acceptance of their results.

So we accepted Barack Obama as our president.

Of course we knew we would get our chance again in four years, and again in another four. You, too, will get your chance in 2020.

In the meantime you should feel welcome to use every legitimate democratic means at your disposal to stand for your view of America. You can protest; that’s American democracy in action. It does no good, though, if it turns disruptive or violent, so please be on guard for that. In your panic you appear not more than frightened: you look angry and sometimes hateful, which in large crowds often turns dangerous. I know you don’t want that to happen, but you’re running quite a risk of it.

I think you might want to re-consider your use of protests anyway. You’ll get further in the long run by working with the rest of us than by shouting at us.

Take the Long View

We are swearing in our 45th president today. There will be a 46th, and it won’t be Donald Trump. Nothing lasts forever. Conservatives have kept that in mind over the last eight years. Our patience has yielded this day for us, the end of extreme progressive national leadership — for now. There will be a 46th president for us, too, and who knows who that will be?

Social movements take time, too. The Civil Rights movement began with the abolitionists before the Civil War. It’s advanced since then through a series of huge ups and downs. If this is a “down” moment — as I’m sure you think it is — it’s still part of the long advance.

That might be little comfort if you want change right now! But change can’t be hurried. Eight years under Obama didn’t bring you the change you wanted. It isn’t because he wasn’t on your side. It’s because no matter how fast you might want change to happen, some things can’t be rushed.

While you’re taking that longer view, I suggest you also take a broader one. You don’t know conservative America. Of course we don’t agree with all your policies and politics, but we aren’t as hateful as you think we are. You might want to get to know us as we are, rather than the way your fellow liberals and progressives describe us. To judge us simply by the label “conservative” without knowing us is to stereotype us, and I’m sure you don’t believe in stereotyping.

Trust God

onald Trump may be president, but he’s not the one who’s ultimately in charge. God is. And God is good. The Bible assures us that God takes a longer view and for higher purposes than we could even begin to comprehend.

Not every conservative lives by that belief, but it’s fair to say there are enough of us to influence the overall mood on our side of the American public. Sure, we’ve cringed over many of Obama’s decisions, yet we’ve been able to stand firm with the confidence that God is in control.

And I think that confidence explains our relative calm. It’s the reason we haven’t resorted to panic measures like your protests. There’s something to be said for bearing under bad news with equanimity. It would be healthier for you, as it was healthier for us while Obama served as president.

Your trust in God could include prayer:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good. (1 Tim. 2:1-3a)

Calm Down

Finally, take a deep breath. If you can remember this is still a democracy, if you can take the long view, and especially if you can trust God, you might be able to calm your panic.

It will do you a lot of good. It will do us all good. (For more from the author of “Living under a President You Didn’t Want: Four Words of Encouragement for Liberals” please click HERE)

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