Hillary Would Give Us a Disastrous Third Obama Term

/0 Comments/in , /by

When it comes to unity, the Democrats talk a good game. But, in the end, they promote disunity, because their electability depends on societal division and inciting anger, resentment and distrust.

I don’t need to cite examples of Democrats blaming Republicans for divisiveness and falsely extolling their own aspirations of unity; they are everywhere. From their talk of our “common humanity,” to their glorification of all kinds of diversity (except diversity of thought, of course), to their proclaimed monopoly on tolerance, it’s what they do.

It’s ironic that Democrats get away with this lie. It is Republicans—or, at least, the conservatives among them—who preach that a rising tide lifts all boats.

Democrats simply can’t be honest about economic policy. They have to demonize the wealthy to incite class warfare. They must perpetuate and expand government dependency programs, creating incentives for people to remain out of the workforce. They must vilify the rich for not paying their “fair share” of taxes, despite the undeniable fact that upper-income earners pay far more taxes—actual and percentage—and that the lower half of income earners pay no income taxes at all. How much “fairer” can it be?

I am old enough to remember then-Senator Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to bring all people together in a spirit of harmony and healing. I also remember him doing just the opposite once elected.

And I remember Obama’s 2012 gamble of appealing directly to minorities and alienating other groups, apparently on the theory that disaffected groups outnumber the sum of all others (or, that agitating them would increase their turnout and ensure his victory). If a Republican candidate had dared such overt divisiveness, the mainstream media would have tarred and feathered him or her.

The Democrats are having a field day attacking Donald Trump, and he’s giving them way too much ammunition. But no matter who Republicans put up, Democrats will viciously disparage. To them, virtually all Republican candidates and officeholders are mean-spirited bigots by default.

If only Republicans could successfully communicate their case that perpetual malaise, which is the only thing Democrats offer anymore, is unnecessary and correctable. If only they could demonstrate that the Democrats’ socialistic and regulatory policies thwart prosperity for all groups of people (except, ironically, the very wealthy).

But the Republicans haven’t made their case, or it’s falling on deaf ears, because Democrats are paying people, in effect, to remain on their plantations. They are encouraging them not to be productive members of society. They are deliberately undermining the nuclear family. They are fomenting envy and disharmony. It’s tragic.

Look at Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed economic plan. What an utter package of deceit! She tells us she’s going to create more than 10 million new jobs… by continuing the same miserably failed policies of Barack Obama. President Obama and Clinton claim they saved the economy from collapse after the 2008 financial crisis that their very policies helped create. But eight years later we’ve yet to see appreciable economic growth from this team. For them, 1 percent growth is the new 5 percent; Obamanomics has given us the worst recovery since World War II. Indeed, it is an insult to the term “recovery” to designate this mess as such.

No matter what he says now, Pres. Obama promised his obscene $800 billion “stimulus” package would actually stimulate, and it did the opposite. But Clinton would continue the ruse, expecting us to believe four more years of this insanity will produce different results. Her five-part plan is more of the same:

1. Investing in infrastructure. (Deja vu, anyone?)

2. Make college available for all. (But how will graduates get jobs in their recessionary economy?)

3. Make companies share more profits with their employees. (And these people claim they’re not socialists).

4. Make corporations, the wealthy and Wall Street pay their fair share. (I’ve covered this.)

5. Create policies that “support 21st-century families”—equal pay, paid leave, reduced child care costs.

Seriously, which of these strategies could conceivably unleash sustained economic growth? Other than the infrastructure spending (which also won’t create long-term growth), these ideas have nothing to do with expanding the economic pie, but only with redistribution. Not only is Clinton’s five-point plan destined for failure, she will expand the regulatory state, which smothers small businesses.

If Democrats ever believed in economic growth, they’ve long since abandoned it, going with the myth that we have a finite pie and that they, as Big Sister, must control how it’s allocated—the free market be damned.

I repeat: The Democrats’ viability requires keeping us at each other’s throats. They must divide us. Consider candidate Clinton’s recent shunning of police unions. She is so desperate to retain the Democrats’ long-held 90 percent African-American vote that she told the 335,000-member National Fraternal Order of Police she wouldn’t seek its endorsement.

The chilling truth is that Hillary Clinton would give us a third Obama term…and I don’t know how we can come back from it. (For more from the author of “Hillary Would Give Us a Disastrous Third Obama Term” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

14 Winning Issues Trump Could Use Against Hillary

/0 Comments/in , /by

When a football team is down and headed into the second half of the game, the coach does himself no favors by denying reality and avoiding a course change.

With every single national and state poll showing Trump losing demographics Republicans haven’t lost in over 60 years and making states like Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri competitive, anyone who truly wants to beat Hillary Clinton does themselves no favors by spending the next few months simply declaring the polls skewed. The people must demand a course change and ask of their nominee to finally get back on message, go relentlessly on offense on the critical issues people care about, and begin spending money in the important states needed to win this election in November. Anything short of taking this approach is ensuring that Hillary Clinton indeed is on her way to the White House – the very outcome the most ardent Trump fans claim they wish to avoid.

Trump’s reliance on media coverage and name recognition may have gotten him through the primary but, as we’re witnessing, this won’t get him through the general. This is why it’s so important for Trump to get back on message, place Hillary on defense on critical issues, and run ads relentlessly holding her accountable for the security, societal, and economic woes that the entire country feels… so long as they are not distracted by the excitement of reality TV. When elections are about personalities, Democrats win, but when they are about issues Republicans win. And fortunately for Trump, his opponent’s past and present record provides ample opportunity for any challenger to expose her weaknesses and to run an honest campaign against a corrupt candidate.

Here is just a sample of the many issues that can easily be used to place Hillary on defense for the rest of the election.

1. Hang Obamacare on Hillary’s neck: Hillary bragged about being the pioneer for socialized medicine at the Democratic National Convention. Well, while private insurance costs are skyrocketing and doctors are leaving the health care profession in record numbers, now is the time to put Obamacare back into the center of this election. Republicans won two mid-term landslides on this issue, but lost in 2012 because they nominated someone who couldn’t effectively make health care an issue. That Obamacare has barely been mentioned in this election is criminal negligence. Trump must make it clear that if Hillary is allowed to expand Obamacare instead of repealing it, no middle class family will be able to live in dignity without government dependency and the largest sector of our economy will be permanently damaged, which will, in turn, continue to drag down the economy. There is something fundamentally wrong when Hillary is up double digits on the issue of health care, and the refusal to seriously campaign against Obamacare would be a great place to look for the culprit.

2. Hillary’s Regulations Will Crush the Poor: Democrats thrive on playing class warfare and claiming to only tax the rich while giving handouts to “the little guy.” The dirty little secret that needs to be publicized is that the hidden tax of regulations is shouldered by everyone and is most regressive against the poor. A new report shows how Obama’s regulations have cost the economy $734 billion. The total cost of all federal regulations in 2014 reached $1.88 trillion, which amounts to a $14,976 hidden tax per family every year. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, this amounts to 23 percent of the average family budget of $51,000. The $1.88 trillion number is also more than receipts from corporate and personal income taxes combined. Trump needs to shout at every event and run ads in every state warning that a third term of Obama will crush families with a higher cost of living for the most essential goods and services.

3. Highlight Hillary’s Radicalism on Immigration: Instead of holding a press conference about his wife’s immigration history, thereby making this, once again, about personality, Trump could capitalize on the spotlight by detailing all of the illegal executive actions Obama has taken in recent weeks to endanger this nation’s security and violate its sovereignty. He could then run endless ads in critical states warning about Hillary’s plan to walk in the footsteps of Europe and bring in hundreds of thousands of additional refugees from the Middle East. Continuing with some of the messaging from the Republican convention, he can note how it is Hillary who doesn’t care about American security and the economy by sacrificing our sovereignty on the altar of billionaire special interests in support of open borders.

4. Hit Hillary on Her War on the Suburbs: Elections are won or lost in the suburbs and Trump is getting crushed in suburban counties at this point. He needs to hammer home Obama’s fundamental transformation of America via HUD’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule.” This program mandates suburban jurisdictions construct a certain number of “low income” housing. At the same time, HUD channels federal funds to crony left-wing organizations to move people out of the city into the suburbs, overwriting the zoning codes of the local governments. This unconstitutional executive action, cheered on by the lawless courts, violates property rights, federalism, and the true ideals of equal opportunity. It also represents a backdoor federal gerrymander and de facto eminent domain for ACORN-style organizations. Fight political correctness and win suburban votes at the same time.

5. Make Hillary Own Iran: Obama has allowed Iran to humiliate us and it is now clear he paid them a ransom to get back American hostages. Coupled with seizing our naval ship without retaliation, nothing embodies American weakness more than the Iran alliance. This all started under Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State. The ad ideas to run against her on this issue are endless.

6. Attack Hillary’s Support for Jail Break Legislation: Make it clear that Hillary is the candidate of anarchy in an increasingly dangerous world. Rebuke Obama’s pardon of 214 criminals this week – 52 of which have serious gun violations – and demonstrate the irrevocable damage of four more years of this.

7. Attack Hillary’s Foreign Policy Record. This is perhaps the easiest, and most obvious, layup. WikiLeaks revealed Clinton had a hand in arming terrorists in Syria. That, coupled with her comments at the Democratic convention confirming that her approach to stopping ISIS will not be fast-acting, is enough to turn the millions of voters concerned about the barbaric attacks we’re witnessing throughout the world by the hand of radical Islamic terrorists. Hillary’s role in involving the U.S. in Libya should be another easy target. As Secretary of State, Hillary’s Libya “intervention” has in turn led to the rise of Boko Haram and the loss of almost the entire continent of Africa. Now, Obama is quietly sending more troops to Libya with no definite mission.

8. Run Against Hillary’s Judicial Oligarchy Philosophy: Don’t just run on appointing better judges but on reforming the judiciary altogether. Show how the courts are crushing the states on their most essential functions and promise to work with Congress to return power to the states. Talk about the recent rulings banning voter ID laws, a most basic element of protecting the franchise. Again, this would cut through the perception that Trump is a top-down power hungry leader. By being a voice for judicial integrity, Trump would connect with the large swath of Middle America that supports voter ID and strike a populist tone that is actually rooted in the Constitution.

9. Hillary Won’t Stand for Religious Liberty, bring out the Megaphone on Religious Freedom: Note that Hillary Clinton tolerates the Muslim Brotherhood but has no place for religious Jews and Christians in this country. Be the candidate of civil and religious liberty and stand for conscience and property rights. Promise legislation defending the people and the states from the agenda of coercion pushed by the sexual identity movement.

10. Attack Hillary’s Nanny State Agenda and Stand for Civil Liberty: One glaring hole in Trump’s entire agenda – from the primary through the general election – is no mention of liberty. This is something Democrats have insidiously but cleverly exploited to outflank him on constitutional freedoms. He must point out Hillary’s nanny state agenda, support for endless violations of the Fourth Amendment, and become the candidate of the Bill of Rights. “While Hillary wants to grant citizen rights to illegal aliens and coddle the Muslim Brotherhood, she doesn’t believe in the Bill of Rights for Americans,” would be a great line of attack.

11. Will Hillary Denounce Planned Butcherhood? It’s truly amazing that Planned Parenthood has been caught on video trafficking baby parts, a seminal moment in the 40-year battle over abortion, and yet Republicans have walked away from the issue. Trump is currently losing Catholics by 17 points. This is political malpractice. He needs to remind voters that Hillary has never disavowed Planned Parenthood’s butchery and that she wants to continue taxpayer funding for a private entity under criminal investigation for barbaric practices.

12. Double Down on Hillary’s Farcical War on Women Rhetoric: Instead of playing defense every time Hillary attacks him for his off-handed comments about women, Trump should double down on Hillary’s fake and hypocritical ‘war on women’ agenda. Throughout her career, Hillary has made championing women’s rights a central part of her platform despite having sent billions to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East that degrade, rape, and even occasionally mutilate and murder women who do not adhere to Sharia law. Not to mention Hillary’s support for bringing into the U.S. even more migrants who have the potential to mistreat women like we’re seeing take place in countries like Germany and Sweden. How is exposing women to rape, threats and potential abuse good for women?

13. Keep the Internet out of Hillary and K Street’s Hands: There is no greater issue that fits more into Trump’s branding and simultaneously seizes upon the liberty mantle while attracting younger voters (who are already sour on Hillary) than to oppose Obama’s giveaway of internet domains to an international tribunal that includes China, Russia, and Iran. The internet is the beacon of freedom that also exemplifies American exceptionalism (Making America First Again!). If Republicans don’t cave on this issue before the end of the year, this election will determine whether America will continue to control internet domains and ensure its freedom from the globalists and elitists, as well as despotic countries. Just imagine the ads that could be run on this issue and marketed to younger voters? Opposition to Hillary Clinton’s support for K Street’s internet sales tax would also be a great messaging tool.

14. Double Down on Hillary’s One-Size-Fits-All Education Policy: Common Core is just like Obamacare. It’s beyond an abstract policy issue. Every parent understands what it is and what it represents. This is an issue that Democrats have admitted, time and again, could destroy them on the campaign trail. There are so many clever commercials Trump could run demonstrating what children will be forced to do under Hillary’s Department of Education.

Obviously, this is just a cursory list. Once Hillary’s dangerous associations with Islamists are factored in, there are endless security issues that can be hung around her neck. The point is that it’s time to go on offense and make Hillary the relentless focus of this campaign.

For better or worse, Donald Trump has the biggest megaphone of any single human being in this country. He has the ability to attract media attention instantaneously. While the media will always be biased and exhibit a glaring double standard to any GOP nominee, Trump can take his destiny in his own hand. Elections are all about the ability to focus the public attention. Trump can do his part using this significant megaphone to focus voters on these and many other issues where Hillary stands in opposition to the majority of Americans. Or he can continue making his personality the focus of this campaign, something the Hillary campaign and the media are all too eager to capitalize on. (For more from the author of “14 Winning Issues Trump Could Use Against Hillary” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Dear Rainbow Jihad: Whatever Happened to Love Is Love?

/0 Comments/in , /by

Dear Rainbow Jihad,

Why isn’t there any room at the end of your LGBTQWTF gender-bending train for a mom and her son who like to get busy with one another? Where do you get off denying consenting adults their feelings?

After all, “love is love” and “same love” and all that, right?

Comments on at least one progressive website are calling this incestuous New Mexico hook up icky and gross. Um, why, pray tell? Whatever happened to “love wins?”

Or have you been lying to us this whole time?

Because it seems to me poor Monica Mares, 36, and her son Caleb Peterson, 19 — who Mares didn’t raise and offered up for adoption after she had him as a teenager — are cruel victims of a terrible double standard. They face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty of incest at a trial next month. But all they have done since they reunited with each other last Christmas is love each other. They lived happily together in Mares’ mobile home with her two youngest children, and Mares’ youngest son even began calling Peterson (his brother) ‘dad’.

A little strange perhaps, but in a world of ‘my two daddies’ and Bruce Jenner winning ‘woman of the year’ honors, I would have thought ‘who am I to judge’ was standard-issue moralizing by now. A new book was even just released called Pedophilia and Adult-Child Sex, which is described as “a philosophical analysis” of what “intuitively strikes many people as sick, disgusting, and wrong. The problem is that it is not clear whether these judgments are justified and whether they are aesthetic or moral.”

C’mon, man, get on the right side of history! All the cool kids are doing it. Do you bigots want to go back to banning interracial dating or something?

Mares, for her part, at least has the courage to sprint to the progressive Valhalla when others only dare to crawl. What an inspiration, that wonderful mother of nine. In fact, she is so unfazed by the threat of jail, she insists she would even give up the right to see all her other kids should the courts demand she choose between them and her mother lover.

Why on earth would anyone stand in the way of such a powerful urge, perhaps their one and only shot to be who they truly are?

“We (are) both consenting adults,” said Peterson. “It’s just like the gays. This whole case is about whether I have the right to love somebody and I sure as hell have the right to love Monica. You can’t tell me who to love, who not to love.”

That’ll preach. Go tell it on the mountain, Caleb, over the hills and everywhere.

If the government has no power to discriminate against relationships involving two consenting adults of the same gender, then why does it have the power to discriminate against two consenting adults at all?

“But what about genetic birth defects,” you say? Have ye not heard of the sacred right to kill your own offspring? They wouldn’t stop yelling about it just a few weeks ago at the Democrat National Convention. It’s all the rage.

Bottom line: Every child must be a wanted child, and if that child ain’t wanted, Dr. Gosnell is ready and waiting to see you. I fail to see what the problem is. Besides, what if a father and son want to get their freak on? Since neither has a uterus, there’s no risk of a conception, so why not let their freak flag fly?

I sincerely hope you precious snowflakes/social justice warriors aren’t just as guilty of “discrimination” as those bitterly clinging to their guns and their Bibles. Where is your sense of diversity? Your desire for tolerance? Where is your ‘get your government out of my bedroom and my ovaries now? Where is your sense of justice here?

As we speak, Mares is forced to walk the streets and suffer shameful indignities at the hands of those who approach her on the street and “call me incest.” Can anyone say “hate crime?” If there’s no place for BYU in the Big 12 Conference because it refuses to sanction sex among non-married heterosexuals on campus, then there’s no place for this blatant bigotry, either.

You’ve already heroically shut down businesses for not participating in homosexuality, as well as moved the NBA all-star game because North Carolina dared to deny men in skirts and lipstick fulfilling their fantasies in the girls’ bathroom. So what on earth are you waiting for? Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Not to mention fair is fair. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

So get equal already. If this applies to the homosexual couple recently “married” by Vice President Joe Biden, please explain why it doesn’t apply to Mares-Peterson. And no, crickets chirping isn’t an answer. Let freedom ring!

“Sometimes the easy way isn’t the best way,” Peterson said. “Sometimes we have to make that life decision that’s going to change and affect everything but when it comes down to it, it’s worth it.”

That’s powerful stuff, which once again proves that heroes don’t always wear capes, my friends. Sometimes, they just really, really, really love their moms. (For more from the author of “Dear Rainbow Jihad: Whatever Happened to Love Is Love?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

3 Reasons Why Obamacare Is Bad for Millennials

/0 Comments/in , /by

For many millennials, the fear of entering the “real world” is looming. We are preparing to face the financial challenges, often feeling like we are starting the trek up Mount Everest.

Many of us are scrambling to find jobs and avoiding moving back in with our parents. We recognize more and more that good jobs putting us on a promising career path are harder to find.

But our generation faces an additional challenge. Obamacare is jeopardizing our personal freedom and our financial future in ways few saw coming and many are unprepared to handle.

So many young people believe Obamacare is helping our society and will make health care more affordable, but now it is abundantly clear that the plan is harming young people.

Here are three ways Obamacare is hurting millennials:

Health Care Costs Skyrocket

Because of Obamacare, young people have seen up to a 44 percent increase in premiums because the new 3-1 ratio (older people can’t be charged more than three times the cost of a young person’s health care) forces the young to subsidize the old in the health insurance market. Not only are elderly individuals paying artificially lower prices for their insurance, but millennials are paying artificially higher prices.

This gives young people a strong monetary incentive to go without insurance and pay the annual fine for not buying insurance and then still “free ride” at the expense of the taxpayer with hospital emergency room care when they do get sick. If these regulations weren’t in place, young people’s premiums would be reduced by around $1,100.

That’s a lot of money for many young people starting in entry-level jobs, making only $10-15 an hour.

One aspect of Obamacare that seemed appealing to millennials on the surface was that if they are age 26 or younger they can stay on their parent’s plan—assuming their parents have employment-based coverage. However, if they don’t, they must enroll through the health insurance exchanges, where their choices are scarce. If they don’t do either, they must pay a fine. What we want to do is enroll in less expensive health plans of our choice. We can’t do that under these restrictions.

In addition, some options that were specifically designed for young people have been outlawed. Most college students only need and want basic coverage, which they could get through a limited benefit plan. Obamacare has abolished these minimum coverage caps (the plan’s minimum amount of money used to cover medical expenses) that characterizes these short-term, college plans. This desirable option of limited, short-term insurance coverage is now no longer available for students.

Instead of expanding coverage, some young people have decided to go without. That defeats the whole purpose of this law.

Harder to Keep Jobs

Because of Obamacare’s mandates on businesses, employers are increasingly forced to cut back on hiring and hours of work.

Employers are forced to purchase expensive insurance packages at the risk of being fined. The law mandates to anyone employing 50 or more full-time employees to purchase federally standardized health insurance. This coverage is often very expensive because of the inclusion of a wide range of government-mandated benefits.

If businesses don’t offer the federally-approved coverage, they can be fined at a rate of $2,000 to $3,000 for each employee who isn’t covered. Employers deal with this by not absorbing the costs, but passing it on to their workers. How? By slashing hours, cutting wages, rolling back other benefits, and firing people with the least seniority.

It’s not surprising that people have had to take multiple jobs just to support themselves. For young people entering the workforce, this doesn’t make our chances of securing jobs upon graduation any easier.

An Explosion of the National Debt

If the above two reasons weren’t enough to make a young person worry, this point will for sure.

As of March 2015, Obamacare has a net cost of $1.207 trillion over the next 10 years and will add an additional $17 trillion over the next 75 years in unfunded liabilities. Our national debt is over $19 trillion, so how is the United States supposed to pay for this? Oh, that’s right, it will increase taxes on the young people who will continue to pay for Obamacare, as well as the other giant federal entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—for the rest of our lives.

Not only are the young subsidizing the old through Obamacare’s unfair insurance rating rules, they are also subsidizing a large and rapidly-growing elderly population—including wealthy retirees—through their payroll and income taxes.

Imagine how much that will end up costing. Imagine how much of our hard-earned money will go toward big entitlement programs like this one, which we might never benefit from. If the goal was simply to provide help for those who could not afford health insurance, we could have easily done it without incurring Obamacare’s massive cost and debt. But that wasn’t the goal. The goal was more government intervention, and less of the free market; sadly it seems to be working.

A Better Solution for Young People

There is a better way to help the millions of Americans struggling to find affordable coverage, but not at a debilitating cost to young people.

Congressional Republicans, led by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., recently released a plan that embraces a free marketplace, respects personal freedom, allows Americans to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks, and embraces the diversity of this wonderful land we call America.

Ryan’s plan would reform the health care system, starting with the repeal of Obamacare. The plan states: “This law cannot be fixed. Its knots of regulations, taxes, and mandates cannot be untangled.”

The congressional Republican plan will allow people to buy insurance anywhere in America, creating a highly competitive national market for health insurance.

It would give Americans more options, better quality, and intense competition that would lower costs. States would be able to regulate their own health insurance markets, meaning that Washington could no longer force employers and individuals to purchase “Washington-mandated” health plans. It would mean that young people would be able to buy insurance that fits their needs, rather than pay artificially inflated insurance premiums.

Removing the employer mandate would mean that businesses would be able to purchase coverage that is best for them, and they would be able to balance health benefits with wages and other benefits. It would also open up job opportunities, enabling businesses to hire more full-time staff instead of many part-time staff, creating more job security and larger paychecks. That would be a direct benefit to young people entering the workforce.

Obamacare was supposed to lower costs and increase access to care. While insurance coverage has increased, health care costs have soared, particularly for the young. The most energetic new workers are being slammed with higher costs of insurance, including big deductibles—forcing many to go without.

President Barack Obama said his plan would not only expand coverage, but would also control costs, reduce typical family premiums, and expand competition. In fact, its biggest achievement has been to increase cost and expand government control.

Many of our peers don’t like conservatives very much, but they don’t realize that the Ryan alternative to Obamacare will lower insurance costs—especially for millennials. This plan was created with an understanding that young people shouldn’t bear the entire burden and recognizes that our future should be full of excitement and opportunity, not high taxes, suffocating bureaucracy, and crippling premiums. (For more from the author of “3 Reasons Why Obamacare Is Bad for Millennials” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

How Evan McMullin Could Cost Trump the Presidency

/0 Comments/in , , /by

It’s unlikely that Evan McMullin, the former CIA staffer who just announced his bid for the presidency, can swipe votes from Republican nominee Donald Trump in any state — except one.

Utah is a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964, and yet it has taken on a distinct dislike for the GOP nominee: June polls showed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tied with 35 percent each, with Libertarian Gary Johnson drawing in 13 percent. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, this unique aversion to Trump is due to his “brash swagger” and “outlandish behavior” in a state full of Mormons.

“It’s interesting that Libertarian Gary Johnson is polling in double digits,” Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute, told the Tribune. “Clearly, there is a segment of the Utah population that is still willing to consider a third-party candidate.”

That third-party candidate may very well be Evan McMullin come November.

A Mormon himself, McMullin was born in Provo, Utah and studied at Brigham Young University, a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It would not be so surprising if McMullin gained the support of fellow Mormons Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, two of the most outspoken anti-Trump politicians in the GOP. (Read more from “How Evan McMullin Could Cost Trump the Presidency” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Delivers Some Good Ideas, Backed by One Huge Misconception

/0 Comments/in , /by

In his speech on Monday to the Detroit Economic Club, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump outlined a number of proposals to restore and revitalize the American economy. He touched on tax reform, regulatory reform, energy, trade, and more, and through it all delivered some pretty good ideas. However, there’s still a concerning lack of basic economic understanding behind many of his remarks.

Taxes

Let’s start with taxes: Mr. Trump wants them to be lower, and simpler, and who can argue with that? He calls for cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, reducing the number of individual tax brackets from seven to three, and eliminating some of the loopholes and deductions that make filing taxes such a time-consuming and complicated mess. So far so good, although this last point about simplicity is somewhat undermined by his calls for new deductions to cover the cost of child care. I like the idea in spirit, but how do you prove to the IRS what is and isn’t a child care cost? It seems like monitoring those deductions could end up being both extremely expensive and a huge invasion of privacy.

Trump received some energetic booing when he announced that “for many Americans, their tax rate would be zero.” This is a divisive point even among conservatives, who generally want lower taxes for everybody. There is a perception that paying no taxes leaves a person without a stake in the system, and leads to irresponsible behavior as a citizen. Personally, I’m happy whenever the government steals less money from the taxpayers, and if that means not stealing at all from some people, so much the better. Trump would also work to repeal the estate tax, an insidious form of double taxation that absolutely has to go.

Regulations

On regulations, Trump says he would issue a temporary moratorium on all new agency rules. That’s a great idea, but I’d like to know how temporary is temporary, as would all the businesses trying to plan for the future. Trump talks about the importance of certainty, and a certain knowledge about when regulations will kick back in is certainly a crucial part of that. Tell you what, let’s just make the moratorium permanent and call it a day. Then everybody’s happy, right?

Trump also intends to request lists of unnecessary regulations from each agency so that they may be repealed. The only problem with this idea is that it’s hard to imagine the agencies that passed the rules being impartial arbiters of what is or is not necessary. I expect these lists will end up being very short indeed.

In a similar vein, Trump announced that he would immediately cancel all illegal and overreaching executive orders. Again, this is extremely impressive if true, but one cannot help but wonder who is going to make the call of what “illegal and overreaching” means. Given Trump’s rhetoric on security and law and order, it’s hard to imagine him rolling back some of the worst executive orders, such as order 12333, for example, which allows for mass spying on American citizens.

Still, despite these few stumbling blocks, so far this has come across as a rather good Republican policy speech, ticking all the boxes that conservatives usually care about. But it’s when he comes to trade that Trump reveals the underlying misunderstanding of how economies work that casts doubt on whether we can rely on him to be a true champion of economic growth.

Trade

Trump’s major mistake in talking about economic policy, both foreign and domestic, is that he holds a stubborn “us vs. them” mentality regarding the rest of the world. “We are in competition with the world!” he bellows. Unless he’s thinking of the Olympics, no, we’re not. Contrary to what Michael Douglas said in a movie from the 1980s, wealth is not a zero sum game. When one country becomes richer, it doesn’t mean another must become poorer. In fact, when some of us benefit, we all benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Trump doesn’t see it this way. He repeatedly claims “I want wealth to stay in America” as if there is a finite, unchanging amount of wealth. The reality is that wealth is created by specialization, trade, innovation, education, and increases in human capital. When more wealth is created, it doesn’t mean America gets a bigger piece of the pie, it means the pie itself is bigger, and everyone can have a bigger piece.

Early in his speech, Trump attacked the policies of his Democratic opponent, saying that other countries would love to see us elect Hillary Clinton, because of the economic disaster she would create. While it’s undeniably true that Clinton’s policies would be ruinous, why on Earth would other countries delight in that? The U.S. is the largest economy in the world. We trade with everybody. We buy their exports. We send them tourists. We invest in their businesses. The idea that China, Russia, or the European Union would somehow benefit if the U.S. when down in flames is not only ridiculous, it’s insane.

It’s this mindset that leads Trump to reject international trade deals out of hand and to criticize NAFTA (which on balance has been pretty good for America, not to mention for Canada and Mexico), and which has led him to threaten companies who plan to move their operations overseas. This glaring blind spot has left him unable to see that there can be mutual benefit in international cooperation.

So while Trump’s speech contains plenty of good ideas to get the economy going again, his inability to understand something as basic as the gains from trade leaves me skeptical that he will usher in the economic renaissance he promises. (For more from the author of “Trump Delivers Some Good Ideas, Backed by One Huge Misconception” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

What’s the Bigger Threat: Radical Islam or Ourselves?

/0 Comments/in , /by

When will the “religion of peace” stop being so misunderstood and recognized as the noble social justice warriors that they are?

Maybe when stuff like this stops happening. Just last week, a police officer with Washington, D.C.’s Metro Transit was arrested on charges of assisting the (not according to Obama) Islamic State. Federal prosecutors say he had been under government’s surveillance since 2010 and travelled twice to Libya – a land known for its peace and tranquility – twice in 2011.

Hard to know how many American lives were just saved by such an arrest. What is clear, though, according to a recent story in the New York Times, is that there is little time to celebrate in America or elsewhere. One cockroach may have been crushed under the heel of our still feisty-at-times, but seriously limping, remnant of Western Civilization. Yet the broader infestation is relentless, vast, and coordinated to a degree that many remain in denial about.

European intelligence, which has had the unfortunate duty of connecting dots in the aftermath of wave after wave of deadly terrorist attacks in the last few years, has uncovered the existence of an elite intelligence and operations unit within Islamic State called the Emni. It has been recruiting and sending fighters abroad for at least two years under the command of the Islamic State’s most senior Syrian operative, with the assistance of a team of lieutenants spread out across the globe. Charged with sparking a reign of terror whenever and however they can.

So instead of crazy lone wolves inflicting happenstance workplace violence, we likely have a swarm full of jihadis who are holding hands in a human chain of malice extending across the globe. Looking to do the blood-curdling will of Allah.

Oh, and on top of all that, the good little hackers over at Islamic State – what difference do Hillary’s e-mail shenanigans make anyway, right? – has released a list of 700 U.S. Army soldiers it wants its followers to kill. Too bad we don’t have a better jobs program to keep them otherwise occupied.

So these guys are clearly focused and serious as a heart attack. Got it. Now let’s look at our side of the ledger. What kind of culture and leadership stands in the way of this death wish?

Um…Bueller? Bueller?

Let’s just say we aren’t, collectively speaking, led by a bunch of very righteous dudes at the moment.

For starters, an economist from the University of Chicago says his research indicates too many of America’s young men are content to spend their days unemployed, unmarried, living with their parents, and spending as much as 75 percent of their leisure time playing video games. Hence, there’s probably not a lot of guys ready and willing to jump on top of a grenade in that flaccid clan.

But that’s why we’ve got great leaders at the top. The kind of leaders who do the worrying for us so we never have to put the joystick down, and wipe the drool from our chin. Leaders like President Obama, who just this week showed us once again what a ninja he is when it comes to keeping his eye on the ball. Right?

No, he still can’t utter the phrase “radical Islamic terrorist,” but he can say “global warming” so fast that it makes time stand still. Not to mention American infrastructure comes to a screeching halt.

The Obama regime issued standards last week that will make it easier to block a wide range of projects in the name of fake science, including building bridges and expanding highways. So Unicorns 1, Just Trying to Get to a Freaking Job 0.

I guess we are going to have to leave it to the church, then, to clarify the difference between the darkness and the light. No flights of fancy there. Just truth. Pure truth.

Oh no. Pope Francis said what?

The leader of the Catholic Church pulled a full Obama last weekend by rejecting the phrase “Islamic violence.” Timed in the wake of one of his own priests having his throat slit wide open by an Islamic terrorist as he was celebrating Mass in France.

If he has to speak of “Islamic violence,” then Pope Francis said it is also his duty to speak of “Catholic violence.” Sadly, though, Francis had not yet reached peak SJW. He had to throw this politically-correct psychobabble in for good measure: “As long as the god of money is at the center of the global economy and not the human person, man and woman, this is the first terrorism.”

Right, because the son of a wealthy Arab family like Osama bin Laden plotted 9/11 in order to strike a blow for the global proletariat. Come on, man. Pope Francis might as well trade out those Hail Mary’s for a hearty Allahu Akbar and call it a day.

I’m sorry, but I don’t even know why the terrorists bother blowing themselves up anymore. They have clearly already won. The leaders of Western Civilization believe in imaginary creatures more than they do the very real threat at their doorstep, and they do so with a smug smile on their face.

So while that martyred French priest may have died with the words, “Begone, Satan!” on his lips and on his heart, it is clear he has very few wingmen. Islamic State, on the other hand, continues to draw both a crowd and plenty of blood, with nary an end to the carnage in sight.

Which ultimately and sadly begs this final question: whose lies will be more responsible for getting us killed in the end? Islam’s or our own? (For more from the author of “What’s the Bigger Threat: Radical Islam or Ourselves?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

What Happens If the Trump ‘Drop out’ Rumors Are True?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The internet, as it is wont to do, is filled with rumors today. The rumors are specifically swirling about the seemingly preposterous notion that Donald Trump is on the cusp of dropping out of the presidential race.

Even ABC News has glommed onto the bandwagon.

Republican officials are exploring how to handle a scenario that would be unthinkable in a normal election year: What would happen if the party’s presidential nominee dropped out?

ABC News has learned that senior party officials are so frustrated — and confused — by Donald Trump’s erratic behavior that they are exploring how to replace him on the ballot if he drops out.

What happens if Trump were to surprisingly tell himself, “you’re fired?”

That’s when rule nine of the Republican National Committee would come into play. Rule nine deals with how the GOP would fill vacancies in nominations. Here’s the rule from 2012, which Conservative Review has learned was unchanged in 2016.

RULE NO.9

Filling Vacancies in Nominations

(a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies.

(b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention.

(c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes, among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy.

(d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election.

Here is how that would work in plain English.

First off many have wondered if that means Mike Pence automatically becomes the nominee. The answer is no.

Either the Republican National Committee (RNC) would chose the new nominee, or it could call for a new convention that would see all 2472 delegates reconvene to pick the nominee. The former is probably what would happen; the RNC would pick a new nominee.

In that scenario, the individual RNC members from a state would vote as if they were all of the delegates from their state. For instance the three members of the RNC from Texas would vote as if they were all 155 delegates from the state, and the three RNC members from Ohio would vote as if they were the 66 delegates from the state.

Furthermore, if the three RNC members didn’t vote for the same candidate, each one of them would get votes equal to 1/3 of their committee (including fractional votes). This means that, in effect, each Texas member of the RNC’s vote would be equal to 51.66 delegates, and each Ohio member would be equal to 22 delegates.

The members of the RNC would continue voting until a candidate emerged with 1237 delegates.

That doesn’t end it though. While that’s how the RNC would select a new nominee, it does not mean that the new nominee would replace Trump’s name on every state ballot. Each state has different laws on the deadline by which a party can replace their nominee on the ballot. Ballotpedia has put together what they believe to be the deadline for each state. They are careful to note that this is what they “gleaned from reviewing relevant state statutes and other government documents.” Of course as with all election law, it could be challenged.

Here’s how the team at Ballotpedia explained what happens after the RNC would replace a candidate.

The bulk of the dates for certifying the names of major party presidential candidates are in August and September—35 states in total. The GOP would have until about mid August to find a replacement nominee and still be able to get his or her name on the ballot in enough states to be competitive in November. For example, if Trump dropped out in late August, his name would already be certified to appear as the Republican candidate for president in at least 18 states. If he dropped out in September, that number could rise to more than 30 states. The Republican Party would have few options available to it, at this point, to remove Trump’s name and replace it with their new nominee.

If the rumors are true, Trump would essentially need to drop out by next week to allow a new nominee to be chosen and appear on enough ballots if lawsuits were unsuccessful.

Granted, this is probably going to never happen, but now you know how it would. But then again, it is 2016. (For more from the author of “What Happens If the Trump ‘Drop out’ Rumors Are True?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

The Obvious Question No One’s Asking Obama

/0 Comments/in , /by

It’s clear Obama has no use for Donald Trump. But that’s not really the point here . . .

The question this harsh, unprecedented attack by a sitting president on a major-party nominee to succeed him raises should be obvious: What happens if Donald Trump wins the election in November?

Given what Obama has said about Trump, would he not have an obligation to prevent Trump from assuming office? And what would that mean to the peaceful process America has enjoyed for more than two centuries of transitions of power?

These are questions Americans have never before been confronted with in American history.

Should we not be concerned about what Obama might do? (Read more from “The Obvious Question No One’s Asking Obama” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

COOK POLITICAL: The 2016 Race Is Not Over

/0 Comments/in , /by

Cook Political’s Amy Walter dissects the various “yuge” leads the polls are showing for Hillary Rodham since the conclusion of LieFest 2016 the Democrat National Convention — and she comes to a very rational conclusion: the presidential race is still a jump ball.

According to the chatter in Washington and on Twitter today, the election is over. The Donald Trump campaign literally imploded, sending red hot shards of burning metal across the countryside. The campaign staff is in disarray, RNC leaders are apoplectic and looking for an “out clause” on the nomination. Meanwhile, calls from the GOP elites for elected officials to “Dump Trump” continue to grow. But, pardon me for not going along with the narrative. Do I think Trump is a damaged candidate running a terrible campaign? Absolutely. Do I think that he has zero chance to win and has effectively lost the race in August? No.

Here’s why.

First, we have two of the most disliked and distrusted candidates running against each other in modern political history. That point can’t be understated. It creates much more fluidity and volatility than we’ve seen in our more “traditional” campaigns. As I’ve written before, they are also challenging the traditional coalitions and alliances that we have come to know and understand…

…the disconnect between the elite and the non-elite is bigger than ever. Many of us who cover politics for a living (and I am implicating myself here) spend way too much time in the Twitter feedback loop. Interviewing former Bernie backers and Trump rally-goers isn’t a way to find out what “regular” voters think either. Most voters are only partially engaged in this election. They follow politics the way that I follow the NFL season. I am aware the Super Bowl is in January (or February), but I am not following the day-to-day, week to week rankings, games, scores and trades. The closer we get to the playoffs, the more closely I will start paying attention. We are in August people. There is a long way to go until November.

…At the end of the day, here’s what we know. Trump is running a disorganized, unconventional and seat-of-the-pants campaign that is driven as much by what he sees/hears on cable TV as anything else. This approach won him the primary but it really limits his pathways to 270 Electoral College votes. Hillary Clinton is running an organized and disciplined campaign that lacks the sort of organic excitement or enthusiasm of a “normal” campaign… She is clearly the favorite. But, this race is not over.

Another thing we know: the push polls, the agenda-driven media, and the exhortations of the Beltway insiders on both sides of the aisle are completely ignored by the dirt people in flyover country.

Just as Brexit caught the world’s foremost economics “experts” and pollsters by surprise, so too could America’s serfs rebel against everything K Street and Wall Street are trying to sell them. (For more from the author of “COOK POLITICAL: The 2016 Race Is Not Over” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.