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The Left Doesn’t Suffer From Trump Derangement Syndrome or Bush Derangement Syndrome. They’ve Got a Terminal Case of Republican Derangement Syndrome.

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There’s a lot of talk these days about Trump Derangement Syndrome — the media’s incessant inability to talk about anything but Trump, their determination to paint every action Trump takes as simultaneously idiotic and malevolent, their utter unwillingness to report on anything remotely resembling positive news for Trump. But the truth is that the media and the Left don’t suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome — they merely suffer from Republican Derangement Syndrome. That’s the broader classification under which Bush Derangement Syndrome and Trump Derangement Syndrome fall. It’s not just Trump they hate — it’s Republicans generally.

That’s perfectly obvious from the treatment of Vice President Mike Pence by the Left. Pence has been castigated as a theocratic madman, a “holy terror,” in the words of New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, who asked, “Are you sure you want to get rid of Donald Trump?” Then there are authors Michael D’Antonio and Peter Eisner, who argue in their new book The Shadow President that Pence is “the most successful Christian supremacist in American history.” It’s become a meme on the Left that should Pence accede to the presidency, he would immediately impose The Handmaid’s Tale.

And that should be unsurprising. The same Left castigated John McCain as a radical, Mitt Romney as a racist, sexist, bigot homophobe. No matter which Republican follows Trump, we can be sure that the Left will dishonestly look back to the glory days of Trump, when Republicans were “truly moderate.”

All of which is why Trump is president in the first place. Republicans looked at Joe Biden suggesting Mitt Romney — Mitt Freaking Romney! — wanted to put black people back in chains, and figured that no matter who they nominated, they’d be castigated as the worst people on earth. They figured they might as well nominate a guy who wouldn’t take such attacks sitting down — they might as well get behind a counterpuncher. And nobody was better at counterpunching during the campaign — above and below the belt — than Trump. (Read more from “The Left Doesn’t Suffer From Trump Derangement Syndrome or Bush Derangement Syndrome. They’ve Got a Terminal Case of Republican Derangement Syndrome.” HERE)

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Army General: Trump’s Complete Reversal of Obama’s Strategy Is Working

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The outgoing commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the South Asia Strategy put in place a year ago by President Donald Trump is not only working, it’s bringing the 17-year war to its closest reconciliation point yet.

“The strategy is working,” Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of NATO’s Resolute Support mission, told reporters. “Reconciliation progress is significant, and ultimately, wars end with a political settlement. So the progress toward reconciliation is key.”

As part of Trump’s strategy, the U.S. has increased its troop presence from 8,400 in the final months of President Barack Obama’s term to about 16,000 today, according to congressional statistics cited by Military Times.

By nearly doubling the number of U.S. troops in the region, the Taliban knows it will not be able to overwhelm Afghan forces and now must consider a negotiated peace.

“We were on a glide path to reduce our forces, and eventually to close down the mission,” said Nicholson, who was appointed by Obama. “At that time, the enemy had no incentive to negotiate, because we were leaving … the enemy believed we had lost our will to win. And all they needed to do was wait us out.”

“We have an unprecedented opportunity for peace now,” Nicholson added.

As further evidence of the success of Trump’s new strategy, Nicholson said there were two peace offerings proposed within six months of the South Asia Strategy being implemented. Within 10 months, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered a three-day ceasefire that produced striking images of Taliban fighters taking selfies with Afghan civilians.

According to Defense One, the U.S. and the Taliban have also reportedly opened a bilateral channel with the Ghani’s blessing.

“We’re seeing progress toward reconciliation,” Nicholson said. “What I would say is focus on the talking part of this…given that the traditional metrics of fighting are not explaining why the Taliban are willing to talk now.”

Not everything in Afghanistan suggests the Taliban is backing down. A recent four-day assault on Ghazni resulted in hundreds of deaths, including a number of civilians.

Nicholson said the Taliban is still capable of launching deadly attacks, but not necessarily capable of taking control of key areas of the country.

“This was not a military victory by any stretch. They were driven out of the city, and it was done in about four days,” he said. “Can they launch an attack for four days? Yes. Do those attacks succeed in gaining and holding ground? No.”

“There will be ups and downs,” Nicholson said of the fight against the Taliban. “There will be leaps ahead; there will be frustration; there will be two steps forward, one step back from time to time. But the process has started and it wouldn’t have happened without the South Asia Strategy.”

Nicholson admitted that despite the progress, “We certainly wanted to see this war be over many years ago.”

But with nearly two dozen terrorist groups based in the country, Nicholson believes the presence of U.S. and NATO forces would “prevent the emergence of some new threat to the homeland.”

“Our presence here does protect the homeland and prevent another 9/11,” he said. “I firmly believe that.”

Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller is slated to succeed Nicholson and take command in the fall. (For more from the author of “Army General: Trump’s Complete Reversal of Obama’s Strategy Is Working” please click HERE)

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Trump Hits Mueller for Multiple Conflicts of Interest in Overseeing Russia Investigation

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President Donald Trump listed multiple reasons Thursday why Robert Mueller should not be serving as special counsel in the Russia investigation.

“When you see Mueller with the conflicts, he is so conflicted,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt.

“Comey’s his best friend,” Trump added, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. “He had a really nasty business transaction with me, which he never reported. I’ve been talking about, he never reports it.”

“He wanted the FBI job that Christopher Wray has,” Trump added.

Comey and Mueller served together in the Justice Department during the administration of George W. Bush.

According to Politico, “While (then-FBI director) Mueller technically reported to Comey as deputy attorney general, Comey, two decades his junior, treated Mueller as a close friend and almost mentor.”

The two had known each other for years prior, as they rose through the ranks as prosecutors in the DOJ.

Trump told Reuters earlier this week that he is concerned the two men could be setting a perjury trap for him if he were to agree to be interviewed by special counsel prosecutors.

“So if I say something and he (Comey) says something, and it’s my word against his, and he’s best friends with Mueller, so Mueller might say: ‘Well, I believe Comey,’ and even if I’m telling the truth, that makes me a liar. That’s no good.”

One avenue of inquiry Mueller has reportedly been pursuing is whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey in May 2017.

The president’s reference to a “nasty business transaction” involved club dues at Trump’s golf course in northern Virginia of which Mueller was a member.

The dispute prompted the then-FBI director to end his membership, The New York Times reported.

Finally, Trump pointed to his decision not to hire Mueller as FBI director as another conflict of interest.

According to CNN, Trump interviewed Mueller to potentially replace Comey, but decided against him. A day later, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein named Mueller as special counsel.

The president has repeatedly characterized the team Mueller has chosen as “angry” Democrats.

Earlier this week he tweeted, “Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs spent over 30 hours with the White House Councel, only with my approval, for purposes of transparency. Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone looking for trouble.”

He continued, “They are enjoying ruining people’s lives and REFUSE to look at the real corruption on the Democrat side – the lies, the firings, the deleted Emails and soooo much more! Mueller’s Angry Dems are looking to impact the election. They are a National Disgrace!”

In a May tweet, Trump questioned why the Mueller’s “13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats” are not investigating Hillary Clinton.

Politifact confirmed in March that at least 13 of the 17 lawyers on Mueller’s team are Democrats, six of whom contributed to Clinton.

Of the four remaining attorneys, the fact checker could not determine their party affiliation.

According to The Wall Street Journal one prosecutor — Andrew Weissmann — attended Clinton’s election night party in November 2016. (For more from the author of “Trump Hits Mueller for Multiple Conflicts of Interest in Overseeing Russia Investigation” please click HERE)

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The Dossier: Is This the Right Plan to Win the Long War in Afghanistan?

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Trump reportedly considering new Afghanistan plan

President Trump has never been particularly happy with the Afghanistan war plan, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he is reportedly entertaining various options on how to reduce U.S. troops’ footprint in the war-torn country.

According to NBC News, Trump has shown “renewed interest” in a plan drafted by Erik Prince, which calls for some private assets to replace American soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of the private military contracting giant Blackwater, has also acted as an unofficial adviser to Mr. Trump. Prince claims his plan, which calls for hiring private military contractors, would significantly reduce costs.

Many have taken to social media to criticize the plan. However, it’s also important to note that the U.S. is now 17 years into the Afghanistan war and the status quo is a complete stalemate, or worse, a slow decline. There is no end to the war in sight, and American soldiers continue to die on a regular basis, fighting to protect what’s left of a highly corrupt foreign government. Moreover, there isn’t much evidence that any of the jihadi groups currently operating in Afghanistan pose much of a threat to the American homeland. There is seemingly no grand strategy to win the war or exit the country in a timely manner.

It’s easy to slam Prince’s plan as radical, unproductive, or morally inappropriate. But at least he has presented a plan to move on from the never-ending, resource-draining, American soldier-killing war in Afghanistan.

South Africa begins seizing white-owned farms

In a deeply troubling development, the South African government has approved the first seizures of white-owned farmland.

Representatives from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) reportedly offered white farmers only ten percent of their land’s value prior to the unilateral seizure. The ANC has endorsed and fanned the flames of a climate of extreme hostility against the nation’s white Afrikaner minority.

Drive-by shooting targeting U.S. embassy in Turkey

At around 5 a.m. local time Monday, a drive-by shooting targeted the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The suspects fired several shots before taking off. No one was hurt in the incident.

Tensions continue to increase between the United States and Turkey. The Trump administration and the Erdogan regime are sparring over the imprisonment of U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson. The United States government claims he is unfairly detained, while Ankara has claimed, without evidence, that he is a spy. It is believed that Turkey is using the pastor as a negotiating chip in seeking the extradition of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Manafort jury continues deliberations

Now into its third day of deliberations, a jury is currently deciding whether to convict former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on charges related to tax evasion and bank fraud.

Although the legacy media is covering the case as if it’s the trial of the century, the charges against Manafort have nothing to do with his time on the Trump campaign or matters related supposed Russian collusion. (For more from the author of “The Dossier: Is This the Right Plan to Win the Long War in Afghanistan?” please click HERE)

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These Papers Wouldn’t Join in on the Anti-Trump Editorial ‘Collusion’

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“Encourage that kind of conspiracy”… Yesterday over 300 newspapers took part in a coordinated effort started by the Boston Globe to attack President Trump for his antagonistic attitude towards the press. The usual subjects in the blue-check mafia like CNN media critic/cheerleader Brian Stelter, Jim Acosta, et al. loved the coordinated effort. Some in the media – including some surprises – thought the effort would hurt, not help their standing with the public.

Geez, ya think?

Two left-wing California newspapers, the L.A. Times and the San Fransisco Chronicle, both decided against participating in the effort. Not because they support President Trump, but because they cherish a free and independent press.

Here’s what the L.A. Times had to say:

The Los Angeles Times editorial board does not speak for the New York Times or for the Boston Globe or the Chicago Tribune or the Denver Post. We share certain opinions with those newspapers; we disagree on other things. Even when we do agree with another editorial page — on the death penalty or climate change or war in Afghanistan, say — we reach our own decisions and positions after careful consultation and deliberation among ourselves, and then we write our own editorials. We would not want to leave the impression that we take our lead from others, or that we engage in groupthink.

The president himself already treats the media as a cabal — “enemies of the people,” he has called us, suggesting over and over that we’re in cahoots to do damage to the country. The idea of joining together to protest him seems almost to encourage that kind of conspiracy thinking by the president and his loyalists. Why give them ammunition to scream about “collusion”?

We mean no disrespect to those who have decided to write on this important subject today. But we will continue to write about the issue on our own schedule.

The San Francisco Chronicle echoed similar themes.

These two newspapers and the others who didn’t join the “groupthink,” as the Times called it, did more for their integrity and to increase the public trust in their outlets than the hundreds of papers who decided to take collective action against the president.

These outlets hit it right on the head. To a large number of Americans, the action taken by these newspapers smelled of collusion, looked like collusion, and was in fact collusion. The way to fight the perception that your industry is one big “cabal” is not to act like one big “cabal.” (For more from the author of “These Papers Wouldn’t Join in on the Anti-Trump Editorial ‘Collusion’” please click HERE)

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President Trump LASHES OUT at New York Times for Report on White House Counsel’s Mueller Connections

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President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times for a Saturday report indicating that White House Counsel Don McGahn has cooperated “extensively” with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, calling the scoop a “fake story,” and claiming that members of the media have called the president’s office to “complain and apologize.”

The Times reported Saturday that McGahn has provided more than 30 hours of interviews to Mueller’s team, “sharing detailed accounts of the episodes at the heart of” Mueller’s inquiry, which the Times seems to claim has now moved on to whether President Trump obstructed justice.

McGahn reportedly provided Mueller’s team with evidence about Trump’s firing of James Comey, his conversations with Attorney General Jeff Sessions about Comey’s replacement, and internal White House discussions about potentially dismissing Mueller altogether.

But the NYT doesn’t divulge the contents of McGahn’s conversations, just that the lawyer has already participated in more than 30 hours of questioning. Without that necessary context, it’s impossible to know whether McGahn provided any valuable information — or whether that information hurts or helps the White House.

(Read more from “President Trump Lashes out at New York Times for Report on White House Counsel’s Mueller Connections” HERE)

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Democratic Congressman Jokes About Trump Drowning at ‘Stronger Together’ Rally

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Florida Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings spoke to a liberal audience at the Broward County Democrats “Stronger Together” rally which was intended to unite the party ahead of November elections. While taking the stage, Rep. Hastings warmed up the crowd by telling a joke about President Donald J. Trump drowning in the Potomac River.

Rep. Hastings emceed the event and began by saying that he recently heard a joke where a colleague explained the difference between a crisis and catastrophe. “A crisis is if Donald Trump falls into the Potomac River and can’t swim. And a catastrophe is if anybody saves his a**,” Florida’s 20th district congressman said to laughs and applause.

The “Stronger Together” rally was attended by various Broward Country democrats as well as liberal candidates from around the state. Sen. Bill Nelson posed for photos and fans as other representatives mingled with the crowd.

(Read more from “Democratic Congressman Jokes About Trump Drowning at ‘Stronger Together’ Rally” HERE)

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The Dossier: Trump Plays Hardball With Turkey; Manafort Trial Ends

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Gauntlet thrown: Trump demands release of U.S. pastor held in Turkey

In a Thursday evening tweet, President Trump expressed his frustration with the nation of Turkey and the Erdogan regime’s imprisonment of American Pastor Andrew Brunson.

The president tweeted:

“Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!”

It is likely that Pastor Brunson is being used as a bargaining chip to negotiate the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and one of the chief rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has claimed, without much evidence, that Gulen is behind plots to overthrow his rule in Ankara.

As Turkey continues to devolve into an Islamic authoritarian regime, Ankara progresses in distancing itself from the United States. The technical NATO ally has found new partners in American adversaries such as Russia and Iran, while cozying up to rogue actors like Qatar.

A cautionary tale: Yazidi woman flees Germany after encountering ISIS captor

A young Yazidi woman and her family have been forced to flee Germany after its open immigration system allowed one of her captors to secure refugee status inside the country.

“I ran away from Iraq so I would not see that ugly face and forget anything that reminds me of it, but I was shocked to see him in Germany,” Ashwaq Haji Hamid, the Yazidi refugee, told InfoMigrants.

Hamid is just one victim of the open migration system in Germany, which allows hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterns to flood into the country — and many other European nations — completely unchecked.

The story from Germany is a cautionary tale for what open borders and unchecked migration can look like. Our refugee vetting system is very imperfect, as shown through the arrest of an ISIS terrorist in Sacramento this week. The man slipped through the U.S. refugee vetting process, as authorities later found out that he was an ISIS jihadi when living in Iraq.

Manafort trial comes to a close

The jury is currently deliberating whether or not to convict Paul Manafort on several charges related to bank and tax fraud. Although Mueller has been tasked with investigating Russian actions and interference related to the 2016 election, none of the charges from Mueller’s prosecutors have anything to do with Russian collusion or any of the events surrounding his short stint as President Trump’s election campaign chairman.

Mueller is now in the fifteenth month of his investigation into Trump-Russia collusion. He has yet to charge a single member of President Trump’s campaign or transition team with anything related to Russian collusion.

POTUS may revoke DOJ official Bruce Ohr’s clearance

Bruce Ohr is believed to be a central player in the laundering of the anti-Trump dossier — which came from paid Clinton operatives — into the Department of Justice. There’s also evidence that he frequently communicated with foreign spy Christopher Steele, who produced the Trump-Russia dossier for the Clinton campaign.

President Trump suggested Friday that Ohr may have his clearance revoked imminently.

When asked about Ohr’s clearance, the president responded: “I suspect I’ll be taking it away very quickly. For him to be in the Justice Department and doing what he did, that is a disgrace.” (For more from the author of “The Dossier: Trump Plays Hardball With Turkey; Manafort Trial Ends” please click HERE)

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This Republican Is Defending Trump’s Brennan Ordeal

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Earlier this week President Trump officially pulled former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance, citing a number of reasons for doing so.

“At this point in my administration any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced from the briefing room on behalf of the president.

Before President Trump made the decision to strip Brennan of his clearance, Republican Senator Rand Paul publicly backed the idea and had a conversation about it at the White House.

Meanwhile, President Trump may pull the security clearances for a number of other former and current government officials. Those on the list include fired FBI director James Comey, current DOJ official Bruce Ohr and former DIA director James Clapper. (Read more from “This Republican Is Defending Trump’s Brennan Ordeal” HERE)

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Former CBS News Reporter Delivers Kill Shot to Liberal Media Narrative That Trump Is Silencing John Brennan

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By Townhall. Former CIA Director John Brennan no longer has a security clearance. It’s been revoked. He’s out of the club. Oh, and you bet the liberal news media was all over this, once again going into meltdown mode over something that was perfectly within the president’s authority. But like with anything that Trump does, we’re always on the verge of a total constitutional crisis…in CNN-land. Guy also wrote that Brennan’s pervasive partisan antics warranted his clearance being revoked. Oh, but it’s all politically motivated, you see (via Politico):

President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance is a “politically motivated” attempt to silence those who disagree with the president, Brennan said in a New York Times op-ed on Thursday.

“Mr. Trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him,” Brennan said. “which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him.”

Brennan’s op-ed published Thursday, one day after the White House announced the president had revoked the former CIA director’s security clearance and placed the clearances of several current and former officials under review. Brennan, who has often been critical of Trump, helmed the intelligence agency from 2013 to 2017.

Wait, you’re saying there’s a campaign to silence you, yet you can still say whatever you want, right? You just did. And the anti-Trump media are going to give you even more media its and exposure over this security clearance nonsense. Former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson also torpedoed this absurd narrative.

(Read more from “Former CBS News Reporter Delivers Kill Shot to Liberal Media Narrative That Trump Is Silencing John Brennan” HERE)

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Trump Tears Into John Brennan in Tweetstorm After Revoking Former CIA Chief’s Security Clearance

By Newsweek. President Donald Trump embarked on a Twitter spree on Wednesday evening, sharing criticisms of former CIA Director John Brennan as they aired on Fox News, before unleashing a string of commentary on topics covered by the broadcaster.

“John Brennan is a stain on the country, we deserve better than this,” Trump tweeted, quoting Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and author of a new book, Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump, who frequently appears on Fox News as a conservative commentator.

“Thank you Dan,” Trump added. “Good luck with the book!” (Read more from “Trump Tears Into John Brennan in Tweetstorm After Revoking Former CIA Chief’s Security Clearance” HERE)

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