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The 240 Reagan Alumni Are Supporting Donald Trump

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As the 2016 presidential election enters the home stretch, Donald Trump is gaining support from a group of people that have — up to now — stayed silent: members of Ronald Reagan’s administration. Throughout the campaign, many Republicans have been on the sidelines, and some have openly gone over to Hillary Clinton’s team. The weekend’s announcement by the Trump campaign could go a long way toward convincing on-the-fence conservatives to vote for the Trump-Pence ticket on Nov. 8.

The list of alumni is headlined by former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese III.

“Many of us remember 1980, a time when, as today, America suffered from high unemployment and even higher interest rates, a military that needed to be strengthened and rebuilt, and diminished stature in the world of nations,” said Meese, per DonaldJTrump.com.

“Ronald Reagan turned that around with resolute policies, such as the most significant tax cut in American history, which stimulated the national economy and created 20 million jobs, and a visionary foreign policy of ‘peace through strength,’ whereby he rebuilt our military and won the Cold War without firing a shot.”

Meese continued, “We need a Trump-Pence Administration to change the direction of our country. We all know that Hillary Clinton will continue Obama’s failed policies, growing the size, scope and cost of the federal government, and endangering our national security.”

[Click HERE for the] full list of those Reagan administration alumni supporting Trump.

With narrowing polls, and Hillary Clinton’s renewed legal troubles, this endorsement list may be just what Trump needs to get wavering conservatives to pull the ballot for him. (For more from the author of “The 240 Reagan Alumni Are Supporting Donald Trump” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

4 Reasons Why Trump Could Still Win the Election

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My Democratic friends are all smiles these days. They are happily spiking the election football, but are they doing so on the one-yard line? For it might be too early to write off Donald Trump.

Here are four reasons why “President Donald J. Trump” could still happen.

1. Polls show Trump within striking distance

The polling data are not good for Trump, yet polls don’t win elections — votes do. The polls indicate that Trump is going to lose, but the Republican nominee has repeatedly made the point that the turn-out model being used to gauge who is actually going to head to the polls may be flawed. And he may be right.

With only 270 electoral votes needed to secure the election, RealClearPolitics (RCP) has Clinton/Kaine with 272 as of this writing — but a large number of the ticket’s electoral votes are states still listed in the “undecided” category.

As of this writing, RCP average has the national vote at 45.8 percent for Hillary Clinton and 39.9 percent for Trump, with Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, pulling 5.6 percent and Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, at 2 percent. One obvious problem with the polling data being used to gauge support is the inflated numbers for Johnson and Stein. Both ran in the last presidential cycle, and — when the final results were in — Johnson received just 0.99 percent and Stein 0.36 percent of the national vote. It is hard to believe that these two candidates will jump approximately 4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Looking back at 2012, the polling data was inflated for Johnson and Stein. A CNN poll released on September 10, 2012 had Johnson polling at 3 percent and Stein at 1 percent with likely voters at 4 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Those numbers didn’t pan out then, and we should expect the same distortion in this election.

Currently, Nat Silver’s site, FiveThirtyEight, has Trump with only a 15.3 percent chance of victory. Its map has Clinton winning Nevada, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa in a blowout election. But when you drill down into the numbers, FiveThirtyEight has Clinton up only 3.1 percent in Florida, 0.6 percent in Ohio, and 0.3 percent in Arizona. Those low percentages indicate a very close race that are not reflected in the low probability the website gives Trump.

Looking into Johnson’s numbers state by state, it appears that there may be defects to Silver’s calculations as well. FiveThirtyEight has Johnson at 3.9 percent in Florida, yet he received only 0.5 percent in actual votes in 2012. The same flaw also exists in predictions for Ohio: Johnson has 5.7 percent there, yet in 2012 he pulled only 0.9 percent in actual votes. Arizona is even more extreme. FiveThirtyEight is predicting a 6.1 percent vote for Johnson in the state, yet he received 1.39 percent in actual votes in 2012.

This throws all of the swing states into question and may indicate a bias toward third-party candidates that does not really exist in states that have already been allocated to Clinton.

Furthermore, FiveThirtyEight incorrectly predicted that Trump had no chance of getting the Republican nomination, so it seems more than possible it might have this one wrong too. Silver wrote the following on November 23, 2015:

So, could Trump win? We confront two stubborn facts: first, that nobody remotely like Trump has won a major-party nomination in the modern era. And second, as is always a problem in analysis of presidential campaigns, we don’t have all that many data points, so unprecedented events can occur with some regularity. For my money, that adds up to Trump’s chances being higher than 0 but (considerably) less than 20 percent. Your mileage may vary. But you probably shouldn’t rely solely on the polls to make your case; it’s still too soon for that.

Also, look at recent polls from the LA Times and Investor’s Business Daily, and they have Trump ahead.

All of these data points speak to the fact that this race is still undecided.

2. It’s the economy, stupid

The economy sucks, and traditionally the old James Carville adage “It’s the economy, stupid” rings true on Election Day. The American people may be evenly divided on the record of President Barack Obama, yet no one is happy with the state of the economy.

Alex Wagner detailed this at “The Atlantic” on October 21, 2016 in his piece, “Why Economic Growth Is So Lackluster”:

U.S. economic growth is anemic, and the country needs to do something about it, quickly. This was one of the central themes of the third presidential debate. “China is growing at 7 percent. And that for them is a catastrophically low number. We are growing — our last report came out, and it is right around the 1 percent level,” Trump said Wednesday night. “Look, our country is stagnant.”

Trump is right that U.S. growth has not been very impressive of late, especially when compared to rates of the past. Though the United States gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a rate of more than 3 percent for much of the 1980s and 1990s, the rate has slowed significantly since the recession, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter of this year, for instance, GDP increased at a rate of just 1.4 percent. After a recession, an economy should come roaring back, but this time around, it hasn’t, and that’s left many concerned about the state of the economy. GDP growth, economists say, helps raise wages and living standards, and increases the size of the entire economic pie — making it possible for more people to have a bigger share.

The American middle class feels squeezed, and people in lower income brackets are hurting. Right or wrong, they blame the federal government for their woes and get enraged by politicians who claim that the economy is doing great. President Obama is constantly bragging that he is responsible for bringing unemployment numbers down, but people who are hurting don’t give a rip about economic numbers. They care about making rent or mortgage payments.

Trump’s economic plans include a massive tax cut that will help the engine of our economy create jobs. Trump also wants to reduce the regulatory burden that is holding back many small businesses. Whether you agree or not, he has tagged the Bill Clinton era’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as one reason why the Rust Belt is in depression.

The one poll number that points favorably to Trump is from CNN/ORC and has Trump over Clinton as the candidate who would better handle the economy. That just may be the tie breaker when voters make last-minute decisions.

3. Hillary is extremely unpopular

Nothing can help Hillary’s serious lack of popularity and the fact that there is a massive trust deficit between her and the voters. From her bogus claim that she was under sniper fire as first lady when she landed in Bosnia to her ever-changing lies about the handling of classified information while head of the State Department to her flip-flopping on the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, voters just don’t trust Hillary.

In addition to not being trustworthy, she’s just not funny or likeable. Remember Hillary’s wipe-with-a-cloth joke about hidden emails and a secret server that bombed spectacularly? WikiLeaks disclosures also show she’s tough to deal with as a person, and her staff questions her judgment.

There is also very little enthusiasm for Hillary’s candidacy. The embarrassingly low turnout at her rallies — and for those of her surrogates — speaks to the problem. Just look at how poorly she did in the primaries against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. (F, 17%). If Hillary had been challenged by a high-profile Democrat like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (F, 18%) or Vice President Joe Biden, she surely would not have won the nomination.

Hillary’s ‘unlikeability’ may outweigh or matter more than Trump’s own high negatives when it comes to Election Day.

4. Trump’s message resonates with voters who hate Congress and the political elite

Donald Trump has run a nontraditional campaign. He beats the drum that he can “Make America Great Again,” and that is a powerful slogan. Trump has campaigned against politicians in Washington from both parties. Most Americans agree — they loathe politicians at the national level.

RCP polling shows that the 64 percent of American people believe the country is on the wrong track, while other polling indicates that an enormous 35.4 percent of the electorate may vote for change. The congressional approval rating is even worse, with only 15.2 percent approving of the work of politicians in D.C. These numbers indicate that the American people may want to flip the bird to Washington and elect a bombastic individual who will come to Washington and create political bedlam.

Hillary is part of the political establishment that the American people hate. One could argue that Hillary Clinton is the poster child for insider Washington establishment rage. She has lived her life in the D.C. political bubble for decades and has no connection to average Americans. That is why she makes dumb political pronouncements, such as when she said that she would put “a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

Is there a silent majority in America that is willing to go into the election booth, look over both shoulders, then grin while voting for Donald Trump as a way to tell Washington to GFY? We shall see.

When your smiling liberal friends try to rub in the idea of Hillary being sworn in on January 20, 2017, tell them to simmer down and wait for the actual tally of the votes. (For more from the author of “4 Reasons Why Trump Could Still Win the Election” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Donald Trump and the Alt-Right: How Dead Is That Moose?

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As I said on a recent British Christian radio show, I would vote for a dead moose strapped to a car hood to stop Hillary Clinton. She has told the UN that Christian beliefs on abortion will have “to be changed” because they threaten the “fundamental rights” of women. That’s legal language, a promise that the U.S. will correct a human rights “violation” under international law. Her profoundly corrupt foundation has taken tens of millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, where rape victims are tortured. Her closest aide, Huma Abedin, is a Muslim Brotherhood ally. Clinton’s policies would flood America with jihadists and “rapefugees.” Her team is trying to infiltrate and destroy my church. Do I really need to go on? Voting to stop her is an act as justified as halting a home invader.

That said, we need to know just how long the moose has been dead, since it’s oozing all over our car. Yes, there is Donald Trump’s personal squalor. But the only difference between him and John F. Kennedy is a live microphone — and the lack of reporters willing to turn aside as the president’s mistresses shuttle back between him, his brother, and various Mafia dons. Bill Clinton has credibly been accused of forcible rape. So let’s have no lectures about the “dignity” of the presidency. That beast died in the barn a long time ago. If you want a respectable head of state where grabby demagogues can’t sully that elevated office, set up a constitutional monarchy. The Brits, Swedes and Danes seem pretty fond of theirs. I bet we could snag a Habsburg.

The Alt-Right: Trump Whisperers

What really worries me about Donald Trump is what some of his most fervent Alt-Right supporters may be telling him: That Christianity is a self-destructive suicide cult that’s destroying Western society. It demands open borders, affirmative action, massive welfare programs that transfer wealth to recent immigrants, legal or not, and will end up exposing any Christian country to mass colonization by thuggish, theocratic Muslims.

Where would the neopagans and atheists of the Alt-Right get such crackpot ideas? Maybe from the words of some U.S. Catholic bishops, “progressive” evangelicals funded by George Soros, and a goodly number of orthodox evangelicals who take most or all of the stances I listed above, but who are also pro-life and pro-marriage. (That’s nice of them!)

The Alt-Right is the repulsive shadow cast by the preening of left wing Christians — the equal and opposite heresy such as Screwtape loves to gin up, to make sure that half of our ship is under water, while the other half is on fire.

The Other Faction of Margaret Sanger Fans

The Alt-Right, unhinged from real Christian doctrines — like equality before God, the brotherhood of man, and charity toward all — has proved to be a nasty reptile indeed. Let’s set aside the online trolls who send Jewish conservatives little cartoons of those writers dying inside a gas chamber. Dismiss as sociopaths those who troll National Review writer David French and his wife, referring to the child they adopted from Ethiopia as a “simian” (or worse), and calling French a “cuckold” or “race traitor.”

Let’s focus on those who want to rehabilitate “eugenics,” and rejigger our country’s welfare policies to discourage the birth of children to blacks and Latinos. Or how about those who go ever further, and wish to keep abortion legal, because they want to cut down the number of non-white children? Just reading what these people write will make you want to take a shower. If they sound like Margaret Sanger, that’s because they admire her ideas and want to carry them out, with a slightly different emphasis than Hillary Clinton.

Could the Alt-Right Lose the Election for Trump?

That we know, but could it be that the Alt-Right also is having a deeply destructive impact on the struggling Trump campaign, by blocking the candidate from genuinely appealing to conservative Christians? How else to explain his failure to highlight the frequent attacks on religious liberty, which is a burning issue for millions of Christians? How else to explain his bizarre failure to show genuine contrition when caught on tape saying grotesque things about a woman? Has he no idea what effect this has on many millions of Christian voters?

We are one of his natural constituencies, as the former majority now targeted by elites for official discrimination. But will he listen to us and shape his policies accordingly? A number of evangelical leaders have worked long hours speaking to Donald Trump, explaining our deep concerns about religious liberty, the First Amendment Defense Act, and solid protections for Christian schools, hospitals, and charities. When pressed, he has promised to support us and denounced the Johnson Amendment. But it has always seemed slightly grudging — especially compared to Hillary Clinton’s full-throated support of partial birth abortion and transgender madness. Trump has never spoken out in defense of beleaguered North Carolina, for instance, whose women and girls might lose their last shred of privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms, if the rich and haughty LGBT movement has its way.

Despite media caricatures, there’s no evidence that Trump holds Alt-Right views. He held conventional liberal views from much of his adult life. But have Alt-Right-sympathizing staffers convinced Donald Trump that Christianity really is nothing but pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die? That, say, showing contrition and asking for forgiveness is not noble and endearing, but ignoble and effeminate?

This is admittedly speculative, but how else to explain why Trump has not said and done such obvious things to appeal to Christian voters? If this is right, then it’s past time for him to correct course, shove aside the embittered tribalists, and embrace the real concerns of people of faith. If he doesn’t, millions of us might decide to sit out this ugly, embittered election. (For more from the author of “Donald Trump and the Alt-Right: How Dead Is That Moose?” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Why ‘Never Trumpers’ Should Reconsider

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While Democrats perpetually circle the wagons, Republicans engage a perpetual circular firing squad. The same holds true for many evangelicals. Democrats and secularists count on it.

And we never disappoint.

Full disclosure: I went from a dogged “Never Trumper” to a “Maybe Trumper,” and, finally, settled as a “Reluctant Trumper.” I, like any God-fearing father of daughters was, and remain, appalled by Donald Trump’s sordid past, and his 11-year-old vulgar video in which he objectified women. His words are indefensible and I fully expect the Clinton camp to strategically release additional revolting and embarrassing opposition research about the Republican nominee before election day.

Still, I will be voting against Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 in what is objectively and irrefutably the most effective way possible: by casting a vote, for better or worse, for the policies and promises of Donald Trump — and for the vice presidency of Gov. Mike Pence.

Regrettably, with many of my Never Trump friends I’m reminded of the fanatic who refuses his daughter chemotherapy and watches her die in an effort to convince himself (and others) of the strength of his own faith. Pride is an awful thing. We are to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Foolishness called “faith” is just foolishness.

Even so, there are Christian Pharisees on both extremes of this Trump fiasco: those Trumpian cultists who buy the “Make America great again!” pablum and deride any person who, while not casting judgment upon others, makes, with all sincerity, what they view as the principled decision. The latter say they’ll sit this one out (or go through the motions by voting third party — a wasted vote by any objective standard). While I appreciate this milder strain of Never Trumper’s sincerity, I nonetheless believe it is sincerely wrong.

And then there are the self-righteous, plank-in-the-eye Never Trump prigs who slander as having “lost their saltiness,” “sinned against God,” and “compromised their principles,” brothers and sisters who recognize the empirical reality that a vote for a horribly flawed (Lord knows I’m the worst sinner of all) baby Christian as president is a vote against Hillary Clinton’s tyranny in perpetuity.

Hillary and the Horror of Partial-Birth Abortion

The Media Research Center has done America a tremendous service. In 2014 the watchdog organization released a video of an actual partial birth abortion — something Hillary Clinton stood on stage during the final presidential debate, stared into the camera with cold, callous eyes, and then both lied about and defended unequivocally. I plead with Never Trumpers to watch the video and then prayerfully reassess their plans for Nov. 8.

Mrs. Clinton’s beloved late-term abortion practice is one so brutal and needless that even the left-leaning American Medical Association has admitted that it is dangerous to the mother and never necessary under any circumstances, not the least of which is for “the life or health of the mother.”

During a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a fully “viable” child — often kicking and thrashing — feet first from her mother’s womb, leaving only the top of her head in the birth canal. This is so the abortionist can technically claim to be performing an abortion, rather than committing murder.

He then stabs the child through the base of her skull with scissors, piercing her brain until her kicking and moving about suddenly and violently jerks to a halt. Next, he opens the scissors to enlarge the wound as blood and brainstem fluid gush down his hands, inserts a vacuum tube and sucks out her brains, thereby collapsing her skull.

Her now limp and lifeless body is then cast away like so much garbage.

This is homicide, plain and simple. Hillary Clinton supports it. Donald Trump opposes it.

We deserve God’s wrath and judgment as a nation for allowing this abortion holocaust to occur on our watch. In my estimation, Mrs. Clinton is a bloodthirsty monster who enthusiastically supports this barbarity. Her Supreme Court appointees will ensure that tens of millions of precious babies like the one in the video are murdered in the same brutal manner.

My conscience tells me that I must vote in such a way that exercising my civic duty will have the strongest net effect against Mrs. Clinton and ensure that she is stopped. She must not be elected president. To not vote — or to vote for a non-starter third party candidate, which is effectively the same thing — while not an actual vote for Mrs. Clinton, still puts this Mengele in a pantsuit one step closer to the White House and the Supreme Court.

It’s simple math and it’s undeniable. The most effective thing you can personally do as a citizen is to vote against Mrs. Clinton by voting for Mr. Trump. This does the most electoral damage possible to Candidate Clinton and offers the best chance for life that you can provide future generations.

With its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court put the government’s official stamp of approval on mass murder. Since then, the battle lines have been drawn. This is war. “Pro-choicers” are the bad guys and pro-lifers, the good guys. It really is that simple — that black and white. It’s good versus evil.

History will reflect as much.

Under a President Hillary Clinton, millions more babies will be tortured and dismembered alive. Under a President Donald Trump, these millions might live.

The Devil and Democrats: Oh, how they love derision and division within the body of Christ. (For more from the author of “Why ‘Never Trumpers’ Should Reconsider” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

New Poll Shows Trump Cut Clinton’s Lead in Half in Just One Week

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump grew up with a fellow New York City icon proclaiming that “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

That adage of New York Yankees great Yogi Berra is ringing true on the presidential playing field as another poll shows that a late rally by Trump is bringing him closer to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

A Fox News poll released Wednesday showed that in one week, Trump sliced Clinton’s poll lead in half, as independent voters increasingly flock to the billionaire.

The Fox poll found Clinton leading Trump 44 percent to 41 percent, with 10 percent of the voters supporting another candidate and 4 percent undecided.

The 3 percent margin for Clinton represents a continued erosion of her lead, which was six points last week and seven points the week before.

In a head-to-head contest, Clinton leads Trump 49 percent to 44 percent. Clinton’s five-point lead is down from the seven-point lead she had a week ago.

Independents are changing the dynamics of the contest.

Trump leads Clinton among independent voters, 41 percent to 28 percent. That’s almost double the seven-point lead Trump held last week. Two weeks ago, each candidate had 35 percent of the vote from independents.

Independent voters also are a main source of support for third-party candidates. Fourteen percent support Libertarian Gary Johnson and 7 percent back Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

The poll also found that Trump’s supporters are more committed to their candidate than are Clinton backers, with 68 percent of Trump backers supporting him “strongly,” compared with 61 percent for Clinton.

“To be competitive, Trump needs to consolidate support among Republicans and carry independents,” Republican pollster Daron Shaw told Fox News. “That’s where he’s made in-roads in the last week, mostly by focusing his attention on the economy and Obamacare.”

Trump has focused his argument that voters have their only chance to defeat the “rigged” system by electing him.

“Remember folks, it’s a rigged system,” Trump said at a rally Friday. “That’s why you’ve got to get out and vote, you’ve got to watch. Because this system is totally rigged.”

“I believe we’re actually winning,” Trump said Tuesday in Florida. “It’s a rigged system.”

“The media isn’t just against me. They’re against all of you,” he later said in St Augustine. “They’re against what we represent.” (For more from the author of “New Poll Shows Trump Cut Clinton’s Lead in Half in Just One Week” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Phones Rush Limbaugh, Alleges Massive Cover-Up in Obamacare

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On Tuesday, [Republican] presidential nominee Donald Trump phoned conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and claimed a massive cover-up in regards to The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Limbaugh cited the trending statistic that the average premium has increased by 25 percent under Obamacare, but Trump asserted that the increase, in truth, is much higher.

“You know, the 25 percent [increase], Rush, is less than half of what the real number is,” Trump said. “The real number in some of these places is 80 percent to 90 percent increases. It’s catastrophic, actually.”

Trump said that he’d predicted the downfall of Obamacare from the beginning, saying it was “no good” from the start.

“And you remember, I called that from before it was approved. I said, ‘This can’t work, because it’s just… The plan is no good. The concept is no good,’ and it turned out to be much worse,” Trump said.

He later added, “They put out the phony number of 25 percent because 25 percent sounds better than 60 or 70 percent.”

Trump pointed to his own experience in small business, and he said that many in that realm are complaining that Obamacare is putting them out of business. He also pointed to Obamacare’s seeming monopoly on the insurance market, due to “over-regulation.”

“I think Obamacare has now taken over almost from regulation, which is ridiculous what’s happening with over-regulation, as the biggest single problem for opening and keeping businesses going,” Trump said.

The recent decision of Aetna and other insurance companies to pull out of Obamacare seems to support Trump’s allegations. In states like California, premiums are expected to rise significantly in 2017, and many argue that the program is a disaster on the verge of collapse.

While Democrats have painted former president George W. Bush as the culprit for many of the country’s current issues, saying that Obamacare will help alleviate problems caused by the Bush administration, Limbaugh countered that sentiment by saying Obamacare is working as designed.

“Well, the problem is, it is working. It is working, by design. The whole point of [Obamacare] was to have it fail like this so that they can then have people panic and ask the government to fix it, and the government will fix it by going single payer with the government totally running the health care system, which gives them so much power over people and their behavior and the way they live their lives, you don’t even want to think about it,” Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh’s opinion is one shared by many conservative pundits, including Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Ben Shapiro, who said Obamacare was created with “designed obsolescence” and drew a comparison between Obamacare and Samsung’s Galaxy Note phone.

“It’s as though Samsung had designed their phones to melt down so that they could then market the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Government Edition,” Shapiro said.

Limbaugh defended Trump, pointing out that the Republican nominee has been under siege by the Democratic party. Yet, he said, Trump is still “a winner.”

“It’s frustrating, Mr. Trump, because their fingerprints, as I say, are all over this,” Limbaugh said. “If anybody, in my estimation, is disqualified from having anything further to do with this nation’s economy or healthcare or immigration, it’s the Democrat Party.” (For more from the author of “Trump Phones Rush Limbaugh, Alleges Massive Cover-Up in Obamacare” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Sadie Robertson Shares Her Thoughts on Trump in Light of Recent Scandals

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Despite the release of a sexually explicit audio recording and several subsequent sexual assault allegations, one of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s youngest female supporters recently revealed she still supports the embattled billionaire.

Reality television personality Sadie Robertson shared her take on the contentious election cycle when a reporter for The Huntsville (Ala.) Times asked if she continued to stand by the endorsement she made in August.

“That’s a good question,” the Duck Dynasty star said. “I would say yes, I would be voting for Trump.”

Robertson went on to explain that her support for the real-estate developer does not mean she supports his behavior.

“It doesn’t mean that I agree with everything he says or that he’s a moral person,” she said, “but in the end it comes down to two people.”

The 19-year-old, who was the runner-up in Season 19 of Dancing with the Stars, is not the only member of her famous family to publicly back Trump.

Her father, Willie Robertson, supported Trump during the primary. Family patriarch Phil Robertson endorsed the former reality television host after his first choice, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, suspended his campaign.

“For me and my family,” Sadie Robertson said, “we agree with what Trump wants to do with America.”

She went on to describe the unique opportunity she has as a celebrity to influence others as a responsibility she does not take lightly.

“It’s a huge honor, honestly,” she said, adding she is thankful her position allows her to share her Christian faith with a wide audience.

“When people have told me I’m a role model,” Robertson explained, “it makes me excited, because I’m going to share the good news.”

While Trump’s current controversies cost him some support among women, Robertson is hardly the only prominent female to continue openly endorsing the GOP nominee.

Patricia Smith, whose son was among the four Americans killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, is one such supporter. She is expected to be one of Trump’s guests in the audience for the final presidential debate on Wednesday. (For more from the author of “Sadie Robertson Shares Her Thoughts on Trump in Light of Recent Scandals” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

The Myth of Donald Trump as an ‘Anti-Intellectual’

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One of the criticisms frequently hurled at Donald Trump is that he’s an “anti-intellectual.” Liberals count on incautious readers to conflate the term “intellectual” (which refers to a range of professions, which leftists mostly dominate, and not because they have the better arguments) with “intelligent person.” But while there is some overlap, those terms mean quite different things. I care a good deal about this distinction, having edited the website Intellectual Conservative since 2002.

Trump shares very similar views to the other Republican candidates for president against whom he ran, on some 80 percent of issues (abortion, taxes, Obamacare, a strong defense). But he stood out from most of them on a few hot-button issues that are key to the self-conception of contemporary academics and journalists — principally, trade and immigration. On those subjects, he took a stance in support of what he and millions of others see as America’s national interest; that stance was one that’s anathema to most self-conceived “intellectuals” in 2016.

Those candidates who didn’t challenge today’s (quite recent) consensus on those two issues got much milder treatment from the media. For instance, The New York Times described Jeb Bush as “an intellectual in search of new ideas, a serial consulter of outsiders who relishes animated debate and a probing manager who eagerly burrows into the bureaucratic details.”

Now, that description wouldn’t fit Donald Trump. But Trump graduated with high grades from schools as demanding as those Jeb Bush attended. He is a very bright guy who is sloppy sometimes when speaking because he’s not a polished lifelong politician and he enjoys entertaining. It’s part of his charisma. Reasonable people can disagree over Trump’s boorish, flamboyant style. But to claim that he is an anti-intellectual is to grant the left’s self-serving definition of what intellectual life entails. It is clear that Trump has a strong grasp of the issues, although as a relatively newcomer to politics, it could take him several years to acquire the memory to spout details off the top of his head. But any policy wonk invited on a Sunday morning talk show can manage that. Is that what we want in a president?

That Trump may have plenty of supporters with middling IQs is meaningless. Democrats traditionally have higher numbers among less-skilled and less-educated voters and they are never accused of being anti-intellectual. A Pew survey from 2012 found, “On eight of 13 questions about politics, Republicans outscored Democrats by an average of 18 percentage points.” High school dropouts have traditionally favored Democrats, and this has expanded in recent years to include those with only a high school education or some college. Notably, the majority of regular contributors to my Intellectual Conservative website support Trump, as do the signers of the Scholars for Trump manifesto.

The Left’s Self-Certifying Coup in the Academy

The left has hijacked the word “intellectual” by shutting conservatives out of academia, relegating equally well-educated and thoughtful conservatives to think tanks and public policy. Secure in their institutional control over academies, the left has run rampant and allowed its own standards to plummet. Look at the dumbed-down and ideological courses offered in higher education. Besides the postmodern nonsense that has infiltrated traditional disciplines like literature and philosophy, there are now entire departments devoted to the left’s agenda, which goes unchallenged. (Find me a pro-life women’s studies professor. One.)

Leftist and far left professors now outnumber conservatives almost 12 to 1 in fields like History, Psychology, Law, Economics and Journalism. In History alone, conservatives are outnumbered 33 to 1. In contrast, in the disciplines that require mathematical competence, but aren’t typically homes of self-designated “intellectuals,” conservatives still get hired. The left/right ratio is 2.5 to 1 in engineering and 6.3 to 1 in hard sciences and math.

Plain Talk is Part of a Leader’s Job

Trump has amply demonstrated his grasp of conservative public policy. When asked during one of the presidential debates how the Constitution should be interpreted, he responded, “The justices that I’m going to appoint will be pro-life, they will have a conservative bent. They will be protecting the Second Amendment. They are great scholars in all cases ― and they’re people of tremendous respect. They will interpret the Constitution the way the Founders wanted it interpreted.” That is Justice Antonin Scalia’s view of the Constitution, put in plain words for ordinary voters.

Similarly, when asked about taxes, Trump replied, “The more government takes in taxes, the less incentive people have to work. What coal miner or assembly-line worker jumps at the offer of overtime when he knows Uncle Sam is going to take sixty percent or more of his extra pay?”

Even his statements about illegal immigration demonstrate a thorough understanding of the issue. “A nation without borders is not a nation at all,” he said. “We must have a wall. The rule of law matters.”

One of Trump’s most vocal supporters is the conservative pundit Ann Coulter. She is an extraordinarily bright, practiced constitutional lawyer and has written 12 books on politics. Penguin Random House describes one of her books: “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must), the instant New York Times bestseller, shows why Ann Coulter has become the most recognized — and controversial — conservative intellectual in years.” Yet, like Trump, she has a speaking style that is disarming.

Trump has become a politician, and most politicians merely skim the surface of ideas, speaking in emotionally appealing talking points in order to gain support. That is their job — not filling the left’s revisionist meaning of the word intellectual. (For more from the author of “The Myth of Donald Trump as an ‘Anti-Intellectual'” please click HERE)

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Why I Will Vote for Donald Trump

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Before you applaud me for my integrity or condemn me for selling out, allow me to explain my decision to vote for Donald Trump on November 8.

First, I’m writing this because I have been asked incessantly for months how I would be voting, not because I think I’m someone special or that what I do should influence you.

Second, I’m not endorsing Donald Trump. In my mind, there’s a world of difference between endorsing a candidate and voting for a candidate.

Third, I respect those in the #NeverTrump camp and I share many of their concerns, including the possibility of his further vulgarizing and degrading the nation, the possibility of him deepening our ethnic and racial divides, and the possibility of him alienating our allies and unnecessarily provoking our enemies, just to name a few. Among the #NeverTrump voices I respect are columnists like David French and Ben Shapiro, bloggers like Matt Walsh, and evangelical leaders like Russell Moore and Beth Moore.

Fourth, I take strong exception to evangelicals who have fawned over Trump as if he were some kind of savior figure, supporting him as if he was Saint Donald. I also take issue with evangelical leaders who want us to minimize some of Trump’s failings, constantly saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first one” (see John 8:7). This is not a question of condemning the man but rather a question of making a moral assessment as to his readiness to serve our nation.

Fifth, my decision to vote for Trump, barring something earth-shattering between now and November 8, is consistent with my position which has been: 1) During the primaries, I issued strong warnings against voting for Trump while we had other excellent choices. I did this in writing, on video and on the radio, but always stating that, if Trump won the nomination, I would reevaluate my position. 2) Once Trump became the Republican candidate, I wrote that I was rooting for him to take steps in the right direction and thereby win my vote. 3) I have stated repeatedly that under no circumstances would I vote for Hillary. (For two strong warnings about Hillary, see here and here.)

So, what has convinced me that I should now vote for Donald Trump?

First, I believe that he actually is serious about appointing pro-life, pro-Constitution Supreme Court justices. When he said during the last debate that, if you’re pro-life, you want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, and when he reiterated at his Gettysburg speech that he will be drawing from his list of 20 potential appointees, he helped me feel more confident that he would not suddenly flip-flop if elected.

Second, one reason I endorsed Sen. Cruz was because he took on the political establishment, both Democrat and Republican, to the point of calling it the Washington cartel. Trump is an absolute wrecking ball to the negative parts of the political system (although, unfortunately, he’s been a wrecking ball to some of the good parts of the system), so my vote for him is also a protest vote.

Third, I am voting for the Republican platform, not the Republican party, which means I’m in agreement with the platform while at the same time having very little confidence in the party as a whole.

Fourth, while I have always felt that the line, “We’re electing a president, not a pastor,” was overstated and superficial, if we rephrased it to say, “We’re electing a general to train hand-to-hand combat warriors, not a pastor,” it might have more relevance. In other words, we are not looking for Trump to be a moral reformer (even if he does appoint righteous judges), and, at this point, he certainly is anything but a moral example (although we pray he will be truly converted and become one). Rather, out of our choices for president, which are stark, we are voting for the one most likely to defeat Hillary and make some good decisions for the nation, not be the savior. And with things so messed up in America, the hand-to-hand combat analogy is closer to home.

Fifth, within the first few minutes of the last debate, the massive differences between Hillary and Trump were there for the world to see, she a pro-abortion radical and an extreme supporter of the LGBT agenda, and he unashamedly speaking out against late-term abortions and wanting to appoint justices who would defend our essential liberties. Since I have the opportunity to vote, I feel that I should vote for Trump.

Sixth, Trump continues to be drawn to conservative Christians, and not just ones who tickle his ears. One of my dear friends has spent hours with Trump and members of his family, and he has told me that in 55 years of ministry, no one has received him as openly and graciously as has Trump. Yet my friend continues to speak the truth to him in the clearest possible terms. While I am not one of those claiming that Trump is a born-again Christian (I see absolutely no evidence of this), the fact that he continues to listen to godly men and open the door to their counsel indicates that something positive could possibly be going on. It also indicates that these godly leaders might be a positive influence on him if he was elected president.

Seventh, although I’m quite aware that a president could do great harm or good to the nation, I’m far more concerned with what we as God’s people do with our own lives and witnesses, and for me, the state of the church of America is much more important than the state of the White House. In that context, I echo the words (and warning) of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

So, in sum: 1) my hope is in God, not Donald Trump, and I do recognize that either Hillary or Trump has the potential to do great harm to America; 2) my urgent call is for us as followers of Jesus to get our own act together so we can be the salt and light of the nation; 3) I will continue to urge all believers not to vote for Hillary Clinton, whose policies will certainly do us great harm; 4) ultimately, the most effective way to defeat Hillary is to vote for Trump, while also praying that God will use him for good, not for evil.

In the end, if he gets elected and fails miserably, I will be grieved but not devastated. If he does well, I will rejoice.

Either way, though, my vote is just that: a vote. My greater role is to live a life pleasing to God with the hope of advancing a gospel-based moral and cultural revolution. (For more from the author of “Why I Will Vote for Donald Trump” please click HERE)

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Cardinal Dolan: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Prayed Together Before Al Smith Dinner

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With all of the political barbs thrown in each other’s direction lately, one would think it would take miracle for someone to convince Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to take a quiet moment and pray together. Thursday night before the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner the miraculous happened. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who suggested the prayer and sat between the two presidential nominees during the evening, recounted the “touching” moment Friday on NBC’s Today show.

“When we were going in, I said ‘Could we pray together?’ as we were waiting to be announced,” said Cardinal Dolan, “and after the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Secretary Clinton and said ‘You know, you are one tough and talented woman. This has been a good experience in this whole campaign as tough as it’s been.’ And she said to him, ‘And Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards.’” Cardinal Dolan said he thought that was the evening at its best.

According to Cardinal Dolan, the Al Smith Dinner is traditionally an evening of “unity and friendship and joy.” However, this time around, he said, it was like a family dinner “where you’re just hoping that everything goes well … and in general, alleluia, the evening went very well!” Cardinal Dolan was touched by the obvious attempt by both Clinton and Trump to be courteous and get along. “I was very moved by that.”

Although there was clearly some awkwardness and iciness between Clinton and Trump, Cardinal Dolan said that’s nothing new, describing the chill four years ago between Obama and Romney. Breaking some of that ice is a goal of the dinner, Cardinal Dolan explained, and “thanks be to God it worked!”

The private amity between Trump and Clinton wasn’t as present during the prepared speeches. Cardinal Dolan acknowledged that there were some tense moments and some boos from the audience. He attributes that to the break in the Al Smith Dinner tradition of self-deprecating humor.

John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan “brought the house down,” Cardinal Dolan said, because they were the butt of their own jokes. Last night, Trump and Clinton made each other the butt of their jokes. “The characteristic of the evening is self-deprecating, humble humor,”said Cardinal Dolan, but that goal is tougher to achieve nowadays, as evidenced by Thursday night’s dinner.

But for one moment they played nice, and they prayed. (For more from the author of “Why Is Every Political Party and Independents, Terrified of Clinton and the People Around Her?” please click HERE)

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