Neverland

Let’s face it; this President is unlike any who have come before him, and, dare I say, anyone to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the future. His election has even further divided a very divided country. Are we in Neverland?

Any long time reader of Pierce Wire will know I am no fan of President Trump. Equally, any long time reader of Pierce Wire will know that I think President Obama and his cronies did more to sow seeds of racial tension and divisiveness in the United States than any President in decades. There are a couple points to make that provide the foundation for today’s blog title, Neverland. 

i) Americans are exposed 24/7 to versions of the “news”. It is impossible to avoid the endless drumbeat of news, such as it is. But today’s news is editorial. There is nowhere to turn for factual reporting of events. Nowhere. So the default for the vast majority of Americans is to the news station that is least offensive and most agreeable. This is natural. If one is going to watch the news, one does not want to feel like vomiting every time one turns on the tv. Thus we have a self-perpetuating conundrum. The left winds itself up on the fodder of CNN and MSNBC, and the right hides behind the safety of the wall built by Fox News. (To be fair, Fox News actually has a few “neutral” broadcasters. One is hard pressed to find anyone close to the middle on CNN or MSNBC.) Long story short, the left and right have become more entrenched and less open to any ideas other than those they embraced decades ago. 

ii) Remember when politics used to be about the art of compromise? What happened? The edges are so sharp now. It’s all about the kill. In today’s environment, there is no place for a John F Kennedy in the Democratic nominating process, and certainly no place for a George H. W. Bush in the GOP’s.   What a shame. The extremes have taken over. To remind yourself how wacky the left has become, you can re-read my last blog here. But let’s be real. I could have written just as harsh a blog about the Republicans. Before you cringe, I ask you to ask yourselves, “what happened to the party of fiscal conservatism? Where is the big tent; that platform that embraced all comers to this country (albeit through legal means) because we recognized what has made us the single most noble and successful experiment in human history is the infusion of different cultures starting in the seventeenth century and never ending. Everyone from the 1600’s came here to pursue freedom and opportunity. Over time, they also came to be part of what we know as the United States of America. Yes, they had their ties to Poland, or Italy, or Ireland, (the list is endless) but they also immediately embraced the uniqueness and majesty of our American experiment. What happened to free trade as a cornerstone of the GOP’s philosophy? Since when did free trade somehow get wrapped up with insidious words such as ‘multiculturalism’ or ‘globalism’? What happened?

Well, Donald Trump is what happened. He fired up his base by throwing the Bushes, Romneys and McCains under the bus, and actually equated them to the worst the left has to offer. This is balderdash, but it worked, and it continues to work with his base. 

I write as Mr. Trump is at the G7, ramping up his tariff rhetoric against China, but simultaneously achieving a trade agreement with Japan, and appearing to be close to doing the same with a post-Brexit United Kingdom. This is where we get to Peter Pan land. The man continues to boggle the mind. Before leaving for the G7, he cancelled a meeting with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen because she had the gall to suggest that Greenland is not for sale! Folks, you can’t make this stuff up! His tweets continue unabated, and leave most world leaders scratching their heads. And yet, the work of his government is making our economy stronger, and positioning us for future growth. I think he is dead wrong on his relentless attack on the Fed regarding interest rates, and I pray he actually has an end game on all these tariffs. Tariifs have never worked. They will only hurt the US economy in the long run. But if his playing “hardball” with China and others makes us stronger, I am willing to give him a little more time and rope.

It is hard to take him seriously, and yet he is real, he is our President, and (big gulp) I am voting for him again. The democrats simply leave us no alternative. They are bound and determined to destroy this country, in all their self righteous, angry, race-baiting glory. 

Lest you are not riled up enough, allow me to leave you with this. President Trump is NOT a racist. Show me one instance of racism. This entire issue is the result of the mainstream media and democratic strategists having decided they need to brand him a racist to ensure the American people do not re-elect him. It is a complete fabrication. It is shameful. It’s the worst case of subliminable strategery (sorry, I couldn’t resist) I have seen in the political arena. Seriously, shame on all of those who keep playing the race card. Enough!

More to Follow-