Mueller? This Could Work Out
The View from the Middle
If you have followed my blog, you could have probably guessed that I was against the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate collusion by any Americans with the Russians in our elections. I took this position not because I feared what he or she would find, but because I felt this was an attempt by Democrats to drag this investigation out and thus thwart the administration’s attempt to pursue their agenda. I don’t believe that Trump himself had any connection with the Russians but I do believe that the primary motivation of Democrats is political. I have very little trust with anyone in Washington and right now the Democrats are at the bottom of my integrity list.
I also opposed a Special Counsel because I have confidence in the FBI. I did not have confidence in its Director, James Comey, but I did and still do support and respect the career law enforcement professionals there. Once Comey was gone, my hope for a thorough but expeditious investigation into this matter actually went up, so I would have been very happy to allow them to continue into their investigation and live with their findings.
Now, we have a Special Counsel and it is Robert Mueller. He is certainly qualified since he is former Director of the FBI and he has a reputation for being a thorough investigator. He is arguably above partisan politics since he was originally appointed to direct the FBI by George W. Bush and had his term extended by Barack Obama.
Personally, I think this is good news for Trump and bad news for Democrats. The Special Counsel’s investigation will take precedence over the House and Senate investigations, to which I say, “Hooray”. Neither party in these investigations is after the truth, but use their hearings to grandstand. Mueller should get to the truth and much faster than Congress would and even faster than a Comey-lead FBI, and that is what most Americans want.
But some Democrats could be caught in the Mueller crossfire. If Mueller is investigating Russian interference, will Bill and Hillary Clinton come under scrutiny? Bill was paid $500.000 for a speech by a Russian bank and millions flowed into the Clinton foundation while Hillary was Secretary of State and 20% of America’s uranium deposits were transferred to Russia.
Will Mueller also look into the murder of Democratic staffer, Seth Rich? Was his death really a robbery gone wrong or was it a political assassination? Was Seth Rich the real source of John Podesta’s emails to Wikileaks and not the Russians? Was Julian Assange actually telling the truth when he said that a “nation state” was not his source?
Most importantly for the country, could Robert Mueller just be an efficient investigator and complete this investigation before the midterms in 2018? While this would be the best thing for the American people, it is clearly not what the Democrat Party would like. Nancy Pelosi has already been quoted as saying, “A Special Prosecutor is the first step, but it cannot be the last” before Mueller has even started his investigation let alone announced any findings. She now wants an “independent outside commission”, whatever the hell that means. It is clear that Nancy Pelosi is not actually interested in truth or justice and certainly not expediency. Her only desire is to drag this investigation out for as long as possible to do political damage to Trump and the Republicans, even if the country has to suffer in the process.
The lesson for all of us is that our government is totally dysfunctional and the last thing we need is to make it bigger and allow more intrusion into our lives. Since we’ll never get a smaller government from the existing establishment politicians who are all part of the swamp, we need term limits for both Houses of Congress!!
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Are There Any Safe Spaces for Trump?
The View from the Middle
It’s not very often that I have a news scoop for my readers, but I have it on good authority that Donald Trump just came out in support of puppies, apple pie, and moms all across this land. You would think that these positions would be relatively safe, but as you might expect, Democrats and the lame stream media were quick to criticize.
Chuck Schumer was the first to attack the President’s endorsement of puppies. He reminded the President, “don’t you know that puppies do tremendous damage to homes all across America. They chew up shoes and furniture and they often leave little fecal reminders of their presence everywhere.” He also suggested that “cat people” should be outraged. “This is a clear bias for dogs and against cats”, he said. When will the cat people stand up against this clear prejudice?”
Nancy Pelosi was quick to question the apple pie affirmation. “Does he have any idea how much sugar is in those things”, she posed. “Besides”, she added, “ why now? Pies have been around since before our founding. Why would the President come out in favor of apple pie now? This should make us all suspicious.” She also suggested that cherry and blue berry growers should be in a furor. “This kind of favoritism cuts against our fundamental values.”
You would think that advocating for mothers would be a pretty safe position, but CNN was quick to produce a two-hour special entitled “It Takes a Village”. They wondered, “what about fathers, neighbors, uncles, aunts, coaches, siblings and even politicians. Are mothers overrated? Isn’t 'mother’s day’ an outdated concept? Even women should be outraged since some women aren’t even mothers and all women should stand together.”
I guess I now understand the “resist, persist, insist, enlist, dismiss, blacklist and throw hissy-fits” strategy that has been laid out by Hillary Clinton. I hope Trump doesn’t try to do anything good for the country. That could get awkward.
The View from the Middle
It’s not very often that I have a news scoop for my readers, but I have it on good authority that Donald Trump just came out in support of puppies, apple pie, and moms all across this land. You would think that these positions would be relatively safe, but as you might expect, Democrats and the lame stream media were quick to criticize.
Chuck Schumer was the first to attack the President’s endorsement of puppies. He reminded the President, “don’t you know that puppies do tremendous damage to homes all across America. They chew up shoes and furniture and they often leave little fecal reminders of their presence everywhere.” He also suggested that “cat people” should be outraged. “This is a clear bias for dogs and against cats”, he said. When will the cat people stand up against this clear prejudice?”
Nancy Pelosi was quick to question the apple pie affirmation. “Does he have any idea how much sugar is in those things”, she posed. “Besides”, she added, “ why now? Pies have been around since before our founding. Why would the President come out in favor of apple pie now? This should make us all suspicious.” She also suggested that cherry and blue berry growers should be in a furor. “This kind of favoritism cuts against our fundamental values.”
You would think that advocating for mothers would be a pretty safe position, but CNN was quick to produce a two-hour special entitled “It Takes a Village”. They wondered, “what about fathers, neighbors, uncles, aunts, coaches, siblings and even politicians. Are mothers overrated? Isn’t 'mother’s day’ an outdated concept? Even women should be outraged since some women aren’t even mothers and all women should stand together.”
I guess I now understand the “resist, persist, insist, enlist, dismiss, blacklist and throw hissy-fits” strategy that has been laid out by Hillary Clinton. I hope Trump doesn’t try to do anything good for the country. That could get awkward.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Comey - Incompetent, Simpleton or Clairvoyant?
Comey, Incompetent, Simpleton or Clairvoyant?
The View from the Middle
There’s nothing like watching our government in action to make you want to ask for a refund on your tax bill. Yesterday the incompetence, corruption and entangled confusion of our government were on full display. Yah, it doesn’t get any better for your viewing pleasure than to watch one branch of our government interview another.
First, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of this oversight committee, may not have gotten a single question answered. Why, because James Comey, the Director of the FBI, refused to answer them in the public forum in which these questions were asked. Did Grassley forget that Comey couldn’t discuss classified information in a public setting? Shouldn’t the cameras have tipped him off? Of course, he’s only been in Washington for 36 years. The only thing that Chuck made clear yesterday was the need for term limits in the Senate and the House.
Next, we had Director Comey to remind us of his bumbled handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. I don’t believe he made a single correct decision during this train wreck of a probe. On July 5th of 2016 he decided he needed to make a public statement about whether to indict Hillary Clinton for mishandling of her e-mails. This, of course, is not even his job, but he threw Attorney General Loretta Lynch under the bus for her meeting with Bill Clinton just a week before that decision was to be made.
He should have rejected Lynch’s request for him to make the indictment decision and presented his findings to the Justice Department for them to handle. Even after that, he could have simply announced his decision with a brief explanation and moved on. Instead, he went in front of cameras and prosecuted Hillary Clinton for 15 minutes before announcing that no reasonable prosecutor would indict her. This was followed by an army of lawyers and previous Attorneys General who disagreed with him.
The big defense of his decision was that he couldn’t prove “intent”, even though Hillary used “bleach bit” to destroy 33,000 emails after she had received a subpoena for all of them and destroyed her communication devices with hammers. Forgive me, but if that were you or I, we would be in jail today.
To compound this horrendous decision, he reopened the investigation publicly just 11 days before the election because he found 6,000 Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer. This had implications for both Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin. Then two days before the election, he announced that he was closing this investigation because there was nothing new in these e-mails. He didn’t explain, however, why Miss Abedin shouldn’t be indicted herself for sharing classified material with her husband, Anthony Weiner, who was himself under FBI investigation.
He later replayed his “intent” card and suggested that he couldn’t prove that Huma “intended” to break the law, although she actually did. Personally, it’s hard for me to believe that Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, both very intelligent women, didn’t understand that they were breaking the law by destroying 33,000 emails under subpoena and sharing classified information with people, the likes of Anthony Weiner, who didn’t have the clearance to view it.
Yet this same James Comey, who couldn’t understand Hillary and Huma’s intent despite their wanton disregard for the law, turned clairvoyant yesterday and was glad to read Vladimir Putin’s mind in the DNC hacking incident last year. With confidence he posed that Putin favored Trump as President because he hated Hillary and thought he could deal more favorably with Donald Trump. This, of course, is ludicrous and implies that Vladimir Putin knew something that virtually no one else in the world knew. And that was that Donald Trump was actually going to beat Hillary Clinton for the Presidency of The United States.
Up until five o’clock on November 8th the political experts in this country were giving Hillary up to a 98% probability of winning. I have suggested that Putin did what he did (assuming he actually sponsored the hacking) for two reasons. First, John Podesta was stupid enough to use the word “password” as his email password. This made the DNC easier to hack than the RNC, which I’m sure he was trying to hack also. Second, he expected Hillary Clinton to win, but he intended to injure her in the process so that he could deal with a weakened American President.
I have presented this explanation before but offered it as speculation, since we will never actually know what Putin was thinking. James Comey should have either not speculated on what Putin thought or stated his theory as a hypothesis, not fact. This was just one more example of Comey’s poor judgment. Comey may be a very knowledgeable person, but knowledge is not the same as wisdom. In my opinion, he should resign tomorrow and save the country from any additional heartburn.
The View from the Middle
There’s nothing like watching our government in action to make you want to ask for a refund on your tax bill. Yesterday the incompetence, corruption and entangled confusion of our government were on full display. Yah, it doesn’t get any better for your viewing pleasure than to watch one branch of our government interview another.
First, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of this oversight committee, may not have gotten a single question answered. Why, because James Comey, the Director of the FBI, refused to answer them in the public forum in which these questions were asked. Did Grassley forget that Comey couldn’t discuss classified information in a public setting? Shouldn’t the cameras have tipped him off? Of course, he’s only been in Washington for 36 years. The only thing that Chuck made clear yesterday was the need for term limits in the Senate and the House.
Next, we had Director Comey to remind us of his bumbled handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. I don’t believe he made a single correct decision during this train wreck of a probe. On July 5th of 2016 he decided he needed to make a public statement about whether to indict Hillary Clinton for mishandling of her e-mails. This, of course, is not even his job, but he threw Attorney General Loretta Lynch under the bus for her meeting with Bill Clinton just a week before that decision was to be made.
He should have rejected Lynch’s request for him to make the indictment decision and presented his findings to the Justice Department for them to handle. Even after that, he could have simply announced his decision with a brief explanation and moved on. Instead, he went in front of cameras and prosecuted Hillary Clinton for 15 minutes before announcing that no reasonable prosecutor would indict her. This was followed by an army of lawyers and previous Attorneys General who disagreed with him.
The big defense of his decision was that he couldn’t prove “intent”, even though Hillary used “bleach bit” to destroy 33,000 emails after she had received a subpoena for all of them and destroyed her communication devices with hammers. Forgive me, but if that were you or I, we would be in jail today.
To compound this horrendous decision, he reopened the investigation publicly just 11 days before the election because he found 6,000 Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer. This had implications for both Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin. Then two days before the election, he announced that he was closing this investigation because there was nothing new in these e-mails. He didn’t explain, however, why Miss Abedin shouldn’t be indicted herself for sharing classified material with her husband, Anthony Weiner, who was himself under FBI investigation.
He later replayed his “intent” card and suggested that he couldn’t prove that Huma “intended” to break the law, although she actually did. Personally, it’s hard for me to believe that Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, both very intelligent women, didn’t understand that they were breaking the law by destroying 33,000 emails under subpoena and sharing classified information with people, the likes of Anthony Weiner, who didn’t have the clearance to view it.
Yet this same James Comey, who couldn’t understand Hillary and Huma’s intent despite their wanton disregard for the law, turned clairvoyant yesterday and was glad to read Vladimir Putin’s mind in the DNC hacking incident last year. With confidence he posed that Putin favored Trump as President because he hated Hillary and thought he could deal more favorably with Donald Trump. This, of course, is ludicrous and implies that Vladimir Putin knew something that virtually no one else in the world knew. And that was that Donald Trump was actually going to beat Hillary Clinton for the Presidency of The United States.
Up until five o’clock on November 8th the political experts in this country were giving Hillary up to a 98% probability of winning. I have suggested that Putin did what he did (assuming he actually sponsored the hacking) for two reasons. First, John Podesta was stupid enough to use the word “password” as his email password. This made the DNC easier to hack than the RNC, which I’m sure he was trying to hack also. Second, he expected Hillary Clinton to win, but he intended to injure her in the process so that he could deal with a weakened American President.
I have presented this explanation before but offered it as speculation, since we will never actually know what Putin was thinking. James Comey should have either not speculated on what Putin thought or stated his theory as a hypothesis, not fact. This was just one more example of Comey’s poor judgment. Comey may be a very knowledgeable person, but knowledge is not the same as wisdom. In my opinion, he should resign tomorrow and save the country from any additional heartburn.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Government Shutdown? Please!!
Government Shutdown? Please!!
The View from the Middle
It is official. Chicken Little has become the spokesperson for the US Government, or at least the Democrat party. And this is no ordinary, confused, hysterical Chicken Little who thought the sky was falling when an acorn dropped on its head. This is an agenda driven, maniacal, duplicitous chicken intent on deceiving the public and creating a panic the original chick was famous for.
There have been 18 government shutdowns since 1976. Some lasting just a day while others lasted a week or so. Bill Clinton still holds the record for shutting the government down for 21 days as he and Republicans fought over whether we should use the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) or the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) to project our deficits. In other words, over nothing.
The last government shutdown, under President Obama, was equally unnecessary but particularly messy. Republicans, lead by Ted Cruz, tried to pass a continuing resolution to run the government, which defunded Obamacare. While the cause may have been noble (to me), even I had to admit that the chances of that bill passing was virtually zero. Harry Reid and the Democrats still controlled the Senate and Barack Obama was in the White House. Reid and Obama would have both taken a bullet in the head before agreeing to that continuing resolution.
But then the President decided to make that government shutdown especially painful. First, he shutdown the “open air” World War II Memorial. This memorial is not even regularly staffed, but Barack Obama actually spent extra funds to have it barricaded. That meant that 80 and 90 year old veterans, who had already booked flights, would be denied access.
Obama shut down over 400 national parks even when the act of closing them was greater than leaving them open. He closed Mount Rushmore, The Vietnam Memorial and even tried to close privately owned Mount Vernon because the Park Service maintained the parking lot. And let’s not forget that White House tours were still being canceled due to their tremendous impact on the budget.
A park ranger was quoted as saying, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can.” He added, “It’s disgusting” and I heartily agree with him. When will we learn? It is clear that the government has evolved into something our Founders did not intend. Instead of a protector of our freedom, it has become a vehicle through which the masses can be fleeced and manipulated by a privileged few.
But there is good news in all of these government shutdown exercises. The truth is that these shutdowns prove the exact opposite of their advertised predictions. They prove that nothing of real consequence happens as a result of a government shutdown. For those of you who were alive, do you remember any cataclysmic results from the eight (yes 8) shutdowns during Ronald Reagan’s Presidency? Even after all the effort by Barack Obama to disrupt our lives, do you remember any national pestilence as a result of that shutdown? It didn’t even impact our economy. Our GDP, in fact, grew faster in that quarter than the quarters before and after! The people who were furloughed got paid when the shutdown ended, so the American people actually gave them a paid vacation.
So bring on the next shutdown. Let the government prove once more that it is too big, too inefficient, too corrupt and that we can get along quite well without all the “nonessential personnel”. In fact, now that we have identified those nonessential people, what if we actually eliminate those jobs? What a novel idea!!
The View from the Middle
It is official. Chicken Little has become the spokesperson for the US Government, or at least the Democrat party. And this is no ordinary, confused, hysterical Chicken Little who thought the sky was falling when an acorn dropped on its head. This is an agenda driven, maniacal, duplicitous chicken intent on deceiving the public and creating a panic the original chick was famous for.
There have been 18 government shutdowns since 1976. Some lasting just a day while others lasted a week or so. Bill Clinton still holds the record for shutting the government down for 21 days as he and Republicans fought over whether we should use the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) or the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) to project our deficits. In other words, over nothing.
The last government shutdown, under President Obama, was equally unnecessary but particularly messy. Republicans, lead by Ted Cruz, tried to pass a continuing resolution to run the government, which defunded Obamacare. While the cause may have been noble (to me), even I had to admit that the chances of that bill passing was virtually zero. Harry Reid and the Democrats still controlled the Senate and Barack Obama was in the White House. Reid and Obama would have both taken a bullet in the head before agreeing to that continuing resolution.
But then the President decided to make that government shutdown especially painful. First, he shutdown the “open air” World War II Memorial. This memorial is not even regularly staffed, but Barack Obama actually spent extra funds to have it barricaded. That meant that 80 and 90 year old veterans, who had already booked flights, would be denied access.
Obama shut down over 400 national parks even when the act of closing them was greater than leaving them open. He closed Mount Rushmore, The Vietnam Memorial and even tried to close privately owned Mount Vernon because the Park Service maintained the parking lot. And let’s not forget that White House tours were still being canceled due to their tremendous impact on the budget.
A park ranger was quoted as saying, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can.” He added, “It’s disgusting” and I heartily agree with him. When will we learn? It is clear that the government has evolved into something our Founders did not intend. Instead of a protector of our freedom, it has become a vehicle through which the masses can be fleeced and manipulated by a privileged few.
But there is good news in all of these government shutdown exercises. The truth is that these shutdowns prove the exact opposite of their advertised predictions. They prove that nothing of real consequence happens as a result of a government shutdown. For those of you who were alive, do you remember any cataclysmic results from the eight (yes 8) shutdowns during Ronald Reagan’s Presidency? Even after all the effort by Barack Obama to disrupt our lives, do you remember any national pestilence as a result of that shutdown? It didn’t even impact our economy. Our GDP, in fact, grew faster in that quarter than the quarters before and after! The people who were furloughed got paid when the shutdown ended, so the American people actually gave them a paid vacation.
So bring on the next shutdown. Let the government prove once more that it is too big, too inefficient, too corrupt and that we can get along quite well without all the “nonessential personnel”. In fact, now that we have identified those nonessential people, what if we actually eliminate those jobs? What a novel idea!!
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Understanding Trump – Part II
The View from the Middle
Donald Trump is a businessman, not a politician. With this fact comes some realities that we all have to live with. He’s not smooth and slick like a Barack Obama who spent practically his whole adult life in politics. Actually, I wish Trump had a little more of that in him, but he doesn’t. He’s been in the rough and tumble world of business and began his career in the tough New York construction industry. When people strike out at him, he hits back. When he hits a dead end, he changes directions. Results are the measure of his success, not popularity polls.
That brings me to his recent purported “flip-flops”. First of all, he has delivered on more of his campaign promises than any President in my memory for sure, and maybe any President. He approved the Keystone Pipeline, reduced regulations, put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and taken the US out of the TPP trade agreement. He is certainly working on repealing and replacing Obamacare, securing our southern border and reforming our tax system. If these things are done in year one, that would be a real “promises made – promises kept” first year of any Presidency.
And now, all the talk is about flip-flopping on his positions. Interestingly, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton changed their minds on when life begins or the traditional definition of marriage, they are “evolving”. Why did they change these positions? To get votes. If Trump changes his positions, it will be to get “results”.
I’ve already talked about his changes on NATO and China. As I explained, this was simply negotiating. The costs to us were minimal to nonexistent, but we received big behavioral changes from both as a result. Now, he’s being accused of flip-flopping on Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve, and the Export-Import bank.
Let’s be absolutely honest. To these moves, most Americans say, “What?” Most Americans don’t even know what The Fed or the Export-Import bank do. So, what does it cost Trump to support Yellen and the EI bank now, and what does he get out of these changes? First, the cost is zero. Even if he was a politician, his next election is nearly four years away so he has plenty of time to produce positive results, which is what he is really after. And what might those positive results be? In both cases, I’m sure it revolves around jobs!! Janet Yellen is likely to keep interest rates under control to finance an economic expansion and the EI will help finance exports, which will fuel jobs in the US.
It’s all about results with Trump and while they aren’t in yet, I can connect the dots of the President’s activity to future economic growth in America, which was a huge campaign promise by Trump. Another huge promise from Trump was to keep America safe, and the jury is also still out in that area. I like what he has done in Syria, and even with Russia. The world was deplored by Assad’s chemical weapons attack on his own people and last week’s meeting with Putin and Tillerson in Russia gives me some hope that we may be able to use Russia to remove Assad from Syria. We’ll see.
The one area of the world that still concerns me, however, is North Korea. While we have had a couple of encouraging signs from the Chinese, who I believe need to be the real solution in North Korea, we still have what John McCain called “the crazy fat kid” (Kim Jong Un) leading that country. I have to agree with McCain on this one. He is fat, and I think he’s crazy. Having a crazy dictator armed with a nuclear weapon should scare us all, but we did get some encouraging signs this weekend when the CFK didn’t pull any ballistic or nuclear stunts during their Founder’s Birthday Celebration. The fact that he is crazy is his own fault. The fact that he has nuclear weapons belongs to at least a couple of previous administrations. Now, Trump has to handle this delicate situation and we should all be praying that he does it well.
The View from the Middle
Donald Trump is a businessman, not a politician. With this fact comes some realities that we all have to live with. He’s not smooth and slick like a Barack Obama who spent practically his whole adult life in politics. Actually, I wish Trump had a little more of that in him, but he doesn’t. He’s been in the rough and tumble world of business and began his career in the tough New York construction industry. When people strike out at him, he hits back. When he hits a dead end, he changes directions. Results are the measure of his success, not popularity polls.
That brings me to his recent purported “flip-flops”. First of all, he has delivered on more of his campaign promises than any President in my memory for sure, and maybe any President. He approved the Keystone Pipeline, reduced regulations, put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court and taken the US out of the TPP trade agreement. He is certainly working on repealing and replacing Obamacare, securing our southern border and reforming our tax system. If these things are done in year one, that would be a real “promises made – promises kept” first year of any Presidency.
And now, all the talk is about flip-flopping on his positions. Interestingly, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton changed their minds on when life begins or the traditional definition of marriage, they are “evolving”. Why did they change these positions? To get votes. If Trump changes his positions, it will be to get “results”.
I’ve already talked about his changes on NATO and China. As I explained, this was simply negotiating. The costs to us were minimal to nonexistent, but we received big behavioral changes from both as a result. Now, he’s being accused of flip-flopping on Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve, and the Export-Import bank.
Let’s be absolutely honest. To these moves, most Americans say, “What?” Most Americans don’t even know what The Fed or the Export-Import bank do. So, what does it cost Trump to support Yellen and the EI bank now, and what does he get out of these changes? First, the cost is zero. Even if he was a politician, his next election is nearly four years away so he has plenty of time to produce positive results, which is what he is really after. And what might those positive results be? In both cases, I’m sure it revolves around jobs!! Janet Yellen is likely to keep interest rates under control to finance an economic expansion and the EI will help finance exports, which will fuel jobs in the US.
It’s all about results with Trump and while they aren’t in yet, I can connect the dots of the President’s activity to future economic growth in America, which was a huge campaign promise by Trump. Another huge promise from Trump was to keep America safe, and the jury is also still out in that area. I like what he has done in Syria, and even with Russia. The world was deplored by Assad’s chemical weapons attack on his own people and last week’s meeting with Putin and Tillerson in Russia gives me some hope that we may be able to use Russia to remove Assad from Syria. We’ll see.
The one area of the world that still concerns me, however, is North Korea. While we have had a couple of encouraging signs from the Chinese, who I believe need to be the real solution in North Korea, we still have what John McCain called “the crazy fat kid” (Kim Jong Un) leading that country. I have to agree with McCain on this one. He is fat, and I think he’s crazy. Having a crazy dictator armed with a nuclear weapon should scare us all, but we did get some encouraging signs this weekend when the CFK didn’t pull any ballistic or nuclear stunts during their Founder’s Birthday Celebration. The fact that he is crazy is his own fault. The fact that he has nuclear weapons belongs to at least a couple of previous administrations. Now, Trump has to handle this delicate situation and we should all be praying that he does it well.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Understanding Trump
Understanding Trump
The View from the Middle
I still remember the first time Brenda and I went to buy a house. She walked into the first house we visited and began to tell the realtor and the folks who lived there how much she loved everything. “Wow, this is a great family room! I just love your back yard! Kevin, did you notice that the washer an dryer are brand new?” After I left the house, which we did not buy, I explained the fundamentals of negotiations with Brenda.
“Honey” I said, “ If you want to help me get the cost of a house down, you may want to point out some of its deficiencies, rather than focusing on its assets.” I told her she could always tell me about the advantages of any house when we were in private. That’s pretty basic, but we were young and I was in sales, not Brenda, and we were learning as we went along.
Donald Trump actually wrote the book on negotiations called The Art of the Deal, and he is negotiating all the time. In his previous life, he was negotiating for properties and I’m sure he didn’t start bargaining by pointing out the great qualities of the land and or buildings he was interested in buying. I’m confident, however, that he made the seller aware of every shortcoming he noticed and of every burden he would have to endure if he purchased a property.
Now he is President of the United States and he hasn’t changed a bit, and I wouldn’t encourage him to. As President, if you wanted something from NATO, would go out in public and tell the world what a wonderful organization they were and what good work they do? No! You might, however, tell them that they were obsolete, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump did.
This week, Trump had a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, and lo and behold Jens agreed to focus more on terrorism and making sure that member nations lived up to their commitments to defense spending in each of their countries. If I’m not mistaken, that’s exactly what Trump wanted. Negotiations 101.
During his campaign he called China the great currency manipulator, and many would have agreed with him. He warned that things would need to change with China in the area of trade. Last week he had a meeting with China’s President, Xi Jinping, during which he pumped 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria. Not only did Xi Jinping finish his meetings with Trump, but when he got home to China he ordered coal shipments from North Korea returned as a signal of their displeasure with Kim Jong Un’s behavior.
And when China abstained on the UN vote denouncing Syria’s chemical attack on its own citizens, this was another huge victory for Trump. And what did Trump have to give up? He simply said that he didn’t believe China was a currency manipulator any more. In my opinion, that’s small price to pay to get China’s help with the two maniac leaders in North Korea and Syria.
The lame steam media, in either a state of confusion or denial, has jumped on Trump for what they call “flip-flopping”. This just proves two things. First, they still don’t get Trump and the support he received from mainstream America. Second, they have little to no interest in actual results and treat Trump like a house they are trying to buy. Ignore the positives and focus on the negatives…at all costs.
More to come on “Understanding Trump” but enjoy this first installment!
The View from the Middle
I still remember the first time Brenda and I went to buy a house. She walked into the first house we visited and began to tell the realtor and the folks who lived there how much she loved everything. “Wow, this is a great family room! I just love your back yard! Kevin, did you notice that the washer an dryer are brand new?” After I left the house, which we did not buy, I explained the fundamentals of negotiations with Brenda.
“Honey” I said, “ If you want to help me get the cost of a house down, you may want to point out some of its deficiencies, rather than focusing on its assets.” I told her she could always tell me about the advantages of any house when we were in private. That’s pretty basic, but we were young and I was in sales, not Brenda, and we were learning as we went along.
Donald Trump actually wrote the book on negotiations called The Art of the Deal, and he is negotiating all the time. In his previous life, he was negotiating for properties and I’m sure he didn’t start bargaining by pointing out the great qualities of the land and or buildings he was interested in buying. I’m confident, however, that he made the seller aware of every shortcoming he noticed and of every burden he would have to endure if he purchased a property.
Now he is President of the United States and he hasn’t changed a bit, and I wouldn’t encourage him to. As President, if you wanted something from NATO, would go out in public and tell the world what a wonderful organization they were and what good work they do? No! You might, however, tell them that they were obsolete, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump did.
This week, Trump had a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, and lo and behold Jens agreed to focus more on terrorism and making sure that member nations lived up to their commitments to defense spending in each of their countries. If I’m not mistaken, that’s exactly what Trump wanted. Negotiations 101.
During his campaign he called China the great currency manipulator, and many would have agreed with him. He warned that things would need to change with China in the area of trade. Last week he had a meeting with China’s President, Xi Jinping, during which he pumped 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria. Not only did Xi Jinping finish his meetings with Trump, but when he got home to China he ordered coal shipments from North Korea returned as a signal of their displeasure with Kim Jong Un’s behavior.
And when China abstained on the UN vote denouncing Syria’s chemical attack on its own citizens, this was another huge victory for Trump. And what did Trump have to give up? He simply said that he didn’t believe China was a currency manipulator any more. In my opinion, that’s small price to pay to get China’s help with the two maniac leaders in North Korea and Syria.
The lame steam media, in either a state of confusion or denial, has jumped on Trump for what they call “flip-flopping”. This just proves two things. First, they still don’t get Trump and the support he received from mainstream America. Second, they have little to no interest in actual results and treat Trump like a house they are trying to buy. Ignore the positives and focus on the negatives…at all costs.
More to come on “Understanding Trump” but enjoy this first installment!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Trump, Putin Puppet or Pest?
Trump, Putin Puppet or Pest?
The View from the Middle
President Trump either didn’t get the memo from Putin or forgot to look up the definition of lap dog. Someone from the NY Times needs to tell him that putting 59 tomahawk missiles into Syria, almost literally in Putin’s ear, does not follow the narrative that the media has been painting of the Trump / Putin relationship. This is hardly the action that a man would take if he were “colluding” with Russia. Do you think it’s time for the wacko media conspiracy theorists to give up on their manufactured story and start concentrating on Susan Rice, the great unmasker and serial liar?
The lame stream media may even have to compare Trump to Ronald Reagan! I know that would really drive them crazy, but doesn’t this remind you of when Reagan put a missile in Gaddafi’s ear after the Berlin Disco bombing? It was a quick response. It was measured, proportionate and the end results were excellent. Gaddafi put his tail between his legs and laid low until Reagan died. I think he was terrified of him well after his Presidency.
We don’t know the long-term ramifications of this action, but in the short term, the results look good. First, remember that China’s President Jinping was meeting with Trump in Florida when the missiles were launched. He could have canceled all his meetings with Trump and left the next morning, but he didn’t. They met the very next day without incident. That’s a good sign, and this week Rex Tillerson is meeting with Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, in Russian to discuss a range of issue. They could have easily canceled those meetings, but they didn’t.
We’ve also had resounding support from our allies around the world and, considering Trump’s popularity at home, excellent support from the American people (57% support while only 36% don’t). For those of you who don’t support Trump’s actions in Syria, I would love to hear your alternatives. Would you send another nasty letter to Assad? Would you say “pretty please” to Vladimir Putin as you asked him to bring Assad under control? That’s hasn’t worked very well for the last six years and has ended with the loss of almost a half million lives.
Personally, I support the President’s actions and I pray for his judgment and for the future of our country. I pray that he can continue to deliver on his promises of economic and job growth while also securing our border and keeping America safe. For anyone, including the lame stream media, who is praying for this President to fail, I would suggest that those prayers are misplaced. While I disagreed with President Obama on almost every issue, I never hoped that he, and the United States with him, would fail.
A united and prayerful America is our best hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. Please join me in that effort.
The View from the Middle
President Trump either didn’t get the memo from Putin or forgot to look up the definition of lap dog. Someone from the NY Times needs to tell him that putting 59 tomahawk missiles into Syria, almost literally in Putin’s ear, does not follow the narrative that the media has been painting of the Trump / Putin relationship. This is hardly the action that a man would take if he were “colluding” with Russia. Do you think it’s time for the wacko media conspiracy theorists to give up on their manufactured story and start concentrating on Susan Rice, the great unmasker and serial liar?
The lame stream media may even have to compare Trump to Ronald Reagan! I know that would really drive them crazy, but doesn’t this remind you of when Reagan put a missile in Gaddafi’s ear after the Berlin Disco bombing? It was a quick response. It was measured, proportionate and the end results were excellent. Gaddafi put his tail between his legs and laid low until Reagan died. I think he was terrified of him well after his Presidency.
We don’t know the long-term ramifications of this action, but in the short term, the results look good. First, remember that China’s President Jinping was meeting with Trump in Florida when the missiles were launched. He could have canceled all his meetings with Trump and left the next morning, but he didn’t. They met the very next day without incident. That’s a good sign, and this week Rex Tillerson is meeting with Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, in Russian to discuss a range of issue. They could have easily canceled those meetings, but they didn’t.
We’ve also had resounding support from our allies around the world and, considering Trump’s popularity at home, excellent support from the American people (57% support while only 36% don’t). For those of you who don’t support Trump’s actions in Syria, I would love to hear your alternatives. Would you send another nasty letter to Assad? Would you say “pretty please” to Vladimir Putin as you asked him to bring Assad under control? That’s hasn’t worked very well for the last six years and has ended with the loss of almost a half million lives.
Personally, I support the President’s actions and I pray for his judgment and for the future of our country. I pray that he can continue to deliver on his promises of economic and job growth while also securing our border and keeping America safe. For anyone, including the lame stream media, who is praying for this President to fail, I would suggest that those prayers are misplaced. While I disagreed with President Obama on almost every issue, I never hoped that he, and the United States with him, would fail.
A united and prayerful America is our best hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. Please join me in that effort.
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