Thursday, November 21, 2024

Political Potpourri and Around the Block

Gonna take a walk around the block on this post and hit a lot of varied and interesting topics.  There are so many good writers and journalists out there who seem to fall through the cracks sometimes; the ones that make the most noise are not always the ones we should be listening to.  I hope to point out a few of them in this piece.

 

With just a mention or two about the past election, I want to make an effort to put that behind and focus on the future and where our new president might lead us.  I am convinced that Donald Trump served as the vessel used by a majority of American voters to voice their displeasure with the direction our nation was heading.  Imperfect as he is…he clearly loves our country; he has a proven record from his past administration; and he was a clear and “new direction” candidate compared to the “status quo” Kamala Harris. 

 

Allow me to address one more issue before moving into the articles.  Trump is gonna be Trump.  I accept that his ego drives him to approach the presidency more like a monarch than a chief executive.  That is who he is and that is how he has accomplished what he has throughout his life.  I accept that given the historically-unfair treatment he received throughout his first term…from the deep state, from his own party, and from the liberal/progressive alliance…no one could blame this man for placing a huge priority on loyalty as a selection criterion for his new administration officials.  This time around, he is clearly bringing a gun (rather than a knife) to the gun fight.  He is a lame duck from day one and he must do everything within his power to hit the ground running when he takes office. 

 

The task that lies before him to clean up the mess made by the Biden Administration and its cronies is gargantuan.  The challenge is staggering and he has every right to recruit people who he deems reliable and that he can trust implicitly.  However, there are three quick points that I feel Trump is carelessly and irresponsibly tossing aside in his haste to get started on his critical mission.

 

The first one is his effort to by bypass the Senate confirmation process with recess appointments.  There is simply no excuse for this.  Our constitution plainly spells out the confirmation process; he has a Republican majority in the Senate work with on his appointments; and this is neither the time nor place to disrespect the blueprint of our democracy in order to expedite the process according to his personal desires.  After witnessing the constitutional abuse heaped upon by our government by the Biden Administration, it is imperative that Trump demonstrate a new-found respect for the principles set forth in our democracy’s blueprint.  We should uphold the process.  We should trust the process.

 

As a second point…Trump certainly deserves to have his selected appointees approved.  However, there is a reason that our founders included the confirmation process in the constitution, and that is to insure that we have qualified, competent, and quality individuals serving in these positions of great power and influence.  To any objective observer, it is clear that in some cases Trump has allowed the loyalty quotient to override the importance of competence and quality.  There is no excuse for this to happen.  Donald Trump has a long and impressive list of individuals from which to select his administration personnel.  He has every right to pick the ones he wants; but those choices should have some background experience that clearly makes them competent to perform their duties.  Loyalty in and of itself does not, should not, and cannot compensate for incompetence.  Did we learn nothing from the Biden Administration follies?

 

And thirdly, Donald Trump must take full advantage of the fact that he enters office with a large dose of good will from the public and with his own party in control of Congress.  The Republican majorities in the Senate and House are not super-majority.  At some point, it will be essential to obtain bipartisan agreement in order to accomplish the changes necessary to bring our government back into proper form.  Trump will not accomplish this through executive actions.  Trump unwound Obama’s executive actions.  Biden unwound Trump’s executive actions.  Trump will unwind Biden’s executive actions. The point here is that executive actions are largely temporary in nature and do not effectively foster long-term and structural change in government.  That must be accomplished through legislation. 

 

It is understandable that any president would become exasperated with the foolishness that the Senate and House exhibits in the course of their proceedings.  But that does not change the fact that our constitution wisely requires that the Executive Branch work with the Legislative Branch, and under the auspices of the Judicial Branch to govern this nation.  Trump and his Administration need to do the heavy lifting necessary to partner with Congress and make the fundamental legislative changes needed to restore this government to its intended purpose. Perhaps this is a great opportunity to use Vice-President Vance as a congressional liaison.  As I mentioned before, Trump has always been self-reliant and that has served him well; but he has not been elected King.  He has been elected President.  We all want him to make some changes.  We all want him to clean house.  But we should all want him to do this in a fashion that respects our government and the great model our founders gave us for its functions.

 

So…what about those Trump nominees?

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/11/the-senate-should-assert-its-power-to-block-bad-nominees/

 

https://www.megynkelly.com/2024/11/18/what-to-know-about-controversy-surrounding-trump-picks-of-gabbard-rfk-hegseth-gaetz/

 

Whew…dodged that bullet: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/3237670/matt-gaetz-withdraws-attorney-general-nomination/

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/kennedy-haters-relax/

 

https://reason.com/2024/11/20/trumps-energy-picks-are-refreshingly-competent/

 

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/trumps-pick-energy-secretary-argues-fossil-fuels-are-integral-human

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/20/sean-duffy-must-overhaul-the-department-of-transportation-in-trumps-second-term/

 

https://freebeacon.com/policy/rubio-and-the-return-of-the-monroe-doctrine/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-commerce-lutnick-elections-transition-cabinet/2024/11/19/id/1188733/

 

So…what is the future of the Department of Education?

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/20/how-will-trump-handle-education-policy/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/3232494/trump-wants-to-abolish-the-department-of-education/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/us/education-department-school/2024/11/21/id/1188941/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/aft-randi-weingarten-linda-mcmahon/2024/11/20/id/1188784/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/16/saving-the-country-from-the-university/

 

And…how will Foreign Policy change to address the “world on fire” global environment?

 

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/russia-ukraine-war/2024/11/21/id/1188923/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/bidens-wishy-washy-support-for-ukraine-reaches-its-final-months/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/iran-funding-hamas/2024/11/19/id/1188595/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/cia-official-charged-with-leaking-classified-documents-about-planned-israeli-strike-on-iran/

 

DOGE is the hot topic…but will it amount to anything?

 

https://reason.com/2024/11/15/doges-chances-are-slim-but-it-might-be-our-only-hope/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/some-budget-cut-suggestions-for-the-new-administration/

 

https://reason.com/2024/11/14/to-cut-wasteful-spending-start-with-energy-subsidies/

 

Is the Economy going up…or down…or sideways? Hard choices on Federal Spending lie ahead.

 

https://reason.com/2024/11/18/social-security-approaches-its-day-of-reckoning/

 

https://reason.com/2024/11/15/the-national-debt-just-hit-36-trillion-does-trump-have-a-plan-to-control-it/

 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/16/business/50k-car-prices/index.html

 

The Biden Administration and the Democrats are going to squeeze all the progressive juice they can get before giving up the power.  They are celebrating and pleading on their way out.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/republicans-must-stop-unworthy-judicial-nominees-during-the-senates-lame-duck-session/

 

https://justthenews.com/accountability/satweaponization-very-end-jim-jordan-probing-last-minute-biden-doj-blitzkreig

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/over-250-biden-administration-officials-flock-to-u-n-climate-conference-in-azerbaijan/

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/3231760/chuck-schumer-republicans-please-dont-do-to-us-what-we-were-going-to-do-to-you/

 

As for this “One”…don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.  Just…go…away.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/14/barack-obama-the-political-genius-that-wasnt/

 

And finally, here is a sad footnote to one of the largest political hoaxes in the history of our nation.  So many lives have been destroyed by this travesty and all for the simple pursuit of power and politics.

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/21/report-the-officer-who-killed-ashli-babbitt-had-a-long-history-of-disciplinary-and-training-problems/#more-225637

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Political Potpourri and Around the Block

Gonna take a walk around the block on this post and hit a lot of varied and interesting topics.   There are so many good writers and journal...