Thursday, January 1, 2026

Standing at the Plate…Donald J. Trump

I went to the mill recently to pick up some cattle feed and textile fabric.  The owner was in a talking mood and asked me what I thought about our president.  I studied for moment and then replied.  The following reflects my response.  I think it is a very apt description of the job our president has to do…and how he is doing it.

 

Donald Trump has taken a lot of swings; he has some hits and he has some misses.  In my opinion, he has a lot more hits than misses.  Continuing with the baseball analogy: If you are in a close game (we…the USA…are), and the game matters greatly (it does), and we are in the late innings (you never know…could be), and the bases are loaded (I think that is a fair assessment of America’s domestic and foreign policy status at this moment)…then do we want the man we send up to the plate to be looking for a hit or looking for a walk?  I believe most of us want a hitter.  Among his many faults, Donald Trump is not the kind of man that goes around looking for a walk; he is a hitter.  He goes up to the plate to swing the bat.  And more importantly…he is OUR hitter.

 

Let us be honest with ourselves…Joe Biden could not even find his way to the plate; much less swing the bat.  Under his term…we welcomed rainouts, sought game delays, and played mainly not to lose.  We were more concerned with the appearance of our uniforms, the gender and racial composition of our lineup, and misplaced concerns about our opponent’s feelings. 

 

President Trump is not personally likeable; he is crude, arrogant, inconsiderate, and hyperbolic.  It seems that every time there is a moment when he demonstrates genuine likeability, humor, or compassion…he erases it with a moment of bad behavior or unseemly remarks.  I detest his rhetorical exercises when he riffs for intolerable lengths of time and uses the same hyperbole over and over again (…the largest/best/worst thing ever…in history!).  I resent the fact that he runs the presidency as if it was a corporation he might be serving as CEO.  I so badly want him to grow up, mature, and demonstrate more respect for the impressions that he gives in regards to our nation and our presidency.  But that is not what Donald Trump is, and the truth is…we all knew that when we elected him.  Some have said that Trump is precisely the type of man…and president…we needed to get this nation back on the right track.  They might be right.

 

St. Peter was not on the presidential ballot in November of 2024.  There were two candidates from which to select and Donald Trump won.  Donald Trump was not a rookie; he had served one term already and everyone knew what he was and how he operated.  Kamala Harris was equally well-defined.  American voters made a four-year commitment with their vote.  This nation has one President and that is Donald Trump. 

 

I think he was far and away the preferable choice.  He will serve in the White House until early January of 2029, and then we will have our next president take office.  Trump did not win the election because he was a perfect man; he won because he promised a policy agenda that made sense to most Americans.  In all fairness, he has made an honest effort to deliver on that agenda as it was presented to the American voters.  No one can know, but I expect that if the 2024 presidential election was held again next month…the results would not change. 

 

It has become routine for the minority party in this nation to emphasize its adversarial position towards the sitting president of the opposite party.  This emphasis has evolved way beyond a healthy, democratic (small “d”) difference of opinion on pertinent policy issues.  It has morphed into a poisonous and debilitating disease in our government.  This exaggerated partisanship has resulted in our Legislative Branch’s failure to perform its assigned tasks; in our Judicial Branch’s failure to provide uniform and equal justice for our citizenry; and has led us to imperialistic presidents that have basically given up on the normal legislative process and taken the easier and less resistant road of executive action.  This is not the ideal laid out by our Constitution.

 

Trump needs to come to terms with the fact that his presidency will end in a little over three years.  He relishes rising to the Democrats’ resistance bait and is easily distracted from the very matters that could possibly earn him a durable and relevant legacy.  Much of what he accomplishes (especially through executive actions) will likely be unwound and reversed by subsequent Democrat Administrations (yes MAGA folks…that WILL eventually occur). 

 

The Democrats have proven incapable of dealing with Trump’s treatment of them as useful idiots; they simply cannot get past their obsession with him and all that he says or does.  Their shot at getting even with Donald Trump will come in November of 2028 through the election of a Democrat president and that is what their target should be; not the irresponsible mission of sabotaging every policy effort made by him during the balance of his term.  

 

The next presidential election will offer this nation a choice between two candidates who have never before been president.  Over the next three years, each national party will determine who its leader will be heading into that election.  We can only hope and pray that the partisan ledgers that track spite and malice quotients will be closed at that time, and that our next president will a better man than the one we have now…or the one that preceded him. 

 

We can also hope and pray that the opposing party will behave in a more responsible manner when dealing with that new president as compared to the type of behavior we are now witnessing from the Democrats.  Perhaps we can all come to accept that the treatment of Donald Trump was a quid pro quo for the treatment received by Bill Clinton.   I suspect that history will show that despite the personal character flaws exhibited by both men, the policies they marshaled during their terms as president served this nation well.

 

On a closing note…I will not look backwards in an effort to capture the significant events of 2025 and I will not offer a list of things to look for in 2026; there’s plenty of that out there from folks wiser than me.  But I will make an observation about the coming political environment for this next year.  People have grown sick and tired of the gender-bending, illogical, incompetent, tax-and-spend, American-apology approach to governing that we lived through for four years of Joe Biden and Democrat rule.  The Covid hangover led us into the Biden malaise and we are finally beginning to shake that off and see the promise of a new day.  The Trump Administration, along with a Republican Congress, have set the table for our nation to not only do well economically and globally, but to also get back to feeling good about being an American and all the noble things that our nation stands for.

 

I believe the progressive movement has had its fifteen minutes of fame and will now be exposed as the fraud that it is.  I think our nation is now ready to throw off the autocratic burdens remaining from Covid and Biden and get back to appreciating the benefits, joys, pride, and opportunities we possess from being citizens of the greatest nation on this planet.  By the time the mid-term elections arrive in November, the majority of American voters will be more than ready to affirm their approval of president Trump’s policies by rewarding him with continuing Republican control of Congress…that being BOTH the Senate and the House.  Time…will…tell.

 

Now let’s move on to some of the news stories opening up in year 2026.

 

As I briefly mentioned above, the issue of Executive Orders is a hot and important topic.  The abuses in this area of power have been instigated by recent presidents of both parties.  The majority of the blame for this autocratic overreach clearly lies with the presidents; but there is also significant blame that should rest with Congress.  If they fail to do their job…as they clearly have for decades…then they are inviting the president to fill the power vacuum they create.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-the-double-standard-on-executive-power-is-impossible-to-ignore/ar-AA1ThyuI?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=69542f9e64394f6e8c91d26604d87a3a&ei=73

  

One of the many abuses that occurred under Covid was the irresponsible acts of Congress and the Biden Administration shoveling out billions of dollars of “aid and infrastructure” to their favored constituents in a totally unregulated and unaccountable fashion.  Is it not strange that these breaking stories about fraud and abuse are predominantly coming from states controlled by Democrats?  Chickens do tend to come home and roost.  Elections have consequences.  New York City residents…Virginians…are you paying attention?

 

https://www.newsnationnow.com/politics/house-oversight-committee-minnesota-fraud-hearing-walz-comer/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-administration-hhs-minnesota/2025/12/30/id/1240238/

 

https://justthenews.com/accountability/waste-fraud-and-abuse/ilhan-omar-caught-middle-minnesota-fraud-concerns-support

 

https://nypost.com/2025/12/27/us-news/ilhan-omars-hubbys-30m-firm-quietly-scrubs-names-from-website-as-squad-member-faces-mounting-questions-on-sudden-wealth-amid-minnesota-welfare-fraud/

 

https://nypost.com/2025/12/29/opinion/minnesotas-somali-scams-get-worse-by-the-day-who-will-pay/

 

https://reason.com/2025/12/30/the-minnesota-welfare-fraud-story-is-really-about-a-broken-medicaid-bureaucracy/

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/hundreds-of-illinois-public-workers-implicated-in-pandemic-fraud

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/california-democrats-belatedly-realize-the-consequences-of-a-one-party-state/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/30/california-screamin/

 

We all lose when our government begins picking losers and winners in the private sector.  To repeat…Under the guise of Covid and infrastructure, our government threw billions of tax dollars at green energy efforts that were doomed for failure from the start.  There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the people and companies benefiting from this largesse are Democrats.  Can you spell “boondoggle”?

 

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/subsidies-renewables-account-almost-all-energy-sector-federal-support-new

 

Our national education system MUST BE ADDRESSED and reformed.  Nothing is more important than preparing our next generation of leaders to maintain our nation.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/23/stupid-in-america-turns-20/

 

Who is teaching our children?

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/30/new-york-times-rewrites-history-again-with-nikole-hannan-jones/

 

What are they being taught?

 

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/1619-projects-nikole-hannah-jones-mourns-cop-killer-who-escaped-to-cuba/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/24/its-your-civic-duty-to-reject-the-nation-of-immigrants-propaganda-you-learned-in-school/

 

Local public libraries are great treasures of our nation and address many needs that otherwise are ignored, especially in rural areas.  I use my local library extensively.  It is busy, it is supported by a local property millage tax, and it is run efficiently.  I am proud of it.  Every community should have one like ours. They need YOUR support.

 

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/gao-finds-61-public-libraries-have-health-or-safety-issue-40-have

 

One of President Donald Trump’s greatest accomplishments thus far in his second term is the reinvigoration of America’s military.  There is no other responsibility held by our federal government that is greater than the defense of our country.  We absolutely must maintain the most powerful military presence on the planet.  Peace through strength” is not an empty saying.  And we must be willing…wisely…to use that strength.

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/americas-military-is-back/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/president-trumps-golden-fleet-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction/

 

Republicans seemed to have found the political courage to oppose the extension of Obamacare subsidies and the continuing Democrat effort to move America’s health care system towards a single payer model.  Fortunately, they are also realizing that you cannot beat something with nothing and have come up with some new and innovative alternatives.  Now they must close the deal by uniting behind legislation that addresses this issue and passing it in an expedited fashion.  The clock is ticking.

 

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/republicans-now-have-answer-democrats-medicare-all

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/27/the-uk-health-care-disaster-is-a-cautionary-tale-for-americas-rising-class-of-armchair-socialists/

 

The legalization of marijuana distribution and usage is a complicated issue.  The science behind its use is distorted, contradictory, and difficult to understand.  I am personally opposed to its legalization, but remain open to its limited medical applications.  It is a topic that needs much more attention from our mainstream media.  Like it or not…it is in our face and must be addressed.

 

https://reason.com/2025/12/24/trumps-marijuana-order-vindicates-longstanding-criticism-of-its-legal-classification/

 

Monday, December 22, 2025

Dealing with the Futility of Certainty in our Lives

Life is hard.  You are dealt a hand at birth that you must play for the early years of your life; some get good cards, some get a shit hand.  At some point…typically in our teens…the sum parts of our early childhood environment begin to shape the person we will become. We face social, moral, and ethical challenges that most of us are ill-equipped to responsibly deal with on our own.  The lucky ones have a support system to lean on during these times.  The not-so-lucky ones are isolated on their own island fighting for survival; they begin the tragic genesis of dealing with varying degrees of adversity in their unformed lives. 

 

By the time we reach our mid-to-late teens, we are all toting some heavy luggage and our paths forward are coming into focus…sometimes clearly, sometimes cloudy.  At this point, the perfect…or imperfect…storms of our past and present environs combine with our internal aspects of personal traits.  This all blends in time and place to make us the man or woman we will eventually become.  Perhaps it is true that we are not condemned by these hands we are dealt, and that we always retain the ability to rise above…or sink below…the positives and negatives that we accrue.  But the simple truth is that by this time in most of our lives, we have passed through several forks in our journey’s roads and are well on our way to a life well-defined.

 

In many ways, the only certainties in our lives are the cycles of the sun, the bureaucratic nature of our government, and the fact that our time on this planet is finite.  More and more, the everyday aspects of living are arbitrary and unpredictable. As a culture and society, I believe our nation drifts naturally in that direction due to the normal evolution of the species and our democracy; it is generational.  But I would venture to say that two things occurred recently that have thrown that organic process into absolute turmoil.

 

One was the covid epidemic.  Occurring when it did at the end of Trump’s first term as president, covid provided openings for all of those many folks possessed by Trump Derangement Syndrome to leap into and further expand the poisonous political divide between Republican conservatives and Democrat liberals.  It created the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Joe Biden to run a bizarre basement campaign for the presidency and ascend to the White House.  Much of the uncertainty and malevolence surrounding the political aspects of covid served to cement many of our partisan ills into deeply-rooted permanence…and they have only expanded in a malignant fashion since that time.

 

Another significant aspect of covid was the fact that many segments of our citizenry, from government down to school boards, used covid as an excuse to let their Karen Flags gloriously fly.  They openly used covid as a subterfuge to put forth words and actions that were previously withheld or spoken only in selected company.  It was an excuse to advocate for autocratic policies that had been dreamt about, but were never fully expected. 

 

And much like the partisan divisions that I previously mentioned taking root in our people, these predominantly progressive ideals that were brought out of the deep, dark recesses of some fevered minds managed to find footholds in our everyday lives and are still thriving despite the passage of the epidemic, the transfer of controlling political power, and the obvious illustration of their blatant ridiculousness.  It is regrettable to say this, but I suspect that we will be living with many of these bad trappings from covid for generations to come. 

 

On top of this covid hangover playing out in our country, we are now experiencing the re-entry of Donald Trump unleashed…beholding to no one due to his inability to run for re-election.  Trump is not chasing re-election; he is chasing his legacy.  Using America as he would his business entity prior to his entry into politics, he has fully implemented the Trumpian chaos theory of management into all things USA.  Policy-wise…this is not such a bad thing.  It just so happens that his policy instincts are quite sound and he is moving this country in good directions as our president.  Leadership-wise…this is not such a good thing.  His childish, irresponsible, crude, and constant displays of ego, conceit, and arrogance feed the very progressive demons that daily torment him and guarantee that our nation remains in the eye of a political hurricane. 

 

When we combine the cultural/societal covid earthquake and this partisan whirlpool with the incredible gains we are seeing in technology and the shrinkage of the world stage, we find ourselves in a kaleidoscopic world where nothing seems reliable, everything and everyone is suspect,  and the virtues of trust and credibility are devalued to the point of non-existence.  Just as many of you might…I worry about the future of my children and their children in this world of uncertainties.  I grieve over the loss of things I hold precious and I am frustrated by the inevitable changes I must cope with in my everyday life.  I suppose upon reflection, I should realize that the generational mysteries that I am concerned about are little more than repetitions of similar conflicts that have existed since the dawn of time.  Perhaps the old saying is true about the more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

I do believe that this one thing is for certain.  The speed and complexities of those changes are far greater now than they were for previous generations.  The velocity of this planet’s evolution has revved up dramatically and it is continuing to gain momentum daily.  We are hell-bent for something that is out there waiting for us.  And though the quest for certainty is proving more futile by the day, it is abundantly clear that we have the choice to ride this roaring train forward into the unknown…or leap out the side door into oblivion. 

 

I like to look at life as a line; a line that stretches from our day of birth to our last day on earth.  In the natural flow of things, the beginning point is when we come kicking and screaming into this world.  It then progresses through our youth and early adulthood; it extends with our careers, our families, and our retirements; and it completes itself with our demise. 

 

There are two ways this line can be viewed…and lived.  The first is as a horizontal line streaming from left to right across a blank sheet of paper.  All the previous events mentioned are simply points or dots upon that line.  If we can maintain a healthy perspective, we can mentally reference this line at any point in our lives and consider what is past and what is future; it is either behind us or in front of us.   We can ponder the time we have been given and the time we likely have remaining.  All of life’s highs and lows…graduation, job promotions, marriages, children, baptism…failures, bad choices, bad actions, personal tragedies, loss of loved ones…can be viewed as single dots scattered across this line, with trees and branches flowing downward or upward from each point.  This introspection should remind us that these are not be all or end all moments; but simply the complications that come with living.  They are the individual threads in a multi-colored tapestry.

 

Another way to view this life line is to see it as a circle…beginning at a single point (birth) and circling around a full 360 degrees back to that same point…death lying upon birth.  However, this visualization leads to a somewhat different perspective upon living inasmuch as we are never proceeding in a straight line, but rather curving in a continuous fashion.  Given the constant arch of this timeline, it is not so easy to see the time that has passed and what lies ahead.  Times, places, and things are more muddled and not as defined.

 

Unfortunately, we oftentimes place directly in the center of this circle a dramatic event(s) that we allow to dominate and rule the lifeline that surrounds it.  This effect is typically negative in nature and this center point not only poisons our past, but somehow works to sabotage our future.  We can’t see past it because no matter where we are on our timeline, it is always right there staring outward at us.  For some lucky few, this hub in the wheel of life can be an uplifting and positive moment or event that manages to inspire us in a life changing fashion…somehow elevating both our past and future. 

 

Our childhoods, our parents, our schooling, our careers, our families, our friends…none of these episodes guarantee that certainty will ever abide with us throughout our lives.  But for those who choose to see, there is a solution to this world’s unsolvable mysteries that is beyond doubt; that is the opportunity presented to us by our faith in God.  He has given us His promise of love, forgiveness, and compassion…and the prospect of everlasting life.  That is one certainty that is available to all…if only we will open our hearts and our minds to his words.

 

I am sufficiently challenged by managing my own life to refrain from giving out advice on living to others.  But I will say this…If you choose to hue to a circular lifeline as opposed to the horizontal, put God at the center of your circle.  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this action will qualify you as one of the lucky few.  The Good Lord will not remove futility, uncertainty, and misfortune from our lives…but He will certainly help us cope with it.

 

Now…let’s move on to the news of the day.  The end of Donald J. Trump’s fifth year as president is upon us.  It has been a year full of partisan rancor, idealistic warfare, global conflicts, technological leaps and bounds, and…compared to the previous four years…it has offered up a hyper drive increase in the amount of actual policy substance.  With the mid-term elections arriving in about ten months, there is no reason to expect any slackening in America’s political intrigue for the coming year: https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/21/trump-never-sleeps-but-the-media-keeps-dreaming/

 

America’s place in the world…what is it?  What should it be?  What will it be?

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/19/trumps-christmas-gift-to-america-a-year-of-us-global-leadership-and-peacemaking/

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-2025-national-security-strategy-as-political-philosophy/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/17/the-wests-embrace-of-mass-third-world-migration-is-civilizational-suicide/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/14/norway-avoids-green-energy-quicksand/

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/will-europe-ever-recover/

 

Peering into the future within our own borders…what stories and issues will we be following in the next year?

 

America’s energy sector…

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/15/what-happened-to-the-climate-change-cult/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/ford-pays-the-price-for-electric-vehicle-investments/

 

America’s health care system…

 

https://reason.com/2025/12/15/obamacare-subsidies-cant-fix-a-broken-system-rand-pauls-bill-could/

 

Shrinking the size and intrusiveness of America’s government…

 

https://americanmind.org/features/how-the-trump-administration-is-taming-the-administrative-state/

 

Cleaning up the Department of Justice and our federal legal system…

 

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/12/16/sen-grassley-shocking-new-docs-show-bidens-doj-pressured

 

https://shipwreckedcrew.substack.com/p/reading-and-understanding-the-release

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/17/damn-the-optics-newly-released-documents-show-the-justice-department-brushed-aside-internal-concerns-over-mar-a-lago-raid/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/19/milwaukee-judge-hannah-dugan-found-guilty-of-obstruction/#more-239181

 

National immigration policy and cleaning up Biden’s illegal invasion…

 

https://reason.com/2025/12/19/trump-won-on-immigration-now-most-americans-say-his-deportations-are-going-too-far/

 

Pulling back the sheet on the corruption, malfeasance, and inefficiencies of our education system…

 

https://freebeacon.com/china/chinese-investment-firm-funded-by-yale-and-princeton-buys-slice-of-shanghai-tech-company-that-works-with-chinas-military/

 

The Democrats’ new catchphrase is “affordability”.  Democrats…be very careful what you wish for….

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/15/its-affordability-stupid/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/17/trumps-right-the-affordability-crisis-is-a-misconception/

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-sorry-democrats-the-trump-economy-is-taking-off/ar-AA1SFWk0?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=69456c24340f4072845b2375ecfb0510&ei=41

 

https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/trump-defies-odds-achieves-economic-hat-trick-rate-cuts-tariffs-and-cooling

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Today’s Big 3: Healthcare, Foreign Policy, and Executive Power

I want to highlight three areas that are attracting a lot of attention today.  First off is our nation’s health care system.  Obamacare was a curse from the day it became law and there are no good ways to get out from underneath it…but that must occur.  It is up to the Republicans to stop bickering and come up with an alternative.  They have known this for years and they can no longer hide from it.  Secondly…the geo-political landscape is evolving at warp speed and America has no choice but to make the commitment to global political, economic, and military superiority….whatever the costs.  The very future of our nation and freedom across the plant is at stake.  Finally, the Supreme Court is weighing a decision that will have a seismic effect on the power of the Executive Branch.  Our Constitution set forth a plan featuring a balance of power between three branches of government…that balance is in question.  Will the SCOTUS move to clarify that balance?

 

Obamacare (ACA/Affordable Care Act) became law on March 23, 2010.  It passed Congress with no Republican votes and was signed by President Obama.  It was intended to expand coverage, control costs, and improve care; famously promoted thusly… “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”  President Obama stated that Obamacare would reduce health insurance premiums for the typical family by up to $2,500 per year by the end of his first term.  Fact: Obamacare was one of, if not the, worst government programs ever conceived.

 

It forced people to over-insure.  It forced people to pay for coverage they did not want or need.  It irresponsibly shoveled tax dollars to millions of insured people, many of whom were well above the poverty line, in the form of subsidies.  It inserted incompetent government management into an industry which had become a model for the free world due to its free market operation.  It was ill-conceived as a legislative package that, in the words of Nancy Pelosi, had to be passed in order to discover its contents.  It is currently transferring billions of dollars to the insurance companies from the pockets of tax-paying citizens.  It is an abject failure and has become a poster child for government boondoggles. 

 

For 15 plus years, Republicans have sought to slay this Obamacare beast.  They have had multiple opportunities to do so, and have failed.  Once again, they are now presented with Republican control of Congress and the White House.  For 15 years, they have known with certainty that at some point(s) in time, this moment would arrive.  Yet they now stand before us with nothing but complaints about Obamacare and non-agreement about its replacement.  You cannot beat something with nothing.  Obamacare is a very low bar to clear; but if the Republicans continue to bicker and squabble about seeking the perfect health care legislation, they will rightly be blamed for failing to rid America of the Obamacare albatross and providing a workable alternative.

 

The Democrat position of continuing Obamacare in its current state with no changes is lunacy.  They bitch and moan about the high cost and inequities that exist in our healthcare system while insisting on the continuation of their program that created that reality.  Democrats have their heads up their collective ass and Republicans simply can’t get their act together to pass legislation.  The future for healthcare in America is, at best, very cloudy.  It has become a political football that both national parties enjoy tossing about.

 

https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/obamacare-has-doubled-the-cost-individual-health-insurance

 

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/12/shutdown-2026.php

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/senate-democrats-healthcare/2025/12/11/id/1237947/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/republican-house-health-care-plan-obamacare-subsidies/2025/12/12/id/1238140/

 

Our planet is quite simply a multi-layered onion type object with myriad nations, governments, peoples, and multi-dimensional dynamics that boggles the minds of its various managers.  Like it or not, America stands in the singular position of leading the world by thought, action, and deed.  When America chooses not to assume and exercise this leadership role, chaos ensues as other geo-political entities vie to fill that vacuum.  

 

America cannot be isolationistic…because our nation cannot realistically seal itself off from the rest of the planet.  America cannot be the world’s police force, because we are not that wise nor powerful.  Somewhere in between these two extremes, our country must exercise its awesome power and authority in an effort to move this world in a positive direction while respecting the autonomy of other nations…many of whom we have serious disagreements with. 

 

American foreign policy is truly a prismatic challenge that changes in its concept from president to president and decade to decade.  Some change is inevitable due to the simple evolution of places and things.  Some changes occur due to the differing philosophies of America’s leaders.  Some changes are dictated by the actions of other nations.  But all these changes aside, the one unchanging principle that remains is that America must assume its leadership role in geo-political affairs in order for our planet to function with some degree of civility and co-existence. 

 

Donald Trump has indelibly placed his marker on America’s current foreign policy.  Aside from his aggressive and emphatic actions as President in foreign policy, he has put forth his philosophy in writing.  Here is that plan and several comments about that plan.  Imperfect as he and the plan are, I have consistently supported his foreign policy approach overall and continue to do so.  President Trump clearly understands the power he holds, the role America serves, and the necessity to perform that function.  He may be accused of taking unwise actions, but he cannot be accused of shirking his responsibility as the world’s most powerful leader.

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/trumps-national-security-strategy-document-is-a-curious-one/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/12/trumps-america-first-foreign-policy-gives-moral-clarity/

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/a-house-divided/

 

https://freebeacon.com/columns/as-europe-steps-back-asia-steps-up/

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nato-rutte-russia/2025/12/11/id/1237911/

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/11/cry-the-beloved-europe/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/07/the-right-questions-about-americas-strikes-on-venezuelan-narco-boats/

 

https://justthenews.com/government/security/democrats-once-called-out-links-between-drug-trafficking-and-terrorism-trumps

 

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/coast-guard-navy-trump/2025/12/10/id/1237821/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/an-overdue-effort-to-disrupt-global-oil-smuggling-networks/

 

The Judicial Branch of our constitutional government is being sorely tested as never before.  The irresponsible actions of rogue federal judges who appear to be answerable to no one have seeded chaos throughout our legal system and government’s function.   Congress has the ability to exert a limited amount of regulation on the legal system, but their partisan paralysis has pretty much eliminated that prospect.  The sole remaining entity that is capable of restoring some order and reason to the Judicial Branch is the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).  The SCOTUS has seriously engaged in this process over the last year or so and all indications are that this concerted effort will continue at a high level in the near future. 

 

Considering all of the lunacy and gravity that exists in the current Legislative and Executive Branches of our government, there is little doubt that the arbiter between these two quarreling pillars of democracy is, and will continue to be, the SCOTUS. 

 

https://americanmind.org/features/legal-conservatism-for-our-time/shock-therapy-for-our-lawless-legal-system/

 

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/09/humphreys-estate-and-jacksons-experts-supreme-court-justice-offers-surprising-view-of-the-separation-of-powers/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/12/media-pout-that-scotus-could-put-the-kibosh-on-bureaucratic-sabotage-of-gop-presidents/

 

https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/09/justice-gorsuch-exposes-attorneys-illogical-defense-of-unchecked-bureaucracy/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/red-state-district-court-vacancies-with-no-nominees/

 

Here are some more quick hits on the world around us….

 

Do tariffs work or not?  I think for most folks…the jury is still out…

 

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/12/11/trade-deficit-lowest-5-years-thanks-trumps-tariffs-media

 

Our Energy Sector is one of the primary driving forces in the economy.  Trump is moving in the right direction with his policies for this sector…

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/10/the-hyperventilating-over-the-doe-restructuring-is-ongoing/

 

https://freebeacon.com/energy/exclusive-trump-doe-to-finance-up-to-10-nuclear-projects-in-bid-to-kickstart-nuclear-power-renaissance/

 

While national immigration reform begs for Congressional attention, the issue of reconciling Biden’s illegal immigrant invasion continues…

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/09/ending-illegal-and-mass-immigration-is-trumps-signature-issue/

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/08/immigration-gone-wild/

 

We forget…immigration is not just a concern in America…

 

https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/12/civilization-erasure-christmas-markets-and-hungary/

 

As we approach the 2026 mid-term elections, it behooves all of us to pay attention to how Democrats govern when they are in control…

 

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/12/08/gov-pritzkers-illinois-has-released-nearly-1800-criminal

 

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/12/10/illinois-gov-pritzker-violated-supremacy-clause

 

https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/12/pritzker-signs-law-welcoming-state-sanctioned-suicide-to-illinois/

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-weekend-jolt/whats-the-matter-with-seattle/

 

Democrat and Republican presidents have both severely abused their power to pardon.  At a minimum, this pardon authority should be transparent, reviewed, justified by stated guidelines, and taken off the table for the last six months of a presidential term…

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/rein-in-the-presidential-pardon-power/

 

I am a Boomer and continue to be totally fascinated by the generational dynamics that surround our daily lives…

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/what-is-total-boomer-luxury-communism/

 

IMHO…Ken Burns is a master storyteller, a gifted producer of media productions, and a pioneer in his attention to significant historical events regarding our nation.  However, like all things media, we should always take what we consume from the entertainment community with a large dose of salt…

 

https://americanmind.org/salvo/ken-burns-gives-america-the-wrong-parents/

 

 

Standing at the Plate…Donald J. Trump

I went to the mill recently to pick up some cattle feed and textile fabric.   The owner was in a talking mood and asked me what I thought ab...