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 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/

 

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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...