THE PATRIOT POST - ALEXANDER'S COLUMN 10/31/2018

The Trump Administration's Extraordinary Midterm Record

This election is a referendum on Demo voters' IQ and the MSM's chokehold on their opinion.

Mark Alexander

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." —Samuel Adams (1781) Donald Trump's now famous 2016 "Make America Great Again" promise was, and remains, much more than a campaign slogan. Even The New York Times conceded after President Trump's first year in office, "A wave of optimism has swept over American business leaders, and it is beginning to translate into the sort of investment in new plants, equipment and factory upgrades that bolsters economic growth, spurs job creation — and may finally raise wages significantly." That optimism, economic expansion, and job and wage growth have accelerated in the nine months since his first inaugural address — "Our New American Moment." The indisputable results of Trump's domestic policy successes, combined with his administration's considerable foreign policy achievements, have ensured that all Americans are better off today than we were two years ago. But those stuck in Democrat echo chambers and afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome are so clinically depressed that they believe this to be the most miserable era in our nation's history. In the depths of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt famously declared in his first inaugural address, "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ... We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity." But today's Democrat Party "leaders," in their insatiable and increasingly irrational quest to recover power, have nothing to offer their constituents but fear and disunity. This midterm election has, as President Trump has repeatedly framed it, become a contest between jobs and mobs. The once-left-of-center Democrats have moved to the far Left, with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and the 2016 runner-up to Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (S-VT), leading the charge toward their new socialist political platform. To be clear, and as a public service notice for those who don't know their history, the terminus of democratic socialism is Marxist communism and statist tyranny. In other words, most Democrat constituents are easy marks for such delusional political charades. Ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections, the two most formidable instruments of influence the Democrats have in their campaign strategy armory are their Leftmedia propaganda machine and their toxic femininity movement, the latter having weaponized a range of emotional issues. Majorities of women voters have elected every Democrat president since 1960 and have been a major force in midterm elections. Democrats are thus counting on their perennial gender gap political calculus that a majority of their female voters are emotionally incontinent dupes, lacking the discernment to avoid being co-opted by the Left's three main emotive appeals: so-called "reproductive rights," gender dysphoria, and the plight of illegal immigrant families. Democrats' disgraceful effort to derail the Supreme Court nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a bust, and their contrived Russia collusion farce has been withering for months. (Hypocrisy alert: Democrats have spent almost two years insisting that the Russians helped Trump defeat Clinton — but their Leftmedia outlets exercise infinitely more corrupting influence on the electoral process than a handful of Russian hackers.) In short, this election is a referendum on Demo voter IQ and whether some Democrat constituents can rise above the Leftmedia chokehold on their opinion in order to see that our nation is much, much, much better off now than it was two years ago, when Donald Trump succeeded Barack Obama. It's doubtful that many of the Left's low-information and low-expectation voters will make that leap, especially if 50 years of public school "education" has reached critical mass. The trend indicates most Democrats will vote against peace and prosperity. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is to be credited with shepherding significant Trump-agenda legislation through a divided chamber, observed this week: "My Democratic colleagues have grown desperate. In the two years their party has sat on the sidelines, our nation has thrived under Republican leadership. That must be why, month after month, on issue after issue, Democrats and their far-left allies have tried to replace inconvenient facts with pure partisan scare tactics. When facts fail, the far Left ratchets up the fear." At this time two years ago, I wrote to you in the midst of a contentious presidential election cycle that resulted in perhaps the most remarkable electoral upset in American history. And now, as we approach the 2018 midterms, I hope the so-called "blue wave" has been overstated, just as the inevitability of Hillary Clinton was in 2016. On the Demo/MSM threat to Republican majorities in the House and Senate, President Trump warned, "We have made so much progress. We don't want to give up that progress. We can't allow that to happen. Under Republican leadership, America is booming like never before because we are finally putting America first. More Americans are working today than at any point in the history of our country." What follows is a brief record of this administration's considerable domestic and foreign policy achievements, which should be reason enough for every rational American to vote to sustain Republican majorities in the House and Senate. On the judiciary: In 2016, when endorsing Donald Trump, I wrote that my vote was for the Supreme Court. Indeed, President Trump has kept his commitment to nominate constructionist jurists, the two most prominent being Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. But Trump has also nominated and received confirmation for a record number of conservative judges to the lower courts, and he has a slate of additional conservative judges on deck for Senate confirmation. In addition to his two SCOTUS confirmations, Republicans have confirmed 53 district court judges and 29 appellate court judges. Republicans have reshaped the judiciary and returned it to a majority who will abide by their oaths "to support and defend" our Constitution, and thus, the Rule of Law it enshrines, not the Left's so-called "living constitution." On the economy and regulation: You can read a comprehensive list of more than 280 Trump promises kept to date, but the most tangible results are substantial increases in jobs and wages. The Trump administration launched the best first-term economy of any administration in three decades, with GDP growing at a very healthy 3.5% annual rate last quarter, up from 1.8% in Trump's first quarter. That growth is in large measure due to considerable tax cuts included in the The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act passed by Congress. It is also attributable to the most substantial cuts in bureaucratic red tapeand government deregulation in decades. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed, the U.S. added 1,875,000 jobs in 2018, 23% more than the same period in 2017, and 65% of taxpayers received an average tax cut of $2,200 dollars. Household income is at an all-time high, with wages increasing steadily. The House has passed additional tax cuts, which are now before the Senate. Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. The U.S. economy is now ranked the world's most competitive for the first time in a decade. Unemployment is at its lowest level in nearly half a century. Record-high job openings have exceeded the unemployed roles for five months. Blue-collar optimism is soaring. Black Americans are among the major beneficiaries of the Trump economy. Hispanic Americans are also reaping the benefits of the Trump economy. New entrepreneurship and small-business records are being set. Small-business optimism is at a record high. The Trump administration has also undone many of Obama's so-called "Affordable Care Act" mandates, because that grossly misnamed regulatory behemoth was choking the U.S. economy. While endeavoring to bring more competition to health care markets, the administration is improving long-term health care and patient care through the Raise Family Caregiver Act, the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017, and the Right to Try Act of 2017. But make no mistake: All these achievements are at risk. There will be a necessary readjustment from this economic expansion if Democrats win control of even one chamber of Congress. If Republicans retain congressional majorities, however, this economic boom is poised to continue. On national defense and foreign policy: The Trump administration is rebuilding our military capabilities, which were dangerously neglected during the Obama years. The administration is decommissioning Democrat efforts to convert our nation's military into a social-engineering laboratory. Trump's promise to right the ship at the Department of Veterans Affairs is well underway with passage of the VA Mission Act, the Veterans Appeals Improvement And Modernization Act, the VA Choice And Quality Employment Act, and the Veterans Accountability And Whistleblower Protection Act. Trump's tough stance on terrorism has resulted in the containment or outright defeatof Islamic State strongholds around the world. Trump's Middle East policies have restored stability in Iraq not seen in three decades. We are out of Obama's absurd and disastrous Iran "nuke deal. Trump opened a dialogue with Red China's NoKo puppet dictator, Kim Jong-un, and is making progress toward disarming the Korean Peninsula. The administration has implemented strong sanctions against Russia for its repeated international transgressions. Indeed, even NPR admits that the Trump administration has been tougher on Russia than any previous presidential administration. We exited Obama's statist Paris Agreement on climate rather than being unfairly hamstrung by it. And notably, previous administrations have promised for decades to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. But only Donald Trump followed through on that promise. On migrant invasion: There has been considerable progress on immigration and border security, slowing the catch and release rates, and ending the visa lottery and chain migration. There have been significant resources directed to combat violent immigrant gangs and drug networks. The administration also has plans to stop sanctuary cities and is still seeking congressional approval for a border wall. How did the Trump administration make such extraordinary progress toward the betterment of all Americans? A friend in the Senate, one who's been a critic of Donald Trump since his election, conceded recently that, looking back over the last 20 months, it took a brazen and brash outsider like Trump to actually move the political policy needle from the left back to the center. As I noted last year, "The day Trump arrived in DC, he dropped a bomb on the status quo in Congress and its special interests. He dropped a bomb on the regulatory behemoths and their bureaucratic bottlenecks. He dropped a bomb on the trade and national security institutions and alliances that failed miserably over the previous eight years. And he dropped a bomb on all the pundits and mainstream media outlets." So ... why are leftists intent on voting against peace and prosperity? That question brings us full circle. This election is a referendum on Demo voter IQ and whether some Democrat constituents can rise above the Leftmedia chokehold on their opinion in order to see that our nation is MUCH better off now than it was two years ago. Let's hope enough of them can make that leap in order to retain the Senate and House. Footnote: Patriots, though our annual operating expense is a tiny fraction of bloated Beltway Leftmedia budgets, our outreach certainly is not. Countless grassroots and grasstops conservatives rely on The Patriot Post as their primary touchstone for Liberty, and we remain the most cost-effective conservative force multiplier on the Web. We humbly ask that you please support our 2018 Year-End Campaign today. We have only two months to raise the remaining half of our annual budget. Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776