White House Race- May 4, 2024

When I am not working, watching Jeopardy, American Idol or sports, or trying to arrange the myriad of household repairs that need to be done after the events of April 12, I am trying to keep up with the news. For the second week in a row, the only two major stories seem to about Trump in a courtroom and deranged lefty protestors trying to shut down college campuses.

There is really not much to say that I did not touch on last Saturday. The testimony in Trump's hush money trial is continuing. Some think he will ultimately be found Guilty before we get too far into the summer while others think that just one juror will not allow that to happen. I sort of lean to the latter. Obviously, the behavior of Trump and his campaign in 2016 was beyond sleazy bur people have long since come to terms with that in their view of Trump. Plenty of people justifiably oppose him on the sleaze factor alone while others choose to overlook it. Sadly, some admire it about him. 

Trump was recently found to have violated the Gag Order against him and has to pay a fairly minimal fine. The Judge is saying that he could face some time in the slammer if his behavior continues in regards to speaking negatively about the case in regards to anyone who is not specifically Judge Merchan or Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Late this week, Trump did his daily rant in front of the cameras assembled outside of the courtroom and said due to the gag order, he was not being allowed to testify, while his attorney nodded along. This is of course completely false. He has every right to testify if he chooses, and the judge made that clear in court the next day. However, Trump supporters will fall in line with this lie and say he is not allowed to testify in his defense. The bottom line is that Trump and his legal team have no intention of putting him on the stand, for good reason.

I will say once again that the fundamental issues at the core of this case are just such small potatoes compared to his other indictments involving America's classified secrets or trying to overturn an election. The polls, nationally, and in key states, continue to show that Trump, for all his problems, is very much a threat, as of today, to defeat Joe Biden and win the Presidency. Democrats who are in denial about just how weak of a candidate Biden remains, are going to have a rough few months, starting fairly soon.

Moving on the other story, college kids are protesting. Well, many of them are not even college kids. Clearly, there are "outside agitators" at play and a lot of money that is somehow being funneled into providing tents and flags and allowing these encampments to be set up. Different universities and different states are handling things in different ways. With television cameras rolling, many people were arrested at Columbia University in New York City this week. Similar scenes were seen at UCLA on the West Coast, the day after counter protestors tried to rough the protestors up. The left-wing protestors bemoaned the fact that the police did not do enough to protect them, even though one of their literal demands during the protest was the "abolishment of police." How ironic. Back in New York City, the demands involved providing meals and weapons to the people who were occupying buildings.

America by and large is seeing these situations for what they are. Backlashes are developing. On some campuses, American flags are being ripped down and replaced by Palestinian flags. In some circumstances, "frat boys" have been protecting Old Glory and have received much plaudits for that. Still vandalism is aplenty with such things as statues being defaced. At George Washington University, the statue of the namesake was dressed up as a Hamas fighter. If anything will get Donald Trump elected President again, it is images like this. That ought to scare a whole lot of people because Donald Trump belongs nowhere near the Oval Office for a million and one reasons. Democrats continue to cower in fear though about "losing the youth vote" even though polls show that among young voters, the issue of Israel and Gaza truly rates fairly low. I would note that if there is one thing that these left-wing protestors and counter-protestors might agree on, it would be disapproval of Joe Biden as President. Many in both groups probably detest Trump as well.

These things are going to continue though. One can hardly imagine just how much chaos will converge upon Chicago this summer during the party convention that Joe Biden desperately needs to go well. Before that, college graduation ceremonies are being cancelled and others run the risk of being overrun by demonstrations against Israel. I have to feel for the innocent kids and their families whom four years ago this Spring lost out on a normal High School graduation ceremony due to Covid and are now also losing the chance to have a normal college graduation.

After far too many days of hiding from the cameras, the sitting President of the United States did make a statement from the White House this week when he said that while free speech is important, there is no right to engage in destruction or violent acts of anti-Semitism. I am glad he finally said something. For others, it was too little, too late. Biden will be giving another speech this upcoming week to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and I hope he go much further in saying what needs to be said, even if it upsets some people in his base. Even the official College Democrat arm of the party seems to be threatening Biden these days to not take their votes for granted. Republicans are cynically and hypocritically trying to paint Democrats are the party of anti-Semitism. Yes, there are many Democrats who are anti-Semitic, but these MAGA folks need to start looking more closely at their own first.

As I have said before, Biden is in a very tough place politically, but it is largely of his party's own doing, because there have been these divisions on Israel festering for decades now. There may not be such a thing in today's politics as a "Sister Souljah Moment" but leadership demands doing what is right, despite any potential cost. Republicans in the Age of Trump have largely abandoned that mindset and mainstream Democrats are now finding themselves in the same predicament.

By any measure, these actions and rhetoric of the anti-Israel extremists is wrong. Many people seem to be protesting as a Tik Tok trend more than having any real understanding of what is actually going on in the Middle East. Terms get thrown around like "apartheid" and "genocide" and a simple consultation of the dictionary would show that whatever one thinks of Israeli policy, those terms just do not apply. There is only one side in the conflict that has expressed support for genocide and it is not Israel. There is only one side in the conflict who violated a cease-fire and who rejects one today and it is not Israel. Those protesting seem to ignore these things though. Many of them might not even be aware. They are asmuch cultists as Trump's "Stop the Steal" dopes or the Q-Anon nutjobs. Yet, Democrats are afraid of antagonizing them too much.

Those who protest Israel say nothing at all about Hamas's October 7 actions or their stated desire to do more of them. In fact, many of these protestors excuse or even celebrate what was the systemic murder, rape, and torture, of innocent civilian men, women, children, and babies. They say nothing about bringing the hostages home. Instead, they are obsessed with a completely unrealistic and ultimately useless concept of "divestment" from Israel. Many claim they are not anti-Jewish but merely anti-Zionist. Some may actually believe that, but the fact of the matter is that if you are against the very concept of Israel as a Jewish State (aka Zionism) you are anti-Semitic. The Jews will be slaughtered without Israel. It is why Israel exists.

As has been asked for months now, how did we get here, especially in the United States of America, where Israel can be so reviled by many and anti-Semitism has exploded in the public square? In colleges, there is much happening, from indoctrination from left-wing professors to the elimination of any real debate on campus that has contributed.

Tik Tok also plays a big part. I do not think people older than a certain age realize that young folks do not read publications or watch television news. They get everything from Tik Tok. The Chinese government, which controls the app knows this and has put forth algorithms designed to fester hatred for Israel and America alike, and to trigger anti-Semitic outlooks. This is all so ironic because the Communist Chinese, who run Tik Tok are actually the ones really slaughtering and enslaving Muslims within China.

So, a big question for Campaign 2024 is what do we do about Tik Tok? Joe Biden seems like he might be willing to sign legislation that could ultimately ban it. Yet, despite knowing that China is using it to actually spy on American citizens and steal their data, and despite it being banned on federal government devices, the Biden/Harris campaign has a presence on the app. They are trying to reach young voters through it and are afraid that trying to get rid of Tik Tok will hurt them politically. 

When Donald Trump was President, he said he wanted to ban Tik Tok.Now, that he is a challenger, he is opposed to it, not because he thinks America would be worse off without it, but because he is simply only concerned with harming his opponent and helping his own campaign and ego,

My goodness, America deserves better than what we have this year. Rant over for this week...