Category Archives: J Robert Smith

Pam Bondi Blew It

By J Robert Smith

July 11, 2025
2-min read

As I write this, Pam Bondi is coming under increasing fire for her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Reports are that FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy director, Dan Bongino, are “furious” at Bondi for her ineptness in the matter. The report comes via Revolver from Laura Loomer.

The extent of President Trump’s approval of Bondi’s efforts to deep-six the Epstein affair is unknown. Revolver did report that Bill O’Reilly says that Trump has wanted to spare those who may appear on an Epstein list simply because of contact with him. In other words, they committed no crimes but could be the victims of guilt by association.

What matters is that the grassroots are livid. The White House and DOJ are trying to bury what most Americans know is one of the most sordid scandals in U.S. history. Epstein and his handmaiden Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked in underage females for the pleasure of prominent and powerful men – and, who knows, maybe women. They may have done so to blackmail these men. Talk has been that Epstein may have been an asset for U.S. intelligence services, most likely the CIA. There’s some talk that he may have been acting on behalf of Israeli intelligence or acting in coordination with the CIA and the Israelis.

Of course, all that is speculation. At this point, Trump needs to decide that the Epstein matter cannot be stonewalled, unless he wants the firestorm to grow. Trump risks alienating segments of his base voters if they believe the truth is being concealed for political or other purposes.

The likely outcome should be that Pam Bondi resigns to save face. If she doesn’t resign, then the president needs to fire her and commit to a quick disclosure of everything the DOJ and other federal agencies possess on a truly evil man, Jeffrey Epstein.

Then make Kash Pastel attorney general and Dan Bongino FBI director.

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Will House RINOs Bail on the One, Big, Beautiful Bill?

By J Robert Smith

July 2, 2925
2-min read

Reports Breitbart, July 1:

“Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Briefing” that President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” domestic policy package passed by the Senate has at least 20 Republican Representatives who are currently no votes.”

Never put treachery or cowardice past RINOs. But bailing on Trump’s signature legislation would cost so-called moderate Republicans dearly. The president has a lot of tools in his toolbox to deal with recalcitrant House Republicans. There are dozens of favors that the White House could withhold from representatives who are up for election next year. Speaker Mike Johnson, likewise, could withhold monies and favors, including reelection support.

The leverage that the RINOs enjoy, however, is that the GOP has a razor-thin majority in the House. The Republican majority couldn’t function without the support of moderates. It’s something of a standoff, but an angry Donald Trump might not care. If moderates fail to support the continuing resolution, Trump is capable of going scorched earth.

What will happen is that Speaker Johnson and his team will make some accommodations to his members who have issues with the Senate version of the CR. The amended version will go to a conference committee (that’s a House-Senate confab) that will negotiate further compromises. The conference bill will then be voted on by the House and Senate.

Frost admitted that Republicans – moderates and fiscal conservatives like Chip Roy – are more than likely to cave. Said Frost:

“Now we’ve got to be honest all the time, the moderates on the Republican side always fold. They put up a little fight. So that way, they have some footage that they can put behind their ads during election time, and then they fold right away. The far right kind of Freedom Caucus folks, most of the time, they fold. Sometimes they stick to it. So we’ll see. Right now, we’re having conversations with a lot of them behind the scenes. But you, one of the most important conversations, the most impactful ones, are actually constituents and the people reaching out. That’s why the big strategy right now is delay, delay, delay. Every minute we keep this bill from passing, it becomes even more unpopular.”

There you have it. Delay is the Democrats’ big weapon. Mike Johnson and John Thune need to move heaven and earth to get balky Republicans onboard and pass the One, Big, Beautiful Bill no later than next week, latest. Twist arms, trade favors – whatever. Get it done.

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The U.S. has No Obligation to Liberate Iran

By J Robert Smith

June 19, 2025
2-min read

So, I have a piece running at American Thinker today. If you have a few minutes, check it out. The takeaway is this:

In the main, Americans favor ending Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions even if that requires limited military action. They prefer negotiations to work, though. But they don’t want another regime change war. Not in Iran, not anywhere. No more occupations. They’ve seen enough blood spilled and treasure squandered in Iraq, Afghanistan, and long distant Vietnam — all fruitless and costly ventures.

Older and now current polling is clear: Americans don’t want the Iranians to possess nuclear weapons. They rightly view such as a threat to U.S. national security. They’ll tolerate or accept limited military action to destroy or cripple Iran’s nuclear weapons program, but they want nothing to do with a regime change war. Who does? Have failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam – the latter two catastrophic – taught us nothing?

Moreover, it didn’t require a lot of deep research to learn that the President of the United States opposes regime change wars. Donald Trump has been thoroughly consistent in his opposition to toppling governments and nation-building exercises. Both are championed by neocons, who haven’t met a war they didn’t want the U.S. involved in.

Neocons love cloaking U.S. interventions that they push in high moral tones. We have to “protect democracy” is one of their favorites. Like in Ukraine, where “democracy” doesn’t look much like democracy. After suspending elections, among other anti-liberty actions, Zelenskyy performs like an authoritarian.

Or, we have a moral obligation to “liberate” enslaved peoples. No, we don’t. As the founders proclaimed – particularly Washington – our obligation is to be a light in a dark world. There are a lot of bad players across the globe. The U.S. is supposed to hopscotch from country to country fighting wars of liberation? At what costs? There aren’t enough challenges at home? How many parents must bury their sons and daughters to serve these endless, “noble” causes?

More practical minded neocons claim it’s in America’s national security interests to fight the enemy in Afghanistan, for example. It saves Americans from fighting enemies here at home. Since Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, where in the U.S. have there been pitched battles with the Taliban? We’ve been hearing that balderdash since Vietnam.

No doubt about it, America’s leaders have a principal obligation to protect the homeland from threats, foreign and domestic. But not from ginned up threats. America shouldn’t be in the business of wars of aggrandizement. Its fighting men and women aren’t fodder for military brass to buff-up their resumés. The U.S. shouldn’t go to war to increase revenue streams for defense contractors.

If you don’t believe me, listen to Donald Trump and talk to your friends and neighbors.

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Is the Senate GOP is about to Ruin Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill?

By J Robert Smith

June 10, 2025
2-min read

President Donald Trump wants to give middle-class and working Americans tax breaks. He pledged to do so during last year’s presidential contest. Those promises proved popular and helped elect him. Now, some Senate Republicans are balking. If they wind up gutting some of Trump’s most popular tax-cut initiatives from the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” they risk losing the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections. If the House flips to the Democrats, it’s game over. The final two years of the Trump presidency will end up like the last two years of his first presidency: marked by investigations, impeachment inquiries, and gridlock. The stakes are enormously high.

Politico is reporting (June 10) that Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) is leaning against “no taxes on tips,” “no taxes on overtime” and tax relief for seniors” – the latter refers to permitting seniors to deduct up to $4,000 annually in taxes on their Social Security pensions. Why Social Security pensions are taxed in the first place is the real question. Working Americans are forced by law to contribute to Social Security. When they retire, Uncle Sam then taxes their pensions. How is that fair?

North Carolina’s Thom Tillis is raising objections, too. Tillis voted to impeach Trump back in 2020. He’s clearly no friend of the president’s. Tillis is an establishment Republican. Does he have any feel for the struggles of working North Carolinians? Tar Heel State conservatives are likely to challenge him for renomination in 2026.

Making legislation is a messy affair. Compromises are standard. Making minor adjustments to accommodate senators are expected. But any changes that break President Trump’s promises to help tens of millions of hardworking – often struggling – Americans should be a nonstarter.

Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House. Passing the One, Big, Beautiful Bill largely intact is critical to the GOP holding their House majority next year. Senate Republicans should remember that as they mark up Trump’s signature piece of legislation.

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Trump’s Mini Slump is ending

By J Robert Smith

May 21, 2025
4-min read

Nick R. Hamilton at Slay reports that Trump’s poll numbers are starting to trend up. He draws from Nate Silver’s polling data. Silver has seen Trump’s approval rise four points in the last month, give or take. But here’s the revelation: Expect Trump’s numbers to continue to rise, albeit modestly for a while.

Why? The economy is doing better. Employment is up. Prices are down, particularly at gas pumps and in grocery stores. This is happening as energy production is just ramping up and as Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill wends its way through Congress. Passage is anticipated by Independence Day, July 4. The C.R. contains a broad range of tax cuts that were scheduled to lapse but will be made permanent and newer tax cuts – elimination of tip taxes and taxes on Social Security payments. The measure includes other economic incentives, too.

Trump’s numbers are rising as the public learns more about the impact of his tariffs. Nations are negotiating to settle difference. Britain has just made a deal. Various enterprises in Asia and elsewhere pledge to site manufacturing facilities in the U.S. or increase investments here. Trump just announced $600 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia in U.S. concerns.

Trump also continues to work diligently to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. He’s seeking a negotiated end to Iran’s nuclear weapons program development. Unlike neocons, Americans want peaceful settlements of differences, not war.

Finally, in less than four months, Trump has effectively closed the U.S.-Mexican border, proving that Biden’s handlers lied all along about grappling with ways to end the tide of illegals into the country. In fact, everything that Biden’s White House did was to encourage millions of migrants to enter the country. It was a cynical ploy to build Democrat consistencies and voter bases.

Not that there aren’t challenges ahead for the president. The U.S. Supreme Court needs to shutdown lower federal courts from interfering with the chief executive’s right to deport illegals, particularly those deemed dangerous.

But, all in all, mid and longer term, the positives outweigh the negatives for Trump’s presidency. With critical midterm elections slated for November 2026, Democrats can’t be very happy about that development.

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Happy Easter

Advances in science and technology have answered some question about the Shroud of Turin. Other questions have been raised. One critical question: How did the image form on the Shroud? In photo negative, it’s clearly the image of a man who suffered profound physical trauma. The image is believed to have been radiated onto the topmost fibers in the cloth only. No pigments are evident.

Pollens in the cloth place its origin in Judea.

For many Christians, there may be mysteries about how, but no mysteries about who and why. Jesus Christ is the son of God. His life, death, and resurrection shattered the world. His Will is still at work and shall be until the end of time. Happy Easter.

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Trump Will Win on Trade

Investors are skittish. Wall Street is down. Trump’s gambit on tariffs has investors spooked. The sky is falling. Yada, yada, yada.

In fact, the sky isn’t falling. Yes, investors are roiling the markets. They fear that Trump’s big play to change the global dynamic on trade will backfire. MAGA isn’t in their blood. Do understand a thing or two about Wall Street. Investors don’t like change. The status quo is working quite well for them. In other words, their making oodles of money.

Not most Americans. Most folk have meager stocks and bonds portfolios, usually held through 401Ks. The more affluent you are, the more you’re invested in the market. Most people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. They’re concerned about the prices of groceries, gasoline, utilities, rent, and what have you. Many people don’t have rainy day funds. Their credit card debts keep climbing.

Trump means to reverse that. His broader economic goal is to create jobs, boost paychecks, and bring down costs. He’s concerned about the welfare of a majority of Americans, not the overreactions of a well-heeled minority. If Trump succeeds – the bet here is he will – then more of the American pie will be shared with a greater number of Americans, not just a privileged few.

Trump’s aim with trade and tariffs is, yes, reciprocity – meaning, hammering out fair trade agreements with other nations. High tariffs by other countries on U.S. products and services are protectionist measures. Those must go, for starters.

Not all Trump’s tariffs are meant only to level the playing field.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been abusing the “free trade” system put in place in the 1990s and early 2000s. China’s economy is built around cheap exports. Off-shoring American manufacturing has been a boon to China and U. S. manufacturers who are always looking to cut costs. Consumers have benefited by cheaper prices, too. But U.S. workers and small businesses – the latter being the engine of economic growth – haven’t.

Trump wants to restart the manufacturing engine here. Some tariffs are good in that they incentivize manufacturers overseas to build facilities here. It also incentivizes existing U.S.-based manufacturers and start-ups. That’s more jobs for more Americans. It will eventually result in competitive pricing – in other words, affordable – products and services, made domestically. More jobs, rising wages, and decreasing costs are goals.

Speaking of China, Trump’s tariff strategy is about more than economics. It’s about national security. Why do we want so much of what we consume in the hands of Xi Jinping and his communist cabal? We’re talking about medicines, steel, computer technology – the list is long. China also steals our technology and as much commercial and military intellectual property as it can.

China’s media is full bellicose threats of war with us. Xi’s Belt and Road initiative isn’t just about seeking economic advantages. It’s about choking off rare minerals and other resources that our evolving AI-tech economy needs.

When it comes to Chinese “management” of the Panama Canal, the PRC means to dominate that critical link between the Atlantic and Pacific. In time of war, that has profound commercial and military implications. Trump is in the process of ending China’s presence in Panama and its control of the Canal.

The broader economic program that Trump is pursuing involves making tax cuts permanent, slashing red tape, taking an ax to big government (DOGE is on that), and giving entrepreneurs and independent contractors the incentives they need to let their ideas, dreams, and work ethics take off.

Trump will succeed because World War II and the Cold War are long over. The post-Cold War world is played out. Trump sees the rot, unfairness, inequities, and growing failures of the system. His is a quest for an historic reset. I’m not being being Pollyanna. Bumps and disruptions along the way? Of course. But I’ll trust Trump’s experience, savvy, steely will, and business track record. He’s leading us into a new era – brighter and better for tens of millions of Americans.

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Bongino’s Appointment at the FBI Means No Prisoners Taken

By J Robert Smith

Feb. 25, 2025
2- min read

On Monday, we learned that Dan Bongino was named deputy director at the FBI. He’ll report to Kash Patel, who was confirmed by the Senate last week. Patel and Bongino will make a dynamic duo. Yep, just like Batman and Robin. The lawbreakers at the FBI should be lawyering up – if they haven’t done so already.

In nominating Patel and appointing Bongino, Trump has kept another promise. He’s going outside of DC’s blue suits for these critical jobs. Patel and Bonigino have a simple mission: Clean out the FBI and make it a bona fide federal law enforcement agency tasked with pursuing real bad guys, like cartel honchos, drug gangs, spies, white collar criminals, and assorted homegrown bad guys.

The FBI is riddled with corruption. The worst of it started at the top and filtered down through the ranks. Former directors James Comey and Chris Wray were complicit in the corruption. And it wasn’t garden variety corruption, like bad cops taking payoffs and shaking down drug dealers. It’s political corruption, in that the FBI served as a strongarm for Democrats and the DC establishment. They’d become a version of the East German Stasi. The FBI went after the establishment’s enemies, most conspicuously, Donald Trump.

It can’t be stressed enough how dangerous it is for a law enforcement agency – guys with guns – acting as the cat’s paw for powerful political interests in Washington, D.C. The FBI wasn’t just loosed on Trump and his circles, but on people who peacefully oppose abortion. Sending a SWAT team to knockdown pro-life advocate Mark Houck’s door at the crack of dawn in January 2023, terrorizing his children, demonstrated the level of thuggery that Wray and his deputies were willing to permit. To his immense credit, Trump has pardoned 23 pro-life protestors. Congressional Republicans need to repeal the vile FACE Act, which grants the DoJ and FBI the power to prosecute peaceful pro-lifers.

Bongino’s pedigree is impressive. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MBA. He’s run for Congress three times, coming close to being elected once. His five-day a week radio show and podcast are category leaders. He’s also a successful entrepreneur and investor (he has a stake in Rumble, notably).

Most importantly, Bongino is no stranger to law enforcement. He was an NYPD officer for seven years and a U.S. Secret Service agent for nine years. Notably, as a Secret Service agent, he provided protection for Barack Obama.

Patel and Bongino are kick ass guys. Their tenures at the FBI won’t be about cutting deals and trimming. Expect long overdue, wholesale changes. If they succeed, it’ll prove a brighter day for our rights and liberties. And a safer day for us. But a bad day for the bad guys.

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The Rise of Big Cojones

So, the fake feminists on CNN made an issue out of a 19-year-old tech whiz aiding Elon Musk in ferreting out waste and corruption in the federal government – not that any exists. All right, it exists. And we’re only beginning to see the scope of the profligacy and crime.

USAID is the first agency to have it’s ledgers and payment channels subject to whiz kids working with algorithms, and whatever else that’s beyond my pay grade, to uncover not only waste, not only fraud, but expenditures of U.S. taxpayer money in the many tens of millions of dollars to support bizarre woke ideological schemes across the globe. The cultists joined forces with the usual group of DC lifers to fleece the American people. Never mind that the federal government is closing in on $37 trillion in debt. So-called progressives, DC lifers, and their allies need to get rich – though we’re ceaselessly told that the rich are evil and the source of the world’s woes. Apparently, some types of rich are okay with our progressive superiors.

Here’s the skinny. USAID will prove to be merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hoodwinking and bleeding taxpayers of their hard-earned money. When all is said and done, hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud will be revealed thanks to Big Balls and guys like him.

The evolving Democrat and corporate media spin is that Elon Musk is running things in the Trump administration. That’s a curious charge in that mere days ago most DC lifers and corporate media propagandists (we know they are because an outlet like Politico is receiving $8 million in “subscriptions” for Uncle Sam in USAID monies) charged that Trump was a dictator. Most have said he was the second coming of Hitler. But now 47 is just Musk’s puppet. But don’t hold leftists and lifers and propagandists to account for past statements. They’re very much into burying the past in Orwellian memory holes.

DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has a chance to not only smash the network of parasites getting rich off our tax dollars, but ending the use of taxpayer money to advance the left’s evil and weird ideology. Good to see the rise of Big Balls.

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A Better Name than “Gulf of America”

By J. Robert Smith

Jan. 21, 2025
2-min read

President Donald Trump has decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” I kinda like the old name, not because I’m a fan of what Mexico is. I’m just an old dog set in his ways.

Mexicans are a good people stuck with a very corrupt government. That’s been the case forever, unfortunately. The latest chapter in this story of corruption is the cartels, which are really paramilitary outfits melded with crime mobs. The cartels are the devil’s spawn. They peddle drugs — fentanyl is a cheap, easy to smuggle, and potent killer. They traffic in children and women. That’s mostly sex slavery. That’s hellish depravity. Cartel gangsters will kill anyone who even looks at them crosswise.

Mexican cartels buy politicians or intimidate or kill the honest ones. The cartels control the U.S.-Mexican border. Biden’s handlers didn’t seem to care. They were in bend over and take it mode. Their aim was to flood the nation with millions of illegals. They succeeded. Among those hordes are gangbangers, cartel soldiers, child molesters, murderers, rapists, drug peddlers, the diseased, enemy nation saboteurs… the list goes on.

President Trump just signed executive order designating the cartels terrorist organizations means that the U.S. can take the gloves off, meaning that the U.S. military can weigh in. Me, I’d set special forces lose on the cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. I’d demand a treaty from the Mexicans giving the U.S. right to operate a couple of miles past the border. That would be a no-go zone for any cartel desperadoes who weren’t eliminated in earlier sweeps.

I believe President Trump has something like I’ve outlined in mind. Yes, Trump will double down on building the Wall, but a wall does only so much. High tech surveillance and weaponry does so much. Knocking out the cartels needs to be a critical part of the mix.

So, what does this have to do with the Gulf of ~~Mexico~~ America? If Trump succeeds in securing the border, walloping the cartels, and removing millions of illegals, then he deserves the Gulf named for him.

Let there be a future “Gulf of Trump.”

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