Tag Archives: Republicans

Let’s Skip Ousting Mike Johnson …
For Now

By J Robert Smith

April 22, 2024
5-min read

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been joined by two of her House Republican colleagues in calling for Speaker Mike Johnson’s ouster. These three have ample cause. But when – not if – Johnson is booted matters. Trump wants Johnson to stay, saying, “I stand with the speaker, we’ve had a very good relationship.” Lindsey Graham claims Trump helped win Ukraine funding. But after the elections are over, Trump needs to ditch Johnson. The speaker has all the signs of being another Paul Ryan.

As conservative activist Ned Ryun remarked about Johnson last Sunday on X:

“I say this as an evangelical: this guy is one of the worst combinations you can ever have in politics. A smarmy evangelical who bends to the will of Democrats and the administrative state. And thinks he’s righteous in doing so.”

Last Saturday, the U.S. House, led by Speaker Johnson, committed an outrage. House Democrats and Republicans passed a stand-alone $60.8 billion funding bill for Ukraine, though there’s a carve out to “replenish [U.S.] weapons and stocks.” There’s also $13.8 billion for “advanced weapons systems.” The defense industry must get its kickbacks.

To flaunt their victory, uniparty members waved little Ukrainian flags on the House floor.

Despite Johnson’s oft-stated concerns for border security, not a penny was approved to stop the illegals deluge. Johnson’s words are meaningless. His actions speak volumes.

The uniparty’s display was one of defiance. Such congressional brazenness might be a first for the Republic. Democrats and a Republican faction showcased their contempt for the people’s will. Their votes were a statement. They’re jobs are to promote establishment interests. Those interests? A crass drive for money.

Mike Benz, a former State Department cyber security expert and analyst stated at X:

“Ukraine “Aid” & The Blob Uniparty: it ain’t about ideology, it ain’t about democracy — it’s strictly business.”

Benz offers a deeper dive about “The Blob” in his February 16 interview with Tucker Carlson.

Despite Marjorie Taylor Green’s very public attacks on Johnson, he isn’t going anywhere. Only one member of the GOP caucus is needed to cause the speaker’s chair to be vacated. Removing Johnson now and starting another speaker’s election – surely contentious and protracted – may satisfy a political blood lust but would make all sorts of trouble as election season kicks into higher gear. It’s trouble for Trump on his flank. Trump is picking his way through a perilous minefield as is.

Booting Johnson for his weak-kneed leadership risks more defections by establishment Republicans. Given the one-seat margin House Republicans enjoy, it wouldn’t take a RINO stampede out to flip the lower chamber to Hakheem Jefferies. If you don’t think Jeffries and his collection of statists, America haters, and cultural degenerates would make worse legislation on a broader range of issues, think again.

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How Dark Money Could Harm Trump in 2024

By J Robert Smith

Nov. 21, 2023
2-min read

Pennsylvania just had off-year elections. They weren’t for high-profile offices. That made them un-sexy. But the results of those contests offer clear warning shots for Trump and Republicans in 2024.

A state supreme court seat was filled along slews of lesser judgeships. County offices and school boards in some places were filled, too.

The Democrats did well, too well. Much of that is attributable to “dark money.” That’s money from sources where the donors are generally anonymous. Dark money involves a lot of big dollar contributors (as in multimillionaires and billionaires) giving huge chunks of cash to national groups who, in turn, target contests in states. The money is used not only to boost Democrat – most often “progressive” – candidates, but to run negative campaigns against Republicans.

This November in Pennsylvania, dark money made significant differences in contests that most voters pay scant attention to. Yet, the mostly local offices targeted serve as building blocks for bigger offices. They’re foundational, so critical in their ways.

If Trump and Republicans aren’t fretting now about what dark money means in statewide and larger district races in 2024 (legislative, governorships, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state treasurers, Congress, and last but hardly least, the presidency), they better start fretting and figuring out ways to raise money to counter this onslaught of rich progressives across the country … accomplished people who don’t hesitate to stroke big checks that are funneled through progressive groups to win elections.

To that end, it’s best to read Matthew Brouillette’s article at Real Clear Wire, Democrat’s National Dark Money Machine Dominates PA Elections.

Even if you don’t live in PA or give much of a damn about what happens there, what is happening there is happening – or will happen – in your state.

Here’s one pull from Brouillette’s piece that sums up the danger. In the statewide contest for a seat on the PA Supreme Court:

The media howls about outside money or individual Pennsylvanians engaging on behalf of Republicans but largely turns a blind eye to special interests bankrolling Democrats. With final spending reports still coming in, nearly 95% of McCaffery’s [pro-abortion Democrat nominee] funding came from unions, trial lawyers, other special interests, and dark-money groups.

Dark money, along with tactics (put charitably) to identify and harvest ballots, made the difference in battleground states in 2020. Trump lost those states – including Pennsylvania – by razor thin margins.

History can repeat itself if Trump and Republicans fail to fully appreciate the dark money threat and put in place strong countermeasures today.

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Two Fools: Tlaib and Graham

By J Robert Smith

Oct. 16, 2023
4-min read

Last week, after Hamas attacked Israeli civilians, welcomed words of sympathy and support poured forth for Israel from Americans. Prominent Americans doing so included politicians, of course, though a good many Democrats were mute. Their quiet was reminiscent of 2020, when BLM and Antifa stoked “George Floyd” riots ran riot in Democrat-run cities. Silence is a form of consent.

Some, like Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit congresswoman – and notoriously, vehemently anti-Israel – couldn’t bring herself to answer a simple question from Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn about those valiant Hamas terrorists butchering Israeli infants. Why, a five-year-old would have had no difficulty condemning such an act. But for Tlaib, judging by her silence, the question was fraught with circuit-overloading complexity. Or maybe it was just a case of quiet approval?

In the last couple of days, under withering criticism – and a possible House censure vote – Tlaib is backpedaling. But, heck, we kinda really knew where her heart is, and it ain’t with dead innocent Jews.

We had no trouble anticipating how Tlaib, Omar, AOC – and the other fools who make up the ridiculous Squad – would react to Hamas atrocities. Nor did we expect neocons – of a GOP stripe – to respond in any other way than calling for war.

Mind you, the Israelis have never asked the U.S. to fight it’s wars. They’ve asked for the means to fight, which we’ve gladly provided, but not for American boots on the ground. The military industrial complex isn’t complaining. Arms sales are profit. Israel eviscerating Hamas is a good and necessary thing, no question. American support is a plus.

But arm sales or not, neocons want in on the action. That would be young Americans dying in a conflict somewhere. Since Iran backs Hamas – financially, with weapons, and training – they’re focusing on warring with Iran.

The biggest mouth among the neocons – South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham – wants war with Iran; he’s blustering about it a lot. War – any war, anywhere – is his default position, actually. Rev up the tanks and let the missiles fly, be that toward Russia, China, Iran, or fill in the blank. Graham is open to suggestions.

Not getting a major war with Russia – to date, anyway – has frustrated neocons in both parties. Hillary Clinton and Democrats have had a weird Russia obsession for nearly a decade. The sinister Russians have been the cause of everything bad in the Democrats universe, they bleat incessantly. The reptilian Hillary lost the presidency in 2016 because Donald Trump colluded with Vlad Putin. Yeah, and aliens want to abduct Bill and Hillary. Maybe little green men are conspiring with Putin, too?

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Two Reasons Why the Red Wave Wasn’t… and What Republicans can do about It

By J Robert Smith

Nov. 24, 2022
3-min read

There’s more than a couple of reasons why the expected Red Wave didn’t happen. Here, we’re referring specifically to congressional elections. But there are two reasons that aren’t very sexy but most definitely blunted Republican gains. One is early voting and mail-in balloting.

The second, which pertains to U.S. House contests, is redistricting. Republicans actually won about 6 million more votes in House elections in 2022 than did Democrats. The trouble was that district lines were drawn in such ways that diluted GOP strengths.

Redistricting is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. It isn’t a sexy topic. In fact, it’s sort of wonky, but in redrawing U.S. House district lines in 2021, Republicans were either out maneuvered by Democrats or victims of “redistricting commissions.” That depends on how states decide the every ten years reapportionment of House seats. Democrats were definitely aggressive in New York and New Mexico, drawing lines that lopsidedly favored them. Surprisingly, the New York Supreme Court struck down the Democrats’ grossly gerrymandered map, replacing it with a map that actually allowed Republicans to gain seats. No such thing happened in New Mexico, where Democrats drew lines that cost the GOP the one seat it held.

We can add that the U.S. Census, which was conducted in 2020, undercounted population gains in some red states, while overcounting population in some blue states. That’s more than a little suspicious.

There’s no point into getting deep into the weeds about redistricting. The next round of redistricting happens in 2030, though the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Civil Rights case about Alabama’s lines being racially discriminatory in early 2023. Nonetheless, the cake is baked.

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2022 Midterms: No Stink on the Republican Establishment?

By J Robert Smith

Nov. 13, 2022
1-min read

Attacks on Donald Trump have begun in the aftermath of the midterm elections. We should have set our watches. Washington’s Republican establishment is pushing the line that the GOP’s underperformance in the midterms is “100%” Trump’s fault. Of course, there’s no stink on D.C. Republicans — not Kevin McCarthy, not Mitch McConnell, not Ronna McDaniel, not Tom Emmer (chairman, RNCC), not GOP consultants and pollsters… Not on any Republican who hangs out at the Capitol Hill Club.

Conservatives shouldn’t be goaded into a Trump versus DeSantis fight. Trump and DeSantis shouldn’t permit themselves to be baited, either. It’s so transparent, it’s laughable. That’s exactly what the establishment is trying. Washington Republicans don’t intend to just knock out Trump, but split conservatives. Is that rank odor wafting through the air from Karl Rove and Jeb! lurking behind the curtains?

Read the full article at American Thinker. Follow this link. Thanks.

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Oz Beats Fetterman?
Well, there’s a Catch

By J Robert Smith

Oct. 20, 2022
2-min read

Newsweek reports that Dr. Mehmet Oz is expected to slide past stroke victim and knee-jerk leftist John Fetterman for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat.

From the Newsweek report, October 20:

An analysis by Real Clear Politics (RCP), based on opinion polling adjusted to take account of past inaccuracies, projects Oz will win Pennsylvania by 1.9 percent of the vote.

That’s welcome news, except there’s a variable that isn’t being considered: mail-in voting fraud. Pennsylvania is a “No Questions” mail-in balloting state. That means fraud isn’t only possible, but likely. What it’ll boil down to is the scope of the fraud. Will it be sufficient to tip election outcomes?

The Keystone State has made scant reforms to its election system since 2020. Republicans control the legislature and have advanced election reform measures, only to have them struck down by Tom Wolfe, PA’s lameduck Democrat governor.

There’s every reason to believe that a critical, high profile Senate election will be prone to ballot hijinks. Shifting control of the U.S. Senate away from Democrats (Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote) means a switch of just one seat. So, the stakes are high. The PA contest may decide which party runs the Senate in 2023.

Unfortunately, there’s a back story. Pennsylvania legislative Republicans created this mess. In 2019, many months before the Covid pandemic began, Republicans cut a deal with Wolfe. In exchange for wide-open mail-in balloting and really early voting, straight-ticket voting would be struck from ballots.

Republicans actually thought that they’d benefit from ending straight-ticket voting, while, evidently, not considering what “No Questions” mail-in voting could lead to. It was an asinine deal then that proved disastrous in 2020. The presidential contest was fraught with “irregularities.” Since then, Republicans have tried to walk back this epic stupid deal. Needless to say, Democrats have no interest in reform.

Oz needs more than a 1.9% margin to beat Fetterman. Election fraud – ballot fraud, in particular – thrives on close elections. The greater the margin between a Republican who leads voting and a Democrat, the tougher it is for Democrats to produce enough fraudulent ballots.

Fetterman is physically and mentally incapable of meeting the daily demands of a U.S. Senator. But, then, Joe Biden was and is unable to meet the demands of the presidency. Yet, in key states – critically, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — Biden won… with a little help from Democrats and their allies who have no interest in fair elections when they cut against their candidates.

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The Herschel Walker Smear

By J Robert Smith

Oct. 10, 2022
4-min read

Democrats operate by a simple dictum: If one of their candidates may lose, smear the Republican opponent. And if that doesn’t cut it, cheat. Or do both, just to play it safe.

Herschel Walker is the recipient of a Democrat sneak attack. That’s because he’s running neck-and-neck with a tainted U.S. senator, the Rev. Ralph Warnock. The smears made against Walker are called “October Surprises.”

Sandbagging Walker isn’t much of surprise, actually. Walker is a football legend in Georgia. His college career with the Bulldogs made him so. He’s public about his embrace of Christianity and doesn’t hesitate to admit that he’s made his share of mistakes over the years and, yes, sinned. But as the Rev. Warnock should know, Christians make no bones about their sinfulness. Some of the greatest sinners became the greatest Christians. The Apostle Paul is the preeminent example of a bad man gone very good through his encounter with Jesus Christ and his repentance.

So, like the rest of us, Walker is a flawed man, but the smears leveled against him are lies. Walker flat-out denies that he impregnated a past girlfriend and paid for her abortion. The allegation stinks of an election-motivated gambit.

Said Florida senator Rick Scott (who should be the next GOP Senate leader, not sold-out Mitch McConnell) , Newsweek, October 4:

Senator Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, defended GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker amid his latest controversy and suggested that Walker was up against the same “smear machine” that targeted Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas.

Coincidence that on the eve of Kavanaugh’s and Thomas’ confirmation hearings that they were slammed with uncorroborated accusations of sexual misconduct? Now, just weeks before the November election, Walker is being slapped with a charge that he paid for an abortion?

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Biden was Desperate in Philly

By J Robert Smith

Sept. 2, 2022
3-min read

Biden’s speech in Philadelphia last night was one for the history books. Joe’s fist-waving anger was daytime soap opera convincing. Half of America, disparaged as “MAGA” or in other venues, as “Ultra-MAGA” are working overtime to destroy democracy, claims our semi-cogent president. We’re fascists or “semi-fascists,” Joe charged days before at a Maryland Democrat rally. What, pray tell, is a “semi-fascist?” Right. Tens of millions of honest, hardworking, patriotic Americans are enemies of liberty, dedicated to waylaying the democratic process, just spoiling for chances to tear down government! Vive la révolution!

So, Biden’s speech, made before hallowed Independence Hall, was bathed in an ominous red light – the color of real revolution (check in with any commie revolution in the last 100 years). In the background, Biden was flanked by two U.S. Marines. I feel sorry for those guys. They were used as props in last night’s lurid theater.

Though the speech that Biden parroted had multiple purposes, it’s immediate purpose was crassly political. Democrats are fearful and growing desperate that the midterm elections are going against them in a Big Way. Biden was using his speech, stuffed with inflammatory rhetoric, as red meat thrown to his party’s true-believing leftist base. Biden’s handlers are scared that the base is demoralized and may not turnout in the numbers Democrats need to hold Congress, governorships, and down-ballot offices. A elections bloodbath looms.

What can we do to make that bloodbath a reality? Vote. Yeah, I know, elections will be rigged, so what’s the point? First, there are plenty of red states where Democrats can’t election-rig. There are “purple” states (like Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia) that are highly competitive. In those states, turnouts by pro-freedom forces need to be so substantial that those high numbers overcome any Democrat chicanery. At the very least, we have a moral obligation as patriots to make the effort.

Also, volunteer a little of your time and money to good-guy candidates. We all have busy schedules, and thanks to Biden’s handlers firing up inflation and crushing domestic energy production, our paychecks are being stretched every month. But $5, $10, $25 to a candidate of your choice goes a long way. A little sweat-equity from us helps campaigns a lot.

As a run up to last night’s speech, I had an article run at American Thinker Thursday. If you haven’t read, Biden Takes On the Soul of the Nation, please do! Here’s an excerpt:

“Thursday night, Joe Biden takes to the airwaves to “continue his battle for the soul of the nation.” Sounds kinda biblical — this must be God at work. As to the outcome of this battle, Joe and his godless legions might be in for a little surprise.

“Ahead of the midterms, Biden, whose handlers smell a shellacking coming Democrats’ way, is expected to try to frame the elections as a choice between Orange Man Bad’s 74 million voters and Joe’s collection of Marxists, establishment hacks, wannabe oligarchs, lifer bureaucrats, race hustlers, LGBTQIA+ zanies, and freeloaders.

“Joe, at a Maryland Democrat rally the other day, described America First voters as a “semi-fascist” horde determined to kill democracy. Joe was mum about the game plan Democrats have been pursuing to “transform” democracy. For Democrats, democracy is authoritarianism with a lot of lipstick, rouge, and uses the pronoun “we,” as in we’ve got the power and you don’t.”

The link to that American Thinker article is here: Biden Takes On the Soul of the Nation

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The Senate is Very Much in Play for the GOP

By J Robert Smith

Aug. 27, 2022
1-min read

In case you missed it, from my latest article at American Thinker:

“Corporate media is at it again, shilling for Democrats. The spin heading toward Labor Day is that Republican chances of winning a Senate majority are fading. A GOP takeover of the U.S. House hangs by a thread. Nonsense. In fact, Republicans are going to win a House majority and have a good shot of doing the same in the Senate.”

“Right-thinking Americans should be hopeful about the GOP capturing the Senate.

“Campaigns don’t gear up until after Labor Day. Most voters don’t start focusing on politics until summer ends and kids are back in school. Horse race numbers before Labor Day are sketchy and the pastime of the political class.

“Midterm contests are about to begin in earnest, and voters have plenty of reasons to go the GOP’s way.”

“With less than one out of every four Americans believing the country is a-okay, how does that help ruling Democrats? Do such bleak numbers make Democrats feel more or less confident about their election prospects?

“Biden’s job approval numbers have been underwater for months. He’s rivaling Jimmy Carter for bragging rights as the most unpopular president in modern times.”

Follow this link to read the full article at American Thinker!

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Unlimited Dollars for Ukraine (But Pennies for the Border)

By J. Robert Smith

July 12, 2022
1-min read

Bipartisanship is alive and well in Washington. Democrats and Republicans are providing Ukraine’s military with lots of stuff to fight the Russians. Even some conservative talkers and TV show opinionators are gung-ho for the U.S. lending ever greater support to the Ukrainians. Humanitarian aid has poured into that war-torn country as well.

Back in May, Congress approved an eye-popping $40 billion in aid to Ukraine. Imagine if only a fraction of that money was allocated to stop the epic troubles happening along what was once the U.S.-Mexican border? That’s not said flippantly. The U.S. southern border has effectively disappeared. It’s being overrun monthly by tens of thousands of “migrants.” Well, they’re migrants until they cross into the U.S. Then they become illegals. But that’s fine with Biden and Democrats, who as unspoken policy, not incompetence, laid bare the border for the invasion that’s taking place. Democrats want new constituents and voters. Big business wants cheap labor. It’s an unholy alliance.

So, showing that Ukraine matters more to the DC crowd than the security of our own border comes Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who dropped this bomb on the Charlie Kirk Show the other day. Said Cramer:

“Well, I don’t know that the line is a dollar amount, Charlie,” Cramer began. “I think each request or each requirement, each demand, each circumstance requires its own discovery if you will. I don’t think we should do a whole bunch, necessarily, at one time. I think we should do smaller tranches, just for the purpose of renegotiating, and reaccessing.”

So, Cramer is basically saying that the U.S. commitment to Ukraine is open-ended, but pouring resources into finishing the Wall and putting whatever is needed in terms of law enforcement and National Guard on the southern border, well, isn’t the priority. Fighting for liberty in Ukraine matters more to Biden and Democrat and Republican members of Congress like Cramer than securing our nation. I guess gangbangers, cartel thugs, and lots of bad drugs pouring into the country take second place – if that – in the minds of the pea-brains who are supposed to represent us in Congress.

When will we say enough is enough and elect men and women to Congress who put America first?

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