Bad Apple
Like many people, I love Apple products. I have an Apple computer, and I'm probably on my seventh or eighth iPhone. It's an iconic American company.
I was just reading that Apple's president, Tim Cook, has made a major $275 billion deal to make the country stronger economically, technologically and militarily. If you haven't heard about this deal, that's because it was a secret.
But don't make the mistake of thinking that Mr. Cook is just a really modest guy. The deal was secret because Cook didn't make this deal with America. He made it with Premier Xi of communist China. That's right -- the guy who made your iPhone just cut a deal to strengthen America's major enemy.
Tim Cook may claim that Apple is an American company, but most of its manufacturing facilities are in communist China. When the communist Chinese whistle, American CEOs like Cook dance for their masters.
Conservatives have been pro-business for years, and I still am. But we must acknowledge that many of the biggest American corporations, particularly Big Tech, don't think of themselves as American companies.
Not only are they increasingly "woke" and aggressively opposed to traditional values, they see themselves as "multinational companies." And if it helps them make more money, they're willing to empower America's enemies, including communist China.
Like the old Soviet Union, communist China can't be trusted. It routinely spies on America and steals our technology. Beijing lied to the world about the coronavirus. They brutally suppress free speech and religious liberty. They are engaged in genocide.
The communist Chinese regime does not share our values. That should be obvious to every American CEO.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don't understand the danger posed by communist China. Our next president must, or America is in deep trouble.
A Bad Start
Joe Biden is off to a bad start in the New Year. During an address to the country on the coronavirus yesterday, Biden told us, "There's a lot of reason to be hopeful in 2020." But the gaffes are the least of his concerns.
A new CNBC poll finds Biden's rating on the economy generally is at a record high of 60%. That would be a record high disapproval rating, and 72% of Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of inflation.
On the main issue that got him elected, COVID, 55% of Americans now disapprove of Biden's handling of the pandemic. Eight months ago, he had a 62% positive rating on the virus. Not surprisingly, Biden's oppressive mandates are part of his problem with the American people.
When asked how the Biden White House has handled the virus, 24% say Biden "has not gone far enough," 26% say he's done a good job and 50% say Biden "has gone too far."
You might be tempted to look at those numbers and think that the country is evenly divided, but that's not how it works politically.
The people who think things are about right aren't upset, and their ambivalence generally means that they are much less likely to act or vote on this particular issue.
From a political standpoint, the people who matter most are those most upset or most motivated to vote. And on that score, by 2 to 1 margin Americans believe Biden has been too dictatorial.
Every conservative official and officeholder should be able to handle this issue by saying, "I am not anti-science. I support vaccines. But I am adamantly opposed to big government mandates, and I am vehemently opposed to Biden's demonization of unvaccinated Americans."
It's Biden's Virus Now
Of all the unfair attacks made against Donald Trump, one of the worst was left-wing politicians and pundits declaring that COVID was "Trump's virus" or "Trump's Katrina" or "Trump's Vietnam." The truth is that it's the Chinese communist virus. It either leaked out of the Wuhan lab or, even worse, was intentionally released.
But since the left set the standard that they would use the virus to score cheap political points and demonize their fellow Americans rather than the Chinese communists, who are real demons, what could we say about the virus today?
Trump started 2020 with virtually no tools at his disposal to fight the new virus. By the time he left office, multiple new vaccines had been developed under Operation Warp Speed, and their distribution had begun.
Biden took office with the vaccines already produced. He failed to prioritize therapeutic treatments, and precious months were lost trying to get those drugs through the FDA.
Trump had no tests for the virus at the beginning because the CDC botched them. Biden furiously attacked Trump for that. But here we are today, knowing how important testing is, and we have only a fraction of the tests we need because Biden dropped the ball.
And, as we have noted, more Americas have died from the virus this year under Biden than last year under Trump.
My conclusion is that Joe Biden and the progressive left are much more interested in using the Chinese communist virus to advance socialism than they are in doing the things necessary to combat the virus itself.
Hopefully, we are in the final stages of this pandemic. The less deadly Omicron version of the virus is in a way operating as Nature's vaccine. The massive numbers of people getting infected now are developing antibodies to fight the virus in the future. And that's something that Donald Trump predicted would eventually happen.