Trump Wins
Former President Donald Trump scored a big legal victory in his battle with Joe Biden’s politicized FBI. In a decision released yesterday, federal Judge Aileen M. Cannon agreed with Trump’s request to appoint a special master, an independent third party, to take temporary custody of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Judge Cannon made it clear that she does not trust the FBI, and with good reason. The FBI has repeatedly lied to the courts in recent years. Judge Cannon ordered the FBI to stop reviewing the documents and to pause whatever investigation the Bureau is conducting that provided the excuse for the raid.
Biden’s Justice Department claims that the FBI went into Mar-a-Lago looking for super-secret documents about nuclear weapons. They later admitted to seizing Trump’s passports, as well as information protected by attorney-client privilege.
And now we’re learning that the FBI also seized 40 years of Trump’s personal medical and tax records!
This is an egregious abuse of power by the Biden Administration designed to harass its leading political opponent and intimidate his supporters. It’s the kind of thing that happens all the time in authoritarian regimes. But it should never, ever happen in the United States of America.
Doubling Down
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is doubling down on his dangerous and divisive neo-Marxist theme of demonizing the half of America that loves faith, family and freedom.
Their kids do most of the fighting and dying in our wars, yet they are most ignored by the DC Swamp. They are not rich enough to get the attention of most politicians, and they are not poor enough to benefit from left-wing big government programs.
They don’t want foreign bureaucrats running our country or dictating our values. They don’t want tens of thousands of IRS agents looking over their shoulder at every penny they spend.
They pay their bills on time and don’t expect the government to bail them out. They believe in the sanctity of life. They know what a woman is.
And they know that the guy who is calling them “enemies of our Constitution” leads a movement that is attacking the First Amendment and the Second Amendment, that wants to change the number of senators, pack the Supreme Court and conduct all elections by mail.
A Strange Strategy
While Biden and his media allies are busy demonizing conservatives as “fascists” and “anti-constitutional,” some on the right seem to think that the best strategy is to ignore these slanders and to keep talking about inflation.
Joe Biden has presented conservatives with a perfect opportunity to go all out after the socialist and neo-Marxist instincts of today’s woke progressive movement.
They are the ones canceling people and censoring free speech.
They are the ones telling your son in the second grade that he’s really a girl.
They are the ones always trying to take away basic constitutional freedoms.
They are the ones handing our streets over to criminals by releasing them again and again.
They are the ones who claim men can get pregnant and babies should be aborted up until the moment of birth.
They are the ones who are erasing America’s border.
Merely talking about inflation is not the best defense against these outrageous smears. The best defense is to go on offense.
Here’s why I’m bringing this up: While some Washington politicians are seemingly afraid of defending MAGA conservatives, just like they were afraid of defending Tea Party activists, the American people overwhelmingly reject Joe Biden’s ugly speech last week.
According to a new poll, 57% of likely voters – including 19% of Democrats and 62% of Independents – said Biden’s speech “represents a dangerous escalation in rhetoric designed to incite conflict.” Only 35% thought it was acceptable election year messaging.
Biden handed his conservative opponents a gift. It would be easy to turn those attacks against him.
Why Is Biden Up In Many Polls?
Roughly three-quarters of Americans, according to the latest NBC News poll, believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. But that figure is largely meaningless. By itself, it doesn’t really tell you very much.
Just because someone says the country is moving in the wrong direction doesn’t tell you anything about why they think that. It doesn’t by itself mean they are conservative or liberal.
Half of those people may think the country is going in the wrong direction because they don’t think Joe Biden is liberal enough. They want bigger government. They want abortion on demand. They want religion out of the public square. The other half are conservatives, who want the exact opposite.
So, why has Biden been trending up lately? Well, he’s had some significant “victories” in recent weeks. He got a big climate bill through. He got funding for tens of thousands of new IRS agents. (Thank you, Joe Manchin!) And he has a compliant media cheerleading for him. Frustrated liberals may be feeling better about Joe Biden.
This is why I have been telling my conservative friends to quit talking about “normal historical trends.” These are not normal times, and the country is not the same country where Ronald Reagan could win 49 states.
Meanwhile, Beltway consultants are insisting that conservatives should only talk about economics. Fine. Let’s talk about economics.
Progressives and their left-wing allies have been spending millions of dollars telling senior citizens that “MAGA Conservatives” are going to cut their Social Security. They’re telling working-class Americans that they are reducing healthcare costs, while the right doesn’t have anything to offer.
And Biden just forgave student loans for millions of people. Yes, many people are upset about that. Yes, it’s probably unconstitutional. But young voters often don’t show up on Election Day, especially in midterm election years. Well, Biden just gave them at least 10,000 reasons ($10,000 in student loan payoffs) to do so.
The left is firing up its base, and the right appears to be depressing its base. If conservative leaders refuse to defend tens of millions of MAGA voters, many of those voters may stay home.
The Abortion President
Once upon a time, in an America that now seems far, far away, a Democratic president said, “Our vision [is one] where abortion is safe and legal, but rare.” That was Bill Clinton in January 1993. Nearly 30 years later, abortions are hardly rare, and Joe Biden is doing everything he can to ensure that there are more of them.
You can read more in my latest opinion piece at The Washington Examiner.