Don's Tuesday Column

      THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   2/28/2023

Trump Derangement Writ Large

Nearly 180 million saw the coverage of Donald Trump’s visit to East Palestine, OH (144 million social media users, 34 million traditional viewers) vs. 20 million viewers of Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech. We watched both online recordings and network clips; numbers are fungible but true.

Transportation honcho, “America’s (upward-failing) Mayor,” Pete Buttigieg, did little to reverse his established caricature: Alfred E. Newman’s “What, me worry?” persona. Apropos white construction helmet, bright orange/yellow “safety vest,” and spiffy dress boots.

Trump is both loved and revered by roughly half of America’s electorate, having received the largest increase in votes for his reelection of any president running for a second term. His position videos posted on Truthsocial.com are worth watching even for his opponents, critics and enemies; at least be able to object to what he actually says and proposes.

His most recent one outlines solid steps to reduce crime in our cities and nation. He addresses the roles played by drugs, fatherless families, anti-cop sentiment, and the “defund police” movement. Lax enforcement, by ideologically-leftist D.A.s and prosecutors, shows a misguided racial-equity obsession to release suspects and criminals for fewer minorities (i.e. Black men) in prisons.

Americans have been subjected to leftist propaganda, genuine misinformation, fabrications and knowing lies by White House Occupant Joe Biden, his mouthpieces and flacks; and the delusion-enabling sycophants in cable and network “news” outlets. Progressive Marxists rule most of education.

They bear much of the blame for our nation’s irreconcilable divisions dwarfing those that preceded the Civil War. Both sides—while divided to the point of violence over slavery—shared a common Christian faith, reverence for our Founding Fathers, love for America’s sovereignty; and the primacy of a free enterprise economy free of “royal” ruling classes.

Slavery was, by Constitutional means, limited and forbidden for America’s expansion—and for importation from abroad—even as it flourished elsewhere. Slavery did not “build this country,” as the Disney-created cartoon of angry kids spouting racist theories would have you believe. Barely one quarter of Southerners owned slaves; the South’s economy was a fraction of America’s economy. The North’s economy owed nothing to slavery, though some wealthy urban elites used domestic slaves.

The Democrat/Socialist movement is anti-freedom of expression, anti-rule of law, anti-Americanism, pro-sexual libertine-ism and perversion as a way of life, and forced allegiance—by citizens in businesses, corporations, universities, non-profits, artistic and media circles—to “woke” progressive ideology. Those veering in word, deed, contributions, or lifestyle from that cult-like thought-control can be subjected to “re-education,” sanctions, boycotts, harassment out of homes and jobs, and even legal persecution.

Trump “derangement” has driven Biden’s agenda from his first proclamations, executive orders, bureaucratic initiatives, and Democrat legislation. To paraphrase the Groucho Marx ditty, “Whatever it is, I’m against it,” the Biden-crat motto was “Whatever Trump did, we’ll reverse it.” The results are plain unless you believe the bloviations from Biden et al over your own “lying eyes”:

1) A literal invasion, from Central American and other nations, of law-defying “aliens” (federal code term) flooding every corner of America, enabled by Biden’s “open borders” policies and refusal to complete Trump’s border wall. The unspoken agenda: use hard-earned taxes paid by workers, redistributed for entitlements and benefits to future Democrat voters expecting to get fast-tracked to citizenship. Sick, crass, illegal.

2) The designed-diminishment of your purchasing power, lifestyle and future retirement via government-spending-induced inflation. Trump’s inflation=1.4 percent; Biden’s inflation=6.6 to 8+ percent over the last 2 years. Do the math—$5 trillion in pandemic spending (and “Build Back Broker”) is about one-sixth of our national debt of $30+ trillion, which is about a 16 percent reduction of your money’s value.

“Why the latest inflation report sent stocks tumbling” (Spencer Brown, townhall.com), puts to rest the delusional happy talk from Biden and Veep Harris. The “personal consumption expenditures” (PCE) price index, used by the Fed to gauge inflation, rose above expectations. January’s PCE was 0.6 (vs. 0.4 expected) percent month-over-month inflation—that’s an annual rate of over 7 percent (even though the official year-over-year rate was 5.4 percent, above expected 5.0 percent).

You’ve noticed the double-digit inflation for stuff you buy and use every day; it never happened under Trump. “Electricity prices surged 14.3% in 2022, double overall inflation: US report” (utilitydive.com). Kamala Harris’ scratchy-voiced lies: “We have reduced heating and electricity bills so folks have more money in their pocket…”

3) On the East Palestine, OH, train derailment, it’s a special level of political sickness—“Trump derangement syndrome” writ large—to twist the record, policies, rail company malfeasance, and plain logic into “Trump’s fault,” years after he left office. Lies about Republicans dismantling rail safety, and selling out to rail industry lobbyists, don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Unions opposed technology, preferring dues-paying employees; environmental opposition to train transport of fossil fuels factored in; that train already had heat sensor alarms going off; it also had 3 people on the train. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy: “the derailment would have occurred…even with ECP brakes…because the wheel bearing failed on car 23.” Facts matter.

I doubt that local Democrats are so hateful as to agree with The View’s Joy Behar that East Palestine deserved that tragedy because they voted for Trump.