History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

A New Dawn

63 Comments

I slept better last night than I have in quite a while. I wonder now if the election had been weighing on me. As in 2016, it’s as though a great weight has been lifted.

My immediate thoughts: Barack Obama doesn’t get his fourth term. All of that lawfare against Trump is probably moot now. And we won’t be hearing any more whining about the Electoral College, at least for the next four years or so, since he won the popular vote. And speaking of that, what happened to those millions of voters from 2020 that didn’t make it to the polls yesterday? I have a theory.

I may have more thoughts later, but for now, a foreigner explains to other non-Americans why they’re surprised at this outcome.

[Update a few minutes later]

Heh.

Another big loser in addition to Barack:

[Friday-morning update]

Glenn Beck is filled with hope.

Me, too.

[Bumped]

63 thoughts on “A New Dawn”

  1. I went to bed early expecting a long and drawn out week. Very happy that I was wrong. However, I’m not sure yet if Pelosi is the loser, as her focus was the House and that’s still not settled, although I hope it keeps her up at night until she eventually is forced to accept the lost.

    And while I’m for unity and Trump moving forward on his agenda; I do hope some time is given to investigate all the “crimes” committed by Pelosi, et al. By crimes, I mean the things they did for which they just accused Trump of doing in order to litigate whether it was legal or not while putting his ass on the line. Fani Willis claims it was RICO, but it was her lover that was negotiating the prosecution with the Biden White House. The investigation into those actions needs to continue. The criminal referrals already sent to the DOJ need to be brought up again under the new Congress, passed, and sent to the new DOJ. We need government accountability and verification that nobody is indeed above the law.

    Many have noted that Trump dodged a bullet on July 13th and perhaps America did so on November 5th. I think we will learn just how true that is in the coming months.

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    1. I slept better last night than I have in quite a while. I wonder now if the election had been weighing on me. As in 2016, it’s as though a great weight has been lifted.

      Well now, who didn’t see this coming?

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      1. There were people who were seriously worried that the Dems might actually try to pull this trick. And a literal reading of the Twenty Second Amendment would mean that proving Trump actually won the 2020 election would, in fact, disqualify him. It reads: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…” He wouldn’t have to have served, he would only have to have been elected. It wouldn’t be difficult to convince people that Trump actually did win.

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        1. Except that Constitutionally speaking, “elected” means “by the Electoral College”. The Electoral College that met in December 2020 unambiguously “elected” Joe Biden.

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          2. You can’t use the obvious meaning of the words when figuring out what Democrats will argue, because they’ll substitute their own novel reading just as they did with all their 14th Amendment nonsense.

    2. It’s still a wonder to me that the House hasn’t been called yet. If the Left flips the House, the next two to four years will be as awful as the past four (or five, really). Impeachment will start right away, and never stop. And the Left, unlike Republicans, realize that the House is the most powerful part of the USG.

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    3. I really hope the Republicans don’t waste political capital on revenge campaigns. Press forward. Enact reforms. Get results. Or risk the current advantage being a two year flash in the pan.

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  2. Same here on sleeping a lot better.

    I’m holding onto a hope that the Democrats will rip themselves apart over recriminations over why, and how, they chose to anoint the one and only possible candidate who shared the Biden Administrations bad baggage. Specifically, why did they break their public promises (which evaporated the moment Biden actually stepped aside) of a process to give the voters a say in Biden’s replacement? That debacle hurt their chances, a lot. I’d like to see them tear themselves apart over what they’ve done, not for vengeance, but in the hope they’ll come out of it as a better, more ethical, less radical party. That would be a great benefit to them, and the country as a whole.

    And, I do hope the whole backstory of their “palace coup” against Biden comes out soon, as I suspect there’s a lot that hasn’t come out yet.

    I hope you’re right about the lawfare against Trump coming to an end now, but I suspect it won’t. I hope I’m wrong. Trump’s still facing the risk of being sent directly to prison in a couple of weeks (unless the sentencing date has changed again), due to the most preposterous of the cases against him, the New York business records one (the payments over the porn star affair). Normally, a sentence isn;t immediate when there’s an appeal underway, nor would prison time be normal for a paperwork offense, but it’s within the judge’s (evidently a very biased judge) power to send Trump directly to prison. At least, I think so, and I hope I’m wrong, especially as I think there’s a very real chance Trump would get killed in prison.

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    1. “Specifically, why did they break their public promises (which evaporated the moment Biden actually stepped aside) of a process to give the voters a say in Biden’s replacement?”

      I like the theory that Dementia Joe’s endorsement of Que Mala tied their hands. What were they gonna do, suddenly bad-mouth the guy they’ve been propping up forever?

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      1. The Pelosi-ites should’ve used the endorsement as more evidence that Slo-Joe really was senile.

        As for the lawfare, I’d love to see Trump on 21 Jan start issuing pardons to all sorts of democrats. We all know none of them will ever be prosecuted successfully (DC went over 92% Dem yesterday), but he should publicize the cases that could be made against them. People like the Biden family, Pelosi & the Mr., Garland, even Hillary over her unsecured email server and Eric Holder over for contempt of congress. Forever taint them the way Ford tainted Nixon.

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      2. Mollie said it was about who had legal access to the money.

        Some interesting conjecture that people embezzled a lot of money from the Kamala campaign too

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        1. Somehow the Harris campaign managed to blow through One Billion Dollars in 100 days and still end up in debt. Who were all the chumps that gave that campaign so much money? Did the campaign simply become a money laundering scheme at some point?

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          1. The “chumps” in question are quite likely people whose names appear on the Epstein Client List. They have a readily understandable motive for their “generosity” to the Harris-Walz campaign. As with the Diddy business, one should expect a number of sudden departures for extradition havens now that their political gambit has failed.

            As for where the money went, the Harris-Walz campaign consisted entirely of Democrat campaign pros. Some of it actually went toward campaign expenditures – including the customary graft for steering such expenditures toward favored suppliers. The rest of it, well, Democrat campaign pros, people. That’s like asking what happened to a huge block of cheese that was plopped down amidst a crowd of wharf rats.

        2. Some Democrats are calling for an audit, and that could gain steam because millions of people were giving $10 and $20. Then the Harris campaign gave those hard-earned millions of dollars to Beyonce and Lizzo and Cardi B and other rich celebrities. A lot of ordinary Democrats are going to realize they were had, and they should rightly be very pissed off about it. For one thing, it turned out to be a complete waste of money. For another, it shows that even liberal celebrities weren’t willing to donate their time to the Kamala campaign.

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  3. “I hope I’m wrong, especially as I think there’s a very real chance Trump would get killed in prison.”

    Agree. I believe the sentencing date has been pushed back to the 25th of November and the scuttle butt is it is liable to be postponed indefinitely. We shall see . I didn’t sleep better because I worked swing shifts so I was actually up all night at work following the election; was very pleasantly surprised ny the results. I slept better this morning.

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  4. I went to bed happy at 2 am, but the next day I’m hearing from Judge Nap that Trump is talking about Pompeo or Tom Cotton for SecDef. WTF! He said he learned his lessons on appointments during the first term. Tucker grilled him on that.

    Now he’s allegedly floating neocons?

    OTOH I really like the idea of RFK Jr being some sort of health czar, and Elon a govt efficiency czar, though I don’t see how Elon would have time for that, plus the conflict of interest with SpaceX and governement contracts.

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  5. Yea no mention of the strategic bomb threats at polling stations. For some reason I think if the shoe was on the other foot be much belly aching around these parts. Too bad Biden is too feckless to give Ukraine a few B61-3 and/or B61-7’s in response and announced it when the deed was done.

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    2. Too bad Biden is too feckless to give Ukraine a few B61-3 and/or B61-7’s in response and announced it when the deed was done

      The time to have done that was in January 2022.
      The Russians wouldn’t have to know that the only codes given Zelensky was the 3 digit code that allows the selector switch to DI and the T handle to be pulled.

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        1. Shows what a sorry state our military and state department are in that they have to conduct an ICBM test.

          Lends credence to the view that Putin invaded Ukraine and Iran attacked Israel due to an invalid in the White House

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          1. WTF are you prattling on about Wodun, We been regularly testing ICBMs 3 to 4 times a year. Here is one days before the 2020 election was that a sign of invalid in the white house then too . Seek help, touch grass.

          2. I think ICBM tests are part of an overall readiness profile. It helps to know that things continue to work correctly, or to find where things have degraded.

  6. I was GREATLY relieved when I saw the election results Wednesday morning. But still on tenterhooks about the House: If the Dems have a House majority it will be 4 years of investigations, indictments and impeachments. Can’t have that.

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  7. I wonder if Obama is aware enough to realize that he’s responsible for this. It’s rumored that his nasty insults of Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner was the trigger that goaded Trump into running.

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  8. This is at best a stay of execution for the country. There is still a permanent and unaccountable bureaucracy running things, one that has demonstrated it has no problem persecuting, prosecuting, and assassinating political rivals. Trump’s fiscal record is just bad, and the growing debt bomb we are all living on will only get larger. Until that is fixed there’s a reckoning that must be crossed in the near future on a level that is so bad historically it just sounds like doom porn when you bring up comparisons.

    The primary positive is that public faith in institutions is completely shattered at this point. The first step in slaying the beast is to realize it’s a beast.

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  9. The ironic thing about how this all played out is that the giant media force that Trump has railed about for years, actually caused the downfall of Harris (and really, a small – but vocal, segment of the Democratic Party). They helped cover for Joe B through the mid-term elections, then helped carry him through the primary process. They thought they could continue the cover-up through the election, but Joe blew that up in the debate. They then scrambled to switch to Harris (who, as many predicted, was an awful candidate), but their damage was done. There’s not enough of substance to Harris to prop her up, and it was far too late in the process for them (media) to come up with a good ‘other’ candidate. So, in effect, the MSM actually HELPED Trump get elected. Thanks Crazy Joe, Rachel ‘Cry my eyes out’ Maddow, and even the View (Kamala, what would you do differently?). Couldn’t have organized this better if the Republicans tried.

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  10. I am ambivalent about Trump going after officials like Garland et al. the Lawfare crowd.

    On the one hand, I agree that if people don’t pay – and pay dearly – for trying to turn us into a 3rd World banana republic, then they will continue to do so. I want that stopped.

    On the other hand it can’t look like it’s merely Revenge. The left has already prepped the battlefield on that by saying they are afraid they will be rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

    So a fine line has to be drawn. It has to be done but done carefully. No matter what he does he will be accused of Revenge. But so long as he doesn’t go open loop on his opponents, it will be useful to charge them. Even if they don’t end up with jail time: the process is the punishment.

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    2. Simple enough. Prosecute them, bring out all the evidence, get convictions, and then commute the sentences. Hard to call it revenge when the only thing that happens is the truth coming out. Indeed, Democrats could have done that with Trump, but they didn’t, which is why it is what it is.

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      3. “Simple enough. Prosecute them, bring out all the evidence, get convictions,”

        If Trump doesn’t prosecute them (go after them) they will continue to go after him. Witness the statements being made by Letitia James and others about “fighting him”; the lawfully elected president of the United States exercising his constitutional authority to change policies.

        “..and then commute the sentences.”

        Well…maybe. I might commute some of the sentences afterwards but I would do it in a judicious/selective manner. Perhaps for reasons of age or infirmity but some people actually need to go to jail.

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        1. Letitia James comments about continuing the fight against Trump earned her a little attention:

          “Let me just say this to ‘Big Tish’ James, the New York attorney general: I dare you. I dare you to try to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term because listen here, sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time,” Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said.

          The threat was then crystallized with a body-shaming insult about the Empire State’s top law enforcement official.

          “We will put your fat a–– in prison for conspiracy against rights,” Davis said during an appearance on “The Benny Show,” the eponymous YouTube program hosted by conservative columnist Benny Johnson.

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      4. Hardly a deterrent if there are no consequences. I say make them pay hefty fines at least. And instead of commuting how about probation? (Though I don’t know if the President can be that deatiled).

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        1. Honestly, that’s where I am as well. My previous response was to answer how it could be done without seeming like revenge.

          Your comment about Letitia James is why I think actual consequences and prison time is needed. The NY Court of Appeals has yet to rule on her case on Trump’s loans, but that could really destroy the banking system for the state if not thrown out. That is horrendous before we consider the extraordinary abuse of the judgment ordered. I have no doubt that if went that far, SCOTUS would rule the judgment unconstitutional. I hope NY Court of Appeals will do so immediately. But the harm caused by the cause and ruling should disbar the judge and see James facing criminal charges on official abuse of power. I doubt that would ever happen unless a Congressional investigation found additional political linkages to her prosecution and funding motivations.

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          1. but that could really destroy the banking system for the state if not thrown out.

            …and that just might be the correct remedy.

  11. It was a good night. Treated myself to alcohol, fireworks, and witnessing the reaction on TwitterX.

    A lot is uncertain but Trump and co have a strong appreciation for the USA and will succeed and fail in that direction.

    Good news for space nerds.

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  12. Trump’s legal woes are rapidly degrading (hopefully) to nothing:

    Judge Mulls Tossing Trump’s Felony Conviction in N.Y.

    “Merchan doesn’t have the stomach to imprison a former president or president-elect,” former prosecutor Neama Rahmani told the New York Post. “Now that Trump has won, his criminal problems go away.”

    https://www.newsmax.com/us/judge-juan-merchan-felony/2024/11/07/id/1187134/

    And:

    “Special counsel Jack Smith expected to wind down Trump prosecutions: Sources”

    “Special counsel Jack Smith is in active talks with senior leadership at the Justice Department evaluating ways he can end his prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.”

    The decision is based on longstanding Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office, sources said.

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-counsel-jack-smith-expected-wind-trump-prosecutions/story?id=115571646

    That only leaves Leticia James’ “fraud” case about to be tossed by the appeals court and Fani Willis’s moribund Georgia “election interference” case. I think this reflects the fact that Trump not only won the electoral college but the popular vote by >4 million. This indicates politically the public’s not buying the “lawfare”; which has obviously given them pause (fear of retribution). Maybe this is why Trump campaigned so heavily in NY state; it wasn’t for the stated reason of “NY is in play”. He knew if he picked up millions of votes in dem country (NY state) it would give him the opportunity to counteract the huge number of votes against him in Calif; yielding for him the legally unnecessary but politically needed mandate from the people.

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  13. These will help:

    Trump then announced he would form a Truth and Reconciliation committee to “declassify and publish all documents on Deep State spying, censorship, and corruption.”

    Though I don’t like the name of the committee. Sounds too much like the Democrat Truth organization they tried to float.

    “….[H]e plans to make every Inspector General’s Office independent from the departments they oversee to ensure they do not become a part of the Deep State. “

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    1. “….[H]e plans to make every Inspector General’s Office independent from the departments they oversee to ensure they do not become a part of the Deep State. “

      That will work as long as all of those offices are independent of each other and have limited jurisdiction to strictly the one department they are designated to oversee.

      Otherwise you just empower the deep state even further by creating “The One Ring, to rule them all…”

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  14. House GOP Warns Jack Smith: Preserve Trump Records

    “The chairs of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight warned Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith to not purge records, communications, and documents they have requested relating to the federal prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump.

    In a letter Friday to Smith, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the Judiciary chair, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., the Subcommittee on Oversight chair, demanded Smith produce previously requested documents and records no later than Nov. 22.”

    https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/jim-jordan-barry-loudermilk-jack-smith/2024/11/08/id/1187325/

    Good. We need to be able to get to the bottom of how this actually started/played out etc. Including any discussions (collusions) between said “prosecutors” and Judge Chutkin. Would also like to see Benny Thompson (and /or his staff) subpoenaed to testify about the allegedly destroyed records of the Jan6th committee. Possibly setting up grounds for his (Thomson’s–and any other dem Congressmen involved with such) being expelled from the House for violating House rules about illegal destruction of said records.

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  19. A Trash Compactor is Going to the Space Station
    https://www.universetoday.com/169229/a-trash-compactor-is-going-to-the-space-station/#more-169229
    …
    “Sierra Space said the device includes an innovative Catalytic Oxidizer (CatOx) “that processes volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other gaseous byproducts to maintain a safe and sterile environment in space habitats.” Heat and pressure compacts astronaut trash into solid square tiles that compress to less than one-eighth of the original trash volume. The tiles are easy to store, safe to handle, and have the added — and potentially very important — benefit of providing additional radiation protection.”
    ..

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