The 2018
midterms are quickly approaching, so it’s time for some perspective…
In the 2016
election cycle, the mostly laughed-at Donald Trump, again, threw his hat into
the ring. No one in the media took him seriously and, indeed, there wasn’t much
TO take seriously. Here was a guy who had declared himself a candidate in past
elections, and was always…. ALWAYS …. eliminated quickly. He had no political
experience, he was well known for his reality show and, frankly, carried as
much weight as Pat Paulson. He was running against a raft of political
professionals in his own Party: Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Ted Cruz,
Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, just to name a few. Additionally, both Hillary
Clinton and Socialist/Independent/“Democratic Socialist” Bernie Sanders were in
the race. By ANY measure, the odds were stacked against him.
Then, the unthinkable
happened: Trump garnered enough primary wins to become the Republican nominee.
On the other side, Hillary secured the nomination for the Democrat Party. From
that very moment, Clinton was considered a shoo-in. In fact, several pundits
gave her a 100% chance of winning the election.
100%.
Throughout
the campaign season, polls were never ….. NOT ONCE … in Trump’s favor and, if
chances for Clinton’s win COULD get higher than 100%, they would have. 2016, to
quote the “experts” was going to be a Hillary slam dunk. A rout. A landslide.
But there
was one thing the pundits didn’t count on: the American voters. YOU.
YOU, the
voters, took it upon yourselves to self-educate on the issues. You did your
research, wading through unimaginable amounts of information, some good, some
bad, available on the internet. You read your history, you looked at the data,
the facts and the stats. You took nothing for granted and questioned
everything. And, while the media focused on Trump’s failures and shortcomings,
you focused on a more balanced view:
- - Yes, Trump has
experienced failures in his business dealings throughout his career. But no
pundit bothered to consider that NO famous person, from athlete to business executive
to movie star, has ever claimed “no failures, ever”. In fact, in recalling
their failures, ALL successful people point TO those failures as powerful
lessons, critical to their success.
- - Yes, Trump has said and
done some remarkably stupid things, for which there is no excuse. But neither
have stupid things said been destroyer of the likes of Hillary, Bill, Biden, Warren,
Rangel, Pelosi, Reid…..or nearly ANY other Democrat. And, taken thus,
amounted to a meaningless, often hypocritical, point.
- - Yes, Trump had no
experience in the political arena. But political experience didn’t make ANY
other politician a person better suited for office. In fact, “political
experience” got us where we were in 2016, with out of control debt, consumer
confidence abysmal, horrific unemployment numbers for blacks, women and teens,
etc. And, Trump, WITHOUT political experience, beat out ALL other politically
experienced Republicans in the race to the Presidency.
- - Yes, Trump had no
experience in world politics. Yet, he regularly dealt with the major players,
including government officials all over the world and was, somehow, able to
strike deals.
What Trump
was turning out to be was….a businessman and a strategist. A CEO, known for
taking failing companies and turning them around. And let’s, right now, get
something VERY clear: America is a business; a $3+ TRILLION business. Who
better to handle the biggest business in the world than a Chief Executive used
to handling huge businesses?
So, while
not all Republicans began supporting him, many Americans did; YOU did. And you
steadfastly refused to kow to the breathtaking amount of negativity from the
media and the Left. In fact, the 2016 election saw a match up between many “Republicans”,
Democrats, “Independents”, Socialists and the media...against YOU.
I cannot
stress enough how important not only were your efforts to self-educate, but you
did something not seen in MANY years: you got ACTIVE. You engaged the media. You
engaged the opposition. You committed yourselves to the fight for our country
and our Constitution. Trump’s numbers in social media platforms FAR outweighed Hillary’s.
To me, it was a clear indicator that Trump had serious momentum. And the media
ignored it, relying, instead, on conventional polling data.
Meanwhile, right
up until and including November 8th, Hillary was favored to win with
a 95% chance; so, in the media’s opinion, Trump had “gained” five points, throughout
the entire election season.
Five points.
Election
day came and the exit polls, as they do in nearly every election, had the
Democrat, Hillary, winning in a landslide. But even with those early returns
and exit polls, you went out and voted.
And, as the
day and night burned on, Trump … YOU … began to win.
I recall
sitting in my favorite cigar lounge, watching the returns. As the clock
approached 3:00pm, I commented that, if Trump takes Florida, he’ll win. In
fact, I suggested that if he took Florida, he’d more than likely run the table
(Pennsylvania, Michigan and either Minnesota or Wisconsin).
And he did.
Because of
YOU.
I also
recall, in early November, Facebook postings started running to the “thank God
it’s OVER” memes and comments; to which I responded (as I usually do, every post-election)
“No……the fight is just beginning.” And, further commented that that attitude (“TGIO”)
was WHY Americans believe they have no say in politics. We vote, then go back to sleep, assuming that those we elect are going to do what they promise. They don’t. In fact, the
moment they win is the moment THEY become their own primary interest. And, yes,
that’s ALL politicians.
Now, we
will be voting in the midterms. Statistically, the Republican Party SHOULD lose
up to 40 seats in the House and 6-7 seats in the Senate (average of losses for Party
in Executive Office). Anything LESS than that must be considered to be a strong
vindication of Trump’s performance, while losing MORE would be a clear
repudiation.
Right now,
I see what I believe to be clear indicators that there exists NO “blue wave”
happening:
- - Social media, again, is
extremely active. YOU are engaging.
- - With nearly ALL mainstream
media outlets, Hollywood, entertainers (Maher, Colbert, The View, etc)
reporting nearly 100% anti-Trump, generic polls have Democrats ahead by only 12
points. (In the run up to 2016, polls in October had Clinton ahead by around 8
points, and showed Clinton trending up, pulling away, in early November). (Are
we home free? Not by a LONG shot. We have MUCH more work to do, folks).
- - Yesterday, it was
reported (Gallup) that Democrats have slid 6 points this year in the “women”
vote and are now TRAILING with the “middle class” vote.
- - Republican favorability
is the highest in nineteen years, while Democrats favorability has dropped a
point.
- - Consumer confidence is at
an eighteen-year high.
- - Trump’s favorability is
rising with both black and Hispanic voters.
- - According to “RealClearPolitics”,
Trump is trending UP with gays and millennials.
Let’s be
clear about something: while NOT a sure thing, what is happening right now is
because of YOU. You, in continuing to fight, are protecting President Trump,
who has gone a LONG way to fulfilling his campaign promises….with CLEAR,
positive results.
YOU are protecting our Constitution.
We took a
HUGE risk in supporting Trump, a fundamentally unknown entity, and it is paying
off. BUT, if we lose either house, we lose our momentum….period. If Democrats
take EITHER side of Congress, they will be relentless in their pursuit to undo
EVERYTHING that WE have accomplished since the election.
What is at
stake?
- - Your tax breaks (to you,
individually, as well as businesses). You’ll not only be paying more, but
unemployment will begin to increase dramatically (think 2006, when Democrats
took control of Congress). Specifically, blacks, Hispanics, women and teens
will be the hardest-hit.
- - De-regulation. The regulations
that have been strangling American businesses will be reinstated.
- - The judiciary. No longer
will Conservative nominations stand a chance.
- - SCOTUS. Again, NO
conservative will be elevated to the highest court (this will have life-long
implications). Which, for one thing, means that the more grotesque abuse to
human rights since slavery will remain the law of the land. (Slavery was law
for over 200 years…)
- - Consumer confidence will
plummet.
- - Border security. There
will be none, as Democrats FIRMLY believe in open borders, without enforcement.
- - American businesses, who
are tentatively growing in confidence, will grind to a halt, sending jobs, once
again, overseas.
- - Foreign policy advances
will come to a standstill. (the Koreas, Russia, China, etc).
And these
are just a few of the staggering losses we will see, should Democrats take
either, or both, houses.
So, I beg
of you, as tiring as it may be, DO NOT relax. It is for SURE that Democrats won’t.
And, not to put too fine a point on it: if Democrats win, SOCIALISM wins. And
Socialism is as relentless as cancer.
And that
cancer will kill our Constitution.
Tim Hirota
September 25th, 2018
timothyhirota1@gmail.com (For when Facebook bans me...)
