Guest column
Draining the swamp
By Mark Shupe Bank portfolio manager, Medina
If someone were to tell me that during my lifetime we would elect a president that didn’t covet the power, didn’t need the money, had never held political office, owed nothing to special interest groups, had no allies in either party, was mocked by the media, would appoint a cabinet that also didn’t need the job or the money and understands that Washington is horribly bloated and self-interested, I would have said, “No way!”
Of course, seven months ago we elected President Donald Trump. As the outcome of the election began sinking in, I was shocked and thrilled. Shocked that a bombastic real estate developer with no political experience would defeat the establishment leftist with the huge war chest; and thrilled that an anti-PC and anti-deep state Washington candidate was actually going to win.
As I explained to a supporter of President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton, thank God we had 63 million Americans who voted for the only vehicle we had to fight against Washington’s protection racket.
Now five months in to Trump’s presidency, the beltway swamp has unmasked itself for what it obviously is – a self-dealing pit of anti-American snakes. Over the last eight years we have seen intelligence agencies, the IRS, the federal circuit courts and the Department of Justice become politicized to a degree that no true American can stomach.
But who am I to judge who is a true American and how do we define what being American really means? In one sense, America is an idea. It is the only country in the history of the world founded on the premise that the individual is primary and that government’s singular morally defensible justification is the protection of natural rights.
However, today’s ruling class is quite the opposite. We are bludgeoned by progressive left propaganda to collectivize everything through identity politics, victimization, altruist guilt and entitlement. And since their rhetoric is not rational, they must get their way through intimidation and violence; to wit, clad in black from head to toe thugs on college campuses attacking free speech by screaming obscenities, smashing windows and burning cars; and raucous, profanity-laced town hall meetings.
So what we have is a cabal of academia, media, Hollywood and elected Democrats running around with their hair on fire screaming racism, hate and fascism at everything that is Trump. Sadly, fascism has become a word used by the ignorant to demonize anyone. And, Trump is that very rare Republican with the stones to throw it back in their faces. They’re not used to that.
But let’s face it, the progressive left lost to what they consider to be a neophyte rube. They’re humiliated and they’re angry, but not at their own incompetence and failed ideas. They believe themselves so superior that they had to come up with an alternate narrative: the Russians colluded with Trump. Yeah, right.
And despite six years of magnificent losses – a thousand state legislature, House and Senate seats, governorships and the White House – they have doubled down by electing old guard hacks Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to be their minority leaders in Congress and Tom Perez as their angry and profane cheerleader at the DNC. So let’s just enjoy the spectacle of their insanity.
Yet, the insanity has gotten even better now that President Trump has saved the American economy from the Paris Climate Accord nonsense. For example, California Gov. Jerry Brown claimed people are going to die, sea levels are going to rise and insects are going to spread; and billionaire Democrat donor Tom Steyer accused President Trump of declaring war on the American people.
The fact that Trump can drive them, CNN, the Times, the Post and the corrupt bureaucratic state to such levels of derangement means he’s doing something right. I predict that their united offensive to bring down Trump will only get more desperate as their failures mount.
If someone were to tell me that during my lifetime we would elect a president that didn’t covet the power, didn’t need the money, had never held political office, owed nothing to special interest groups, had no allies in either party, was mocked by the media, would appoint a cabinet that also didn’t need the job or the money and understands that Washington is horribly bloated and self-interested, I would have said, “No way!”
Of course, seven months ago we elected President Donald Trump. As the outcome of the election began sinking in, I was shocked and thrilled. Shocked that a bombastic real estate developer with no political experience would defeat the establishment leftist with the huge war chest; and thrilled that an anti-PC and anti-deep state Washington candidate was actually going to win.
As I explained to a supporter of President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton, thank God we had 63 million Americans who voted for the only vehicle we had to fight against Washington’s protection racket.
Now five months in to Trump’s presidency, the beltway swamp has unmasked itself for what it obviously is – a self-dealing pit of anti-American snakes. Over the last eight years we have seen intelligence agencies, the IRS, the federal circuit courts and the Department of Justice become politicized to a degree that no true American can stomach.
But who am I to judge who is a true American and how do we define what being American really means? In one sense, America is an idea. It is the only country in the history of the world founded on the premise that the individual is primary and that government’s singular morally defensible justification is the protection of natural rights.
However, today’s ruling class is quite the opposite. We are bludgeoned by progressive left propaganda to collectivize everything through identity politics, victimization, altruist guilt and entitlement. And since their rhetoric is not rational, they must get their way through intimidation and violence; to wit, clad in black from head to toe thugs on college campuses attacking free speech by screaming obscenities, smashing windows and burning cars; and raucous, profanity-laced town hall meetings.
So what we have is a cabal of academia, media, Hollywood and elected Democrats running around with their hair on fire screaming racism, hate and fascism at everything that is Trump. Sadly, fascism has become a word used by the ignorant to demonize anyone. And, Trump is that very rare Republican with the stones to throw it back in their faces. They’re not used to that.
But let’s face it, the progressive left lost to what they consider to be a neophyte rube. They’re humiliated and they’re angry, but not at their own incompetence and failed ideas. They believe themselves so superior that they had to come up with an alternate narrative: the Russians colluded with Trump. Yeah, right.
And despite six years of magnificent losses – a thousand state legislature, House and Senate seats, governorships and the White House – they have doubled down by electing old guard hacks Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to be their minority leaders in Congress and Tom Perez as their angry and profane cheerleader at the DNC. So let’s just enjoy the spectacle of their insanity.
Yet, the insanity has gotten even better now that President Trump has saved the American economy from the Paris Climate Accord nonsense. For example, California Gov. Jerry Brown claimed people are going to die, sea levels are going to rise and insects are going to spread; and billionaire Democrat donor Tom Steyer accused President Trump of declaring war on the American people.
The fact that Trump can drive them, CNN, the Times, the Post and the corrupt bureaucratic state to such levels of derangement means he’s doing something right. I predict that their united offensive to bring down Trump will only get more desperate as their failures mount.