Donald Trump is imperfect. He is overtly lacking, deeply flawed. From his extra-marital failures to his maddeningly imprecise language. He is a bull in a china shop. A metaphorical middle finger to establishment elites far too cozy on their porcelain thrones. The core of what he says is usually correct, but his details are fuzzy, sometimes nonexistent. His arguments are low resolution. He’s a big-picture thinker, the kind who sees the forest at expense of the trees. This can be extraordinarily trying, especially in a postmodern world, where precision in language is under constant assault and can only be countered by the dogged insistence of precision. My goal is to raise the resolution level allowing us to view the whole, by viewing the parts. I want everyone to see the forest, but first we must be certain that what we’re looking at is indeed a forest. We must reelect Donald Trump for three reasons, which, in reality, is truly just one.
Critical Race Theory
Although done by executive order, Trump took steps to ban critical race theory based training and practices within federal agencies and later extended that order to government contractors. The order states that “many people are pushing a different vision of America that is grounded in hierarchies based on collective social and political identities rather than in the inherent and equal dignity of every person as an individual. This ideology is rooted in the pernicious and false belief that America is an irredeemably racist and sexist country; that some people, simply on account of their race or sex, are oppressors; and that racial and sexual identities are more important than our common status as human beings and Americans.” As an example of these “collective social and political identities” look no further than the Smithsonian African American museum infographic titled Whiteness and White Culture, a title that marks its authors as drawing a very distinct line between whiteness and blackness and white culture and black culture. Whiteness, the graphic explains, is in reference to white peoples “traditions, attitudes, and ways of life” and how those traditions, attitudes, and ways of life have been normalized as standard practice in the US. The graphic goes on to state, that since white people hold the majority of power within the US, all people, including people of color have internalized “whiteness.” What are these traditions, attitudes and ways of life you may ask? White beliefs include rugged individualism and self-reliance; white traditions like the scientific method with its emphasis on objective reasoning like cause and effect. White ways of life include hard work as the key to success, valuing ownership of property, delayed gratification, and scheduling. Said with a different connotation, one could be forgiven for believing these words were uttered by an ardent Neo-Nazi, not a museum that purports to highlight the cultural and historical achievements of black Americans. Facing backlash, the museum removed the graphic, what is remains is merely block-text of the same nonsense found in graphic. Yet, the NMAAHC’s infographic is just the tip of an iceberg.
Sandia National Laboratories contracts with the Federal Government to design nuclear armaments and other weapons. Independent filmmaker Christopher Rufo obtained documents pertaining to a three-day mandatory training at a luxury resort. Sounds typical? Yes, except that the only employees required to attend this mandatory training were white men. During the training white male employees were told they “must expose the ‘roots of white male culture,’ which consists of ‘rugged individualism,’ ‘a can-do attitude,’ ‘hard work,’ and ‘striving towards success’—which sound good, but are in fact ‘devastating’ to women and POCs.” Rufo also provided the workbooks used during the three-day struggle session where the white male employees were required to write messages and apologies to women and minorities. For the uninitiated, a struggle session is a Maoist tactic stemming from the Marxist tactic of self-criticism where subjects “were ‘worked over’, or subjected to aggressive questioning in public meetings; if they were discovered to be in error, they had to confess their sins” as written by David Priestland in The Red Flag: A History of Communism.
What does this have to do with voting Trump? The answer is simple, his executive order, which I fervently hope becomes a law via the legislature, is a confirmation of enshrined American values. It is not the desperately needed surgery required to remove the influence of toxic postmodern Marxist ideology, but it staunches the bleeding—ensuring precious moments to save the patient. The order states that it is the “policy of the United States not to promote race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating in the Federal workforce” including the military and Federal contractors where stereotyping “means ascribing character traits, values, moral and ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of his or her race or sex” and scapegoating “means assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to members of a race or sex because of their race or sex.” The order targets grants as well, saying “the heads of all agencies shall review their respective grant programs and identify programs for which the agency may, as a condition of receiving such a grant, require the recipient to certify that it will not use Federal funds to promote the concepts” of critical race theory. There is a fountain from which the postmodern Marxist ideology pours forth—the university. By targeting, even at a base level, “this [misrepresentation] of our country’s history and its role in the world,” Trump struck a blow against the forces that seek to divide and conquer us.
Law and Order
Since the death of George Floyd in May, violent riots have broken out in several American cities. While the media, from Fox News to CNN have continuously referred to these violent outbursts as “mostly peaceful protests” make no mistake, these protests are riots. Protesters do not loot and burn liquor stores; protestors do not attack elderly shop-keeps or rob them at knife point; protestors do not block city streets, disrupting the flow of traffic as people try to get to and from work. Rioters do these things. The tricky language of talkingheads is little more than illusion. Frank Luntz advised Trump to change his language in response to the riots. Luntz advised in a June segment of Special Report with Bret Baier that he should use “public safety” in place of “law and order.” I disagree. When I see businesses burning in Minneapolis, elderly men violently assaulted for defending their livelihoods, or two liberal suburbanites forced to draw firearms on trespassers—I think we’ve moved beyond the concept of public safety and well into a common demand for the restoration of order by the implementation of law.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey live in St. Louis, MO. They are personal injury lawyers. They live in a gated, upscale suburb and restored a “$1.15m Renaissance-style palazzo, built by an Anheuser-Busch beer fortune heiress in the early 1900s” to its former glory. The house is on a street called Portland Place. An iron gate separates the private street from the public street of Kingshighway—the street itself is marked “Private Property.” Only a few months ago, the McCloskey’s lived in obscurity, known to their clients, friends, and family alone. But in June, that changed. Black Lives Matter protesters decided to make a public showing at the house of St. Louis mayor, Lynda Krewson, whom they accused of “doxing” some of the protestors. BLM “marchers began making their way towards Krewson’s home” which required them to violate private property and pass by the McCloskey’s home, which, again, is within a private gated community—gated, presumably, to keep people who don’t live there out. Of course, this is the kind of behavior you can expect from an organization founded by “trained Marxists” who, by that idea, don’t believe in the concept of private property. The McCloskey’s, like their neighbors, pay to hold Portland Place in trust, “residents pay towards its management and the upkeep of the street, as well as private security.” Mr. McCloskey told Fox News that “as soon as I said the words ‘private property,’ it seemed to enrage them. As if that phrase ‘private property’ was a fire for them. I ran in, got my rifle. I started standing on the wing of the patio saying, ‘Private property! Get out! Get out of here!’ They kept pouring in. That seemed to make them want to come forward.” In the opening of the McCloskey’s speech at the RNC we were given a taste of the insults and threats hurled at the couple as they demanded the trespassers to leave. Such nonviolent sentences as “call the fucking cops you bitch” and peaceful statements like “we gonna kill you bitch” and non-aggressive sentiments similar too “I’ma rape you bitch” were thrown at Mrs. McCloskey. During this confrontation, which Mr. McCloskey stated went on for 12-15 minutes, the couple were forced to draw firearms and confront the mob surrounding their home. Despite being called police and private security forces were nowhere in sight. The McCloskey’s lack of trigger discipline and 2A aside, this incident shows something unique about public safety—you can’t count on it. You pay taxes, you pay HOA fees, you expect help is a phone call away, but sometimes they tell you no.
August 25th, 2020, a seventeen-year-old boy’s life was turned upside-down. His name is Kyle Rittenhouse and he was forced to shoot three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Why? Kyle, although a resident of Antioch, Il, works in Kenosha as a lifeguard, he spent that day working and then later went to clean up graffiti at a local high school. At some point in the day, Kyle heard that a local auto dealer was asking for help to defend what was left of his livelihood, which included two mechanic shops and a dealership that had already been destroyed by rioters. Kyle and a friend armed themselves with rifles due to the violent nature of the riots from the night before and all across the country. Almost all of what occurred that night was caught on camera thanks to independent journalists like Richard McGinnis. However, the clear and concise breakdowns by youtuber Donut Operator, place the event in context. From beginning to end, it is clear that Kyle is being chased by a mob of rioters, among which is registered sex offender Joseph Rosenbaum, ex-con Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz, you can see their criminal history here. Rosenbaum chased Kyle, threw something at him, at the same time a firearm (not carried by Kyle) is discharged, Kyle turned and fired four rounds striking Rosenbaum and killing him. Kyle then appears to use his cellphone to contact help. He begins to retreat down the street as rioters close in on Rosenbaum’s corpse. The mob, now in a frenzy, begins chasing Kyle. One may question the wisdom of chasing a man who has just shown his ability, and most importantly, his willingness to defend himself? But I digress, we’re not here to question the idiotic actions of felonious Marxists. Continuing down the street, Kyle fell to the ground where a man kicks him, Kyle fired one shot, missed. Simultaneously, Anthony Huber struck Kyle in the back of the head with a skateboard. Kyle turned and fired one round into Huber’s chest, killing him. The third assailant, Grosskreutz, also carrying a gun, approached Kyle and threw his hands up in surrender before attempting to lunge at Kyle. Kyle fired one shot obliterating Grosskreutz’s bicep. Kyle is now in jail, being held on numerous charges, including first degree reckless homicide and recklessly endangering safety. Yet another example of local law enforcement failing, not just the men Kyle was forced to shoot, but Kyle himself, and the people Kyle volunteered to help.
Community safety is already broken down in these cities. Public safety, by necessity, must be thrown by the wayside as night after night after night Portland PD and other agencies are required to declare a riot, to spend resources and officers dealing with violent rioters who are arrested and turned out the very same night to attack bystanders, burn businesses, and assault police officers again. As it turns out, law and order is a prerequisite to public safety—a necessary pillar holding up the entire apparatus. When Donald Trump tweets the words “LAW AND ORDER” he means them. He means them so much, that not once has he ordered federal troops into a city, or forced national guardsmen into the streets without the request of that State. He leaves that decision up to those who are in charge of these places because we are have a federal system of government. But what about the Insurrection Act some might ask? US Code Chapter 13, Section 252 states: “whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.” It’s not that a rebellion has made it impracticable to enforce law by ordinary proceedings, its that the leaders of these states and cities wont. The reason why Portland declares a riot night after night is that rioters are arrested and released in an endless cycle. They are booked, but never charged, caught, but released. Trump has, since June, continuously offered support to states and cities like Portland, Seattle, and Chicago—the leaders in Washington, Oregon, and Illinois have continuously denied and ridiculed his offers. The McCloskey’s and Kyle Rittenhouse exemplify the real problem; the law isn’t being enforced and order is breaking down, forcing normal, everyday people into situations that shouldn’t even be occurring. The police should have responded to the McCloskey’s, the people trespassing should have been dispersed and their leaders arrested and prosecuted. Riots should not have been allowed to continue in Kenosha, causing a business owner to ask young men to defend his livelihood with force of arms. Make no mistake, these riots will continue until the organizers and agitators are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, something which will only happen with Trump’s second term. It’s the Federal Marshals under the Trump administration who are deputizing local law enforcement, it’s the DOJ under a Trump administration investigating Antifa, it’s Trump demanding the restoration of order through the implementation of law.
Remember Kavanaugh?
Recalling the events following the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh would take considerable length and time not suited to this particular format. However, a basic summary will suffice, though it will lack detail and subtlety. In July of 2018, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, hearings began September 4th and public questioning ended September 6th. On September 16th, Christine Blasey Ford claimed allegations of sexual assault taking place in the 1980s during a high school party no one could even remember happened. The very next day, Kavanaugh denied the allegations and all hell broke loose. Ford’s lawyers signaled willingness to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, more allegations followed, this time from another woman and even more ridiculous than the first. Hearings began again, Ford testified, an FBI investigation was called, the results were sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, finally, on October 5th, Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate to the Supreme Court. This event is strikingly similar to what befell Robert Bork when he was accused, by Senator Edward Kennedy—yes, the one who left a woman to drown in a river—that Bork’s America “is a land in which women [are] forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters,” that police would kick down citizen’s doors without a warrant, children disallowed to learn evolution, writers and artists censored—these statements are factually untrue, but that didn’t matter to Kennedy and most importantly to leftwing activists who saw it work. So it should be no surprise that they tried it again with Justice Clarence Thomas. Gloria Steinem even called it by name—“We’re going to bork him” she said.
With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, leftists are in overdrive. The nominee is Judge Amy Coney Barrett and she is about to face the fight of her life; from criticism of her Catholic Faith to the insinuation that the adoption of two Haitian children is white colonization. Although Senate Democrats have zeroed in on “health care” as their issue with Barrett’s nomination, they started with, and will most likely continue to use Senate Republican’s refusal to proceed with hearings for Obama’s nominee, Marrick Garland. The target is Lindsey Graham, who stated, arguably foolishly in 2016, “I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first stretch, you can say, ‘Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’” Case closed. Lindsey Graham is a hypocrite with his promise to move the Barrett nomination forward—except for one problem. Remember Kavanaugh? That. The very idea that democrats can escape the consequences of their behavior and the consequences of the 2018 midterm is laughable at best. First, it should be stated, that in 2016, Obama was a lame-duck president. His party did not hold the Senate, the republicans did. This suggest that in the final term of Obama’s presidency, the American people elected for a check on the president’s power, which includes his power to nominate judicial appointees. In contrast, Trump has the presidency and the senate, suggesting the American people support his agenda including his judicial nominees. Lindsey Graham pointed this out in a letter to Judiciary Committee dems, he wrote; “the American people elected a Republican Senate majority in 2014, Americans did so because we committed to checking and balancing the end of President Obama’s lame duck presidency. We did so. We followed the precedent that the Senate has followed for 140 years: since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee during an election year. Because our Senate majority committed to confirming President Trump’s excellent judicial nominees—and particularly because we committed to supporting his Supreme Court nominees—the American people expanded the Republican majority in 2018. We should honor that mandate.” Secondly, as Graham succinctly states, “after the treatment of Justice Kavanaugh I now have a different view of the judicial-confirmation process.”
We should not expect the behavior of the democratic party to improve with a Biden Presidency. What we should expect is packing the Supreme Court with activist judges, maybe even Supreme Court term limits, which sounds great in theory, save that a lifetime appointment is meant to keep the Justices from making decisions based on their political futures. With the politicization of the nomination process, the politicization of the seat itself is dangerous to the very concept of liberty. There is an argument to be made for the far too powerful Supreme Court, which has in past years, made whole cloth decisions such as Roe v. Wade and legislative decisions like the ACA’s individual mandate. Allowing the democrats to pack the court with activist judges is not going to check or balance the Supreme Court. The place to start is with Donald Trump’s presidency and his nominees.
The Conservative Case for Trump
The three reasons listed above are truly just one reason—culture. America is in the middle of a culture war; it isn’t the first, it won’t be the last. I don’t believe its hyperbole to state that much rides on the outcome of this election; critical race theory has convinced entire generations that America is an irredeemably racist nation, that American cultural staples such as hard work and self-reliance are white supremacist ideals; the Second Amendment and the fundamental right of Americans to defend their lives and property are imperiled as both the McCloskey’s and Kyle Rittenhouse face criminal charges for protecting themselves when police failed in their duty; the Supreme Court is in a frightening limbo, will we attempted to restore it, or allow it even more dangerous powers? No politician is a panacea—but a man like Donald Trump, who unapologetically calls out the lying media, twists the heads of Marxist professors, and steels the spines of other republican politicians—is the choice for conservatives. Trump has done the one thing limp-wristed, over-the-hill politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney never could; he’s made the mask slip. He’s shown people the true essence of ivory tower-dwellers, he’s brought more American into the tent, said the words no modern rightwing politician would utter, words like Marxism, fake news, and covfefe. In the war to defend America’s culture, we would be mistaken in thinking Trump isn’t winning. If we weren’t winning, the leftists wouldn’t be in panic. So why stop now?
Cultural Revue 