Trump’s VP Pick, Florida’s Role In Making Presidential History & Cannon’s Firing Of Jack Smith – Top 3 Takeaways – July 16th, 2024
- Youth and loyalty. In the end the former and likely future President of the United States opted for youth and loyalty with his VP pick in 39-year-old freshman Senator JD Vance (he’s literally half the age of Donald Trump). On the one hand it sounds extremely odd to suggest that a man who once said, “I’m a Never Trump guy, I never liked him” and “My god what an idiot” - in reference to Trump, is now Trump’s running mate. It would also seem to be odd that I’d refer to Vance as Trump’s “loyalty” pick. I’ll explain that in a moment. What’s apparent with Donald Trump’s decision is a sense of pragmatism. Not the kind of pragmatism that some people attempted to apply to the process such as suggesting he should choose Tim Scott because he’s Black and theoretically that should help with the Black vote or Nikki Haley because she’s a woman and Trump needs help with women...or Glenn Youngkin because he could win in Virginia (though I do especially like Glenn Youngkin). In reality, there’s no evidence that a running mate in either party has had any material impact on the outcome of an election in at least several generations. For those who question that statement btw, answer this question. In which presidential election have you voted for president due to the running mate? Neither has just about anyone else either. Also, identity politics is the name of the Democrat’s game. Far too many Republicans get sucked into accepting the false narrative that... the party should stand for merit-based outcomes in principle but choose politicians who check boxes to do it. Think about that one for a minute. But the pragmatism associated with this pick is Donald Trump’s willingness to accept the fact that during the 2016 campaign JD Vance stood in vocal opposition to him, but he now could be a tremendous asset for him. I’ve said it many times. In 2016 Marco was “Little” and Ted was “Lyin”. In 2024 Marco was a short list VP candidate (who may have only not been the pick because he’s also a Floridian) and Ted Cruz is one of the most vocal supporters of Trump that you’ll find in Congress. But many people thought that Trump could dish it out but that he couldn’t take it. Clearly that’s not the case. As for loyalty – here’s how that plays. The pick of JD Vance suggests that Donald Trump thought differently of a VP this time around. In 2016 he made a completely pragmatic pick in Mike Pence – someone no one really suspected. But the choice was made because Donald Trump needed someone who knew how to effectively govern given that Trump had no political experience. Pence had been both a governor and in congressional leadership. He was able to help fill in those gaps. But in the end, he wasn’t loyal to Trump, according to Trump. Trump’s loyalty in this pick isn’t necessarily all or even mostly about his belief that JD Vance will forever be loyal to him and his positions so much as Donald Trump Jr. is convinced that he will be. Vance was Jr.’s choice and the father trusted his oldest son with this one. And speaking of Trump’s sons and presidential politics...
- Eric Trump and Florida made presidential history. Prior to yesterday there had never been a Republican presidential candidate to win the party’s nomination three successive times (the record in either party is FDR’s four Democrat nominations). Yesterday, when history was made, it was once again Florida taking center stage as Eric Trump announced Florida’s delegates had voted for Donald Trump clinching the historic nomination. There’s never been a politician like Donald Trump. And Trump continues to accomplish what no Republican politician before him has accomplished. And as for Florida. We may no longer be the ultimate swing state, however what happens in this state continues to be more relevant than what happens in any other state in shaping the future of this country. Yesterday that was once again on display.
- A false premise. As I’ve been known to say... If the premise of anything is false, anything built on it will fail too. Yesterday, in yet another remarkable news day, Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Jack Smith’s classified docs case was based on a false premise. Actually, most appropriately stated, Judge Cannon said that Jack Smith himself is the false premise. As in he has been illegally prosecuting cases against Donald Trump – while illegally using tens of millions of dollars to do it. And this is because in Cannon’s judgement (but also as recently stated by Justice Clarence Thomas), Attorney General Merrick Garland unconstitutionally appointed a private citizen who’d never been confirmed by congress to any position, to effectively the second most powerful law enforcement position in the land, with an unlimited budget. Btw, what does that say generally about the attorney general’s judgement? The bottom line is this. Congress has constitutional oversight on appointed positions and government spending. Those processes were bypassed by Garland with the selection of Smith. Many on the left will and already have been wailing and moaning about Cannon being a conservative hack that’s in the tank for Trump because she was appointed by Trump. But what that argument doesn’t address are the merits of her decision. It’s like this. Who thinks any future administration should be able to find any attorney they like off of the street, name them a special prosecutor and award them unfettered power to prosecute political opponents with unlimited taxpayer resources. That’s insane, isn’t it? And that’s the point. This entire process run by Merrick Garland has been an unconstitutionally insane attack on the administration's political opponent. This isn’t over yet. The decision will likely be appealed, and it will be decided in an appellate court or perhaps the Supreme Court. But if Jack Smith is allowed to stand as a special prosecutor that insane scenario – you know the one we’re actually in right now – would become precedent. It’s a false premise.