I must admit I don’t know very much about Brown University. We did have a neighbor whose daughter graduated from Brown. She was extremely liberal and we had seen reports that Brown University was extremely liberal. That, of course, is no surprise regarding any IVY league college.

Then this awful shooting happened. Two people were killed and nine others injured. Brown University is in Providence Rhode Island. There have been several news conferences regarding this, with the Mayor of Providence Rhode Island in the lead. If these news conferences were designed to elevate Providence, Rhode Island and Brown University, that is not what happened. In each case local and national media reporters asked a ton of questions and none of the press conference participants seemed to be prepared with any answers.

One question asked recently was whether Brown University had turned off its numerous cameras because of a request from a liberal organization. It turns out this may have been exactly what happened.

Brown University Received a Letter from 34 Human Rights Groups in August Requesting They Disable Their CCTV System – The Last Refuge

This letter was sent to 150 U.S. colleges and universities asking them to disable CCTV systems.

“Right now, these tools are facilitating the identification and punishment of student protesters, undermining activists’ right to anonymity––a right the Supreme Court has affirmed as vital to free expression and political participation.” 

This would sure help explain the lack of video evidence.

In addition consider the fact that at least of these protests were violent pro-Palestine rallies. You know the rallies where people shouted, “death to Israel” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Free, of course, means free of any occupation by the hated Jews.

It gets even worse. Some are suggesting that Brown University is covering up for Mustapha Kharbouch:

Who is Mustapha Kharbouch? Brown University student’s profile removed after mass shooting

“Why has Brown University suddenly erased every mention of Mustapha Kharbouch (a Palestinian activist and first-year student) from its official website, right as the FBI intensifies its manhunt for the shooter who killed two and injured nine in the campus attack?”

Notice that Brown University issued the following statement, which sure looks like a non-denial denial:  “In the aftermath of the shooting, we’ve seen harmful doxxing activity directed towards at least one member of the Brown University community,” a statement read. “It’s important to make clear that targeting individuals could do irrevocable harm.”

There are also reports that the shooter shouted “Allahu Akbar” just before shooting. Following is a picture of Mr. Kharbouch.

There are pictures of someone identified as a person of interest who is 5’ 8” tall and of a stocky build. Coincidence? None of this is evidence of guilt, but it is also not evidence of innocence.

If Mustapha Kharbouch is innocent, then he or his friends should be the very first to provide him with an alibi. That would end the speculation. There is no current evidence that this has happened. If Brown University really wanted to protect him, they are instead making things much worse.

We don’t know who shot eleven Brown University students, killing two of them. All we know is that, so far, the press conferences have done little to convince anyone that this is being handled effectively.

It is not exactly unique for someone motivated by Muslim extremism to decide it would be great fun to shoot people. The recent Bondi Beach massacre in Sydney Australia is a reminder of that.

One thing is certain, the longer this goes on, the more serious the questions. What, exactly, is the value of being politically correct if the result is the death of innocent people?

In addition, I suspect a lot of people, considering sending their precious children to an Ivy League school has just crossed “Brown Out”.

TDM

If you live on this planet long enough you will see events happen that defy all logic. In 1991 George H.W. Bush seemed to be coasting to re-election. Bush led the U.S. to a stunning defeat of Iraq. His approval rating approached 90%. Few Democrats wanted the nomination in 1992, because they thought Bush was a shoe-in. The result was that Bill Clinton, a relatively unknown, won the DNC nomination. Then in 1992 the economy started to slow down. Clinton won because “it’s the economy, stupid.” He beat George Bush and promptly pushed the economy off the cliff. But Republicans ran on a contract with America, Clinton wisely agreed with them, and as a result the economy recovered. It also recovered because Clinton spent the Social Security surplus creating the illusion of a balanced budget.

 Then, incredibly, he won re-election because Republicans ran Bob (I don’t have a personality) Dole, because it was his turn. The night Clinton was re-elected, I took a long, long walk, because I was totally depressed that the voters in this country could be so stupid.

In 2000, George W. Bush, barely, beat Al Gore. Today few people can even imagine Al Gore being President of the United States, but we dodged that bullet by about 300 votes in Florida. Bush defeated  al Qaeda in Afghanistan and invaded Iraq, and captured Saddam Hussein. In 2004, Bush defeated John Kerry, one of the most despicable anti-American candidates in U.S. history. The same John Kerry who distinctly remembered taking his swift boat into Cambodia as ordered by Richard Nixon during  Christmas 1968. Few noticed that his boat never went near Cambodia and in Christmas 1968 the President of the United States was LBJ, not Richard Nixon.

 Even though George W. Bush soared to favorability, Democrats went on a full-time mission to destroy him. He was blamed for Hurricane Katrina and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. Then, when his eight years were over, someone decided that Barack Obama was the future, because he was black.

 No one bothered to check if he was remotely qualified to be President of the United States. Republicans countered with John McCain, the favorite RINO of the MSM. The MSM loved McCain, until he was competing with a Democrat, then they turned on him. He, predictably, lost. Four years later, Republicans ran another RINO, Mitt Romney, who also, predictably, lost. I know many people who thought Obama was a horrible President but know absolutely no one who regrets that Mitt Romney did not become President.

 For the next eight years, Barack could do no wrong, because no one in the MSM dared even hint at criticism of the first Black President. Then in 2016, Hillary Clinton, probably the most disgusting person to ever run for President, was defeated by, gasp, Donald Trump. Democrats, with the support of the MSM and RINO Republicans including George W. Bush and Mitt Romney spent the next four years desperately trying to make it impossible for Trump to succeed. He succeeded anyway, but then when COVID struck, the usual suspects seized the day and shut the country down, with devastating results. With the help of mail-in ballots and highly suspect voting machines, Joe Biden, campaigning from his basement, miraculously defeated the hated Donald Trump. 

On January 6^th, 2020, there was a “riot” at the Capitol. Democrats still pretend this was the greatest threat to democracy since the civil war. That may be true, but there is serious question regarding whether the people who orchestrated this were trying to help Donald Trump or overthrow Donald Trump.

 Democrats, RINO Republicans, and the MSM spent four years covering up the obvious fact that Joe Biden, never all that bright, was suffering from seriously diminished mental capacity. Granted, with someone like Joe Biden, it is often hard to separate dementia from a long history of public stupidity. But the MSM embraced the ridiculous while ignoring the obvious. They maintained this illusion until Joe’s performance in the 2024 Presidential debate made it impossible to even pretend. 

Kamala Harris was the first candidate to drop out of the 2020 election. Joe had promised to pick a black female vice President, and Kamala Harris was better than the person in second place, Karen Bass, she was elected to be VP. When Joe self-destructed, Kamala was chosen to succeed him. Over 1$ billion was spent on her campaign, but Trump trounced her anyway.

 None of this makes sense, but it is all too real. It is a reminder than sometimes truth is stranger and more devastating than fiction. Some are now predicting that Democrats will soar during the 2026 midterm elections. Before believing that, consider the fact that the people predicting this have been wrong about everything else for an extraordinarily long time.

 What are the odds that any of the above really happened? 100% What are the odds that future decision by far too many American voters will be equally at odds with reality? 100% But remember this. Donald Trump won in 2016 when few in the MSM thought this was remotely possible. Then he won again in 2024, even though Democrat Fat Cats donated more than $1 billion to Kamala, only to see her lose every swing state and the popular vote.

 So, what are the odds? The odds are those strange people who believe almost anything said by the liberal left and the MSM without regard to any facts or evidence. These people will almost always vote for the Democrat even when the candidate has been totally compromised. For example, Marion Barry was the mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and then from 1995 to 1999.

 The following article on sfgate.com explains: Marion Barry, re-elected Washington mayor after drug term, dies

 On Jan. 18, 1990, Mayor Barry was arrested in a Washington hotel room while smoking crack cocaine and fondling a woman who was not his wife. The arrest caused a sensation, but it was hardly a surprise: The public had known of his womanizing, and there had been rumors of drug use.

 It didn’t matter. He had to resign in 1991 but was elected again in 1995. Sadly, there are always an astonishing number of people who will vote for the Democrat with any regard to the facts, evidence or consequences.

 he odds always show up to vote. Conservatives not so much. There is only one way to beat the odds and that is when good people turn out to vote.

TDM

TDM

Democrats and their fawning supporters in the MSM have been on a mission to destroy Donald Trump for an exceedingly long time. They were so desperate to stop him that they invented imaginary hoaxes out of whole cloth designed to destroy him. They tried to destroy him in 2016 with the Russian collusion hoax, and then the all too real Access Hollywood tapes where Trump made incredibly stupid remarks proving that like a lot of rich and famous people, He felt he was entitled to do and say things that would destroy a normal person. But Trump won anyway in 2016, and Democrats spent the next four years trying to convict him of, something. They failed.

In early 2020 most experts felt that Trump would win re-election in a walk. The economy was soaring. There were no ongoing wars. The Democratic candidates were just plain awful. So awful that the establishment chose Joe Biden because the only alternative was Bernie Sanders. Even Democrats are not suicidal enough to go all in on Bernie Sanders. Then COVID 19 hit and Democrats, with their fawning supporters in the MSM seized the day. Sadly, Trump followed the advice of people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. They met with Trump and convinced him he needed to shut down the country completely or millions of people would die. He did shut it down, temporarily, and Democrats moved quickly to keep it shut down. That destroyed the U.S. economy and is one of the reasons Joe Biden was selected to be President.

In addition, COVID 19 restrictions resulted in a national election dominated by main-in ballots and voting machines creating an obvious potential for election fraud. In December 2019, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Amy Klobuchar and Congressman Mark Pocan wrote a letter to Dominion Voting machines waring about reports of machines “switching votes,” “undisclosed vulnerabilities,” and “improbable” results that threaten the integrity of our elections. Sound familiar? This is exactly what appeared to happen during the 2020 election.

Absent widespread fraud, it is hard to explain how Joe Biden won the 2020 election. We now know that six million people, who allegedly voted for Joe Biden in 2020, disappeared before the 2024 election. The following article by Mark Thomas, from Uspiked.Com is remarkable, because Thomas hated Trump and supported Kamala Harris. What Happened to the Six Million 2020 Voters? | uSpiked

Here is what he said about the 2024 election:

The election results, however, defied reason. Despite overwhelming resources—a billion-dollar campaign war chest, an extensive grassroots network, and unparalleled momentum—Harris lost to Trump. Post-election, media, and pundits offered myriad explanations for this stunning turn of events, but none satisfactorily unraveled the enigma.

Determined to seek clarity, “uSpiked” consulted experts in data science, statistics, and political theory. The findings, however, compel us to confront an uncomfortable reality: the 2024 election results may inadvertently lend credence to Trump’s contested claims about the 2020 election. Was the so-called “Big Lie” masking an even bigger truth?

In 2020  a reported 81, 282,915 votes were cast for Joe Biden compared to 72, 223, 369 for Trump. But in 2024, Trump got 77, 93,105 votes, while Kamala Harris got only 74,898,009. Somehow, miraculously, more than 6 million fewer people voted for Kamala Harris than voted for Biden in 2020. Where did they go?

In case you were interested, the number of newly registered voters increased during the period between 2020 and 2024. This caused Mark Thomas to realize that over six million voters disappeared. “The experts consulted by uSpiked raised a far more unsettling question: were these six million voters ever real? Biden’s 2020 vote count, hailed at the time as historic, now invites scrutiny. Could it be that Trump, though inarticulate and poorly represented by the farcical figures leading his legal battles, was correct in suspecting foul play?

Ultimately, he stated  the obvious:  Biden’s 2020 vote count, hailed at the time as historic, now invites scrutiny. Could it be that Trump, though inarticulate and poorly represented by the farcical figures leading his legal battles, was correct in suspecting foul play?”

They still hate Trump, but facts are facts and they cannot offer a good explanation for the statistically impossible results of 2020. Combine that with the multitude of lies told about COVID 19. Let’s be blunt. Joe Biden is, was and always had been a horrible Presidential candidate. In 1988 his campaign was derailed by a plagiarism scandal causing him to withdraw. He tried to run in 2008 and was trounced coming in fifth, out of five candidates with less than 1% of the vote in the Iowa Caucus. He didn’t even try in 2016, partially because Hillary Clinton had learned her lesson from 2008 and rigged the entire primary season. On election day, Trump was in the lead in several swing states. By the next morning that lead disappeared when last minute, undocumented ballot drops, all heavily in favor of Joe Biden started to come in. When Trump questioned the obvious Democrats and their supporters in the MSM went all in on accusing Trump of refusing to accept the results of an election and even accused him of plotting to overthrow the government.

Now it is increasingly obvious that it was Democrats and their supporters in the MSM who tried to overthrow the first Trump administration because they didn’t like the results of the election. The same Democrats who called Trump a threat to Democracy, are so desperate to stop him from succeeding that they literally encouraged military personnel to refuse to obey “illegal” orders. They, predictably, cannot identify any “illegal” orders. If this is not Treason and Sedition, please provide an alternative term that would more accurately describe this action.

Stating the obvious, it is Democrats, not Republicans, who refuse to accept the results of an election. It is Democrats, not Republicans who attempted to overthrow the election because they didn’t like the results. It is Democrats, not Republicans who are the real threat to Democracy. They are clearly willing to do anything, and I do mean anything, to stay (regain) power. It is why Republicans need to wake up and do the necessary to save the country, not from Trump, but rather from those terminally ill with Trump Derangement Syndrome.

TDM

Democrats really believed they were on a roll. They won elections in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia with awful candidates. This should not have been a surprise to anyone. New York City is a hot mess, and no Republican has come close to winning there for decades. New Jersey is also famous for electing Democrats who probably wouldn’t come close anywhere else. Virginia is populated by a lot of people filled with TDS and their candidate just couldn’t generate the necessary support. That may have been a racist decision by the Democrat Party which claims to be “anti-racist.” Republicans ran a conservative black female and there was no way Democrats were going to tolerate that.

Then we had the race in Tennessee where the Republican, fortunately, beat another awful Democrat candidate. The media will try and spin this as a surge by Democrats because Trump won this district by about twenty-two points. They are wrong. The reality is that Democrats shot their wad on a lost cause. Sending in the clowns, like Obama, AOL, and even Al Gore (Is he still alive?) didn’t work. They also spend a fortune to generate massive turnout in blue cities. This is their strategy for 2026. It is a guaranteed loser. The problem is that enough of the voters in the rest of the state showed up on a frigid winter night to vote for the right candidate. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Right now, Democrats are shrieking TDS myths all day long. Sometimes Trump doesn’t help by being incapable of shutting up. But one notes that if Trump is silent for more than 30 seconds, the usual TDS suspects who ignored the mental ghost disguised as Joe Biden for four years, start screaming about Trump’s diminished mental capacity. No one paying any attention buys that nonsense, but desperate people do desperate things, and the TDS crowd is beyond desperate.

Democrats managed to shut down the government, with predictable results, so that they could blame everything on Trump. They are desperate to blame Trump for the inflation caused by four years of Bidenomics. They continue to try and accuse him of being Hitler for authorizing ICE to enforce the laws passed by congress. They dream of taking over the House and the Senate in the fall of 2026 so that can make Trump the ultimate “Lame Duck President.” They do this with no regard for the consequences. That is wrong. They love the consequences because their clientele consists solely of people who are perpetually piss ants. When things are going great, the good ordinary people show up, and the piss ants are reduced to their normal position in society of loud, noisy nuisances who have insignificant impact on anyone else.

The tax cuts go into effect on January 1^st,  and they will be noticed, not by billionaires but rather by ordinary working people who are sick of being taxed to death. This DOJ and FBI are focused on real criminals to get real convictions. Some of those names will be prominent Democrats, totally ignored, if not secretly encouraged, by the Biden administration. Gas prices will continue to drop. Inflation is already slowing down. There is going to be a wave of massive investment in this country, by people who know how to get things done. Contrast this with the high-speed rail project in California, that still has no actual rail, and when it does have rail will go from Bakersfield to Modesto. To those of you who don’t live in California your may wonder why anyone would want to go from Modesto to Bakersfield. People living in California already know the answer, the same one who won the skeleton beauty contest, “nobody.”

Democrats thought they could feast off a role tide, by energizing the base, people who aren’t happy unless they are unhappy while sponging off the people they despise. Tennessee is famous for fixing things and the recent results are fixing a lot of things. People fighting for the role of the loudest source of vocal nonsense will soon be ignored by people far more interested in doing things that actually matter.

If Democrats thought they were on a roll tide, they are very wrong. But then they are wrong about almost everything.

TDM

A lot of people responded to my recent blog: “The Ep Sting.” One thing certain, is that no one, in either party is even pretending to defend Jeffrey Epstein. The following comment, by my friend Larry does an outstanding job of pointing out the real problem.

No More Ep-scam

Let’s stop pretending.

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t operate alone, and he didn’t get away with it because he was clever.

He got away with it because powerful people protected him for years — politicians, celebrities, billionaires, institutions, and a media class that suddenly can’t remember its own silence.

These weren’t passive bystanders.

They benefited from looking the other way.

Epstein was their access point — a gatekeeper to money, influence, and dark indulgences. And everyone knew it. The same people who now claim moral outrage were perfectly comfortable shrugging him off as “old news” until they realized they could weaponize his crimes against Trump.

That’s when they came running.

Not for justice — but for leverage.

They wanted Trump’s name on a headline, not the truth in daylight.

But now the truth is turning on them.

As more evidence drips out, it’s becoming painfully obvious:

The people screaming the loudest weren’t trying to expose Epstein — they were trying to direct the spotlight away from themselves and finally get Trump right where they wanted him.

That’s why the tone changed overnight.

Why networks went quiet.

Why certain names keep getting blurred, sealed, or “redacted for privacy.”

The public isn’t stupid.

You don’t hide names to “protect victims.”

You hide names to protect friends.

And the panic is real now, because the files aren’t cooperating with their story.

The deeper investigators dig, the closer the trail leads to their circles — the same elite club that was convinced it would never get caught.

Epstein’s ring wasn’t some underground secret.

It was an open secret in places where power gathers — whispered about, joked about, tolerated, ignored.

The system didn’t fail.

The system protected itself.

Now that protection is cracking.

And what happens next matters:

No more selective outrage.

No more political chess.

No more protecting reputations of the “important.”

Every single name that touched this operation must be exposed — red or blue, wealthy or famous, powerful or hidden.

Because justice can’t be partisan.

Truth can’t be redacted.

And the public is done being lied to while the elite shield each other.

Open the files.

Open everything.

Let the chips fall — no matter who gets crushed underneath them.

Thanks Larry. It would be great if honorable people in either party would choose character over political gain. Sadly, neither Larry or I are very confident that this will actually happen. But, wouldn’t it be wonderful, and refreshing if just someone would choose to do the right thing, for the right reason, without regard to the personal consequences. Don’t hold your breath.

TDM

Democrats have been behaving irresponsibly for a very long time. They impeached Donald Trump twice. First, because he mentioned that Joe Biden was threatening to withhold $billion in U.S. aid unless they fired the prosecutor who happened to be threatening his son. No one could even argue that Trump got this wrong. He was impeached because this was considered “election interference.” Then he was impeached again, with 24 hours left in his Presidency, for allegedly trying to overthrow the government on January 6^th. We now know that his words were taken completely out of context by the MSM, including BBC and we know it was Democrats who withheld providing the National Guard. In fact, the more we learn about January 6^th, the more likely it was a Democratic conspiracy against Trump with zero evidence of a conspiracy by Trump.

At numerous time Democrats have absolutely failed to respect the Office of President of the United States. Nancy Pelosi famously tore up her copy of his State of the Union speech, before he even finished giving it. Numerous Democrats have called Trump, “Hitler.” They have called ICE the Gestapo. They have encouraged people to fight back to save Democracy. They never mention that the laws Trump is trying to enforce were passed by Congress. Just think about that.

But that all pales in comparison with the video ad, aimed at U.S. military personnel, featuring Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy Captain, and Senator Elissa Slotkin, former CIA Officer, and Democratic representatives Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahand. (Goodlander, the wife of Jake Sullivan, Biden’s National Security Advisor, wrote a 55-page report describing the constitutional grounds for impeaching Trump. One wonders how she could support following illegal orders from sleepy Joe Biden.)

Here is exactly what they said:

“You all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”

Someone should point out the oath administered to military personnel. In case you are unfamiliar with it, here is the exact text.

“I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and of the State of (applicable state) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to them; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (applicable state) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. (So help me God).”

The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief, and even if you don’t like him or don’t respect him you must respect the office. When I enlisted in the USAF, the President of the United States was Lyndon Baines Johnson, a corrupt racist and totally incompetent at managing the Vietnam War. But I still took that oath, because I respected the office. It is really this simple: there is a chain of command in the U.S. military and that chain of command is necessary to make things function. It would be impossible to have an effective military if every individual officer or enlisted man was required to independently verify that the order just given was legal and constitutional.

China, Russia and North Korea have atomic bombs. One of the principal factors preventing them from using a nuclear weapon is the knowledge that the President of the United States is authorized to order the use of nuclear weapons and he always has ready access to the nuclear codes. Can you even imagine someone using a nuclear weapon and the United States would have to wait until Democrats in Congress decided it was ok to respond? That would literally be suicide. Remember, that Democrats just shut down the country in a desperate attempt to hold the country hostage until trillions of dollars were spent supporting the failed Obamacare system. If we must wait for people like this to order military action, we will have waited too long.

This is nothing short of treason. It literally tells troops they can ignore their oath if they somehow question when an order is legal or even constitutional. Guess what, folks? Military people often get orders given in desperation. Following 9-11 some of our fighter pilots were ordered to crash into airliners taken over by hostages. Fortunately, the planes either hit their target before this was possible, or, in one case, the passengers took down the plane. No one had time to consider if that order was legal or even constitutional. National Defense can be like that. That is why the constitution gives that power to the President of the United States, not Congress.

Some may (will) argue that this isn’t treason. That begs the question, what, then would be required? If telling troops they MUST disobey the orders of the President of the United States if they decide they are illegal is not treason, then what more could they do? Try to assassinate Trump? Oops, they may have already done that and missed.

The clear and present danger to democracy is when Democrats (how ironic) decide the consequences of an election don’t matter if they don’t like who was elected. It is time people recognize the seriousness of this situation before it becomes too late.

TDM

Jeffrey Epstein is not exactly new. The stories about him are all too true. But for years, the MSM and Democrats ignored Epstein. Perhaps one reason for that was that too many of them were secretly pleased to participate in the Epstein express.

A couple of things should be obvious, even to the clowns in the MSM. If there was any significant linkage between Epstein and Trump, you would already know all about it. When Epstein was, eventually, convicted of his obvious crimes,  neither Democrats nor the MSM seemed to care very much.

That all changed when Democrats ran out of reasons to trash Trump. Suddenly they became convinced that Trump was part of the Epstein “clientele.” Then and only then did the MSM and Democrats start demanding release of the “Epstein files.” Each small leak that even hinted of a relationship with Donald Trump was treated as a national crisis. At last, “something” that could being Donald Trump down.

Just recently, the same people who covered up everything Epstein for decades now are demanding “release the files.” Now, at last, a real opportunity to destroy Trump. But in their haste to attack Agent Orange, they were misled by their own TDS. They should have known better. Now it sure looks like Trump lured them all into an enormous trap from which it may be exceedingly difficult to escape. It is just this simple. Trump has a well-earned reputation as a sexual philanderer. He considered himself God’s gift to beautiful women. But Trump chose beautiful and successful women, not vulnerable pre-teens. He didn’t try to hide these women, he flaunted them. In many ways this is like a lot of extraordinarily rich men and their ”trophy wives.”  When Trump says, “she wasn’t his type,” he was telling the truth.

The more we learn about the Epstein files the more we learn that Jeffrey Epstein had TDS. He mentioned Trump a lot, not as a friend but rather as a despised enemy. But people filled with TDS failed to notice. So, they stupidly assumed that Trump was hiding the Epstein tapes to save himself embarrassment. I now suspect that the opposite is true. For an exceedingly long time, the MSM has focused totally on destroying Trump while ignoring far worse conduct by his critics. If Trump wasn’t the target, they closed their files and moved on. Trump looked at the Epstein files and saw opportunity. He realized that if the MSM became convinced these files could really hurt Trump, they would not be able to control themselves. Some of them probably wet themselves in anticipation.

So, Trump pretended he was genuinely concerned about the Epstein files. Democrats and the MSM, smelling blood, again, could not resist. The more he resisted the release of these files, the more convinced they became that this was the holy grail. Then, when the demands for releasing the files became too loud to ignore, Trump said: “ok guys, here they are.” Now they must report on them, and my hunch is that Trump is way, way, way down on the list of people who need to be concerned. He may have just pulled off the ultimate sting, forcing the MSM to cover the one story they can’t afford to cover. Bingo. Game, Set, Match, Trump.

Prince Andrew can tell you all about this. But he is not the only one. Odds are there are a lot of liberal Democrats on that list. Not because Republicans are without sin, it is that Epstein focused on the exploiting the rich and famous and since Democrats were in power forever, most of his “buddies” were rich liberals.

Now, in the ultimate sting, it turns out there are text messages between a Democratic congress woman who was questioning Michel Cohen. Epstein was texting her during the hearing coaching her on what to say. They even have video of her asking questions after Epstein texted her advice. It is beyond bad. It is high comedy and the MSM was lured into covering this 24/7.

The MSM and liberal Democrats are smelling blood in the water regarding Trump and Epstein. For the next few days, expect numerous stories alleging strong connections between Trump and Epstein. Democrats and their fawning supporters in the MSM simply cannot help themselves. But unless something changes, this won’t work. It may hurt Trump, temporarily, while the debris is sorted, but every credible source reports the same thing. Trump and Epstein just didn’t like each other for at least 15 years before his death. One reason is that Trump has never been willing to tolerate anyone in his inner circle who cast a larger shadow. Trump always wants the focus on him and only him. It is his strength; it is also his weakness.

But in the end, facts matter, and the simple fact is that Epstein was a Democrat and most of his friends were Democrats. The more we learn about him, with real facts, the worse for Democrats. There is extraordinarily little about Trump and Epstein we didn’t know already. That means the more this ugly, ugly pot is stirred, the more Democrats will find themselves floating to the surface.

I don’t know if Trump is this good or just this lucky, but at this point it probably doesn’t matter.

TDM

The Schumer shutdown is officially over. Eight Democrat Senators voted with Republicans to end the shutdown. The government has officially reopened, and a lot of people are celebrating. This is an exceptionally good thing. Democrats tried, and failed, to intimidate Donald Trump into accepting ridiculous demands to end the hostage crisis. The only thing they accomplished was to allow a vote on extending Obama Care subsidies, a vote they are almost guaranteed to lose. Regardless of how anyone tries to spin this in the MSM, the reality is that Trump won, bigly, again.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of this victory. Republicans remain united and never considered caving to Democrat hostage demands. That is very new. On previous occasions RINO Republicans were always around to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Republicans were within one vote of repealing ObamaCare, but John McCain arrogantly cast the deciding vote, on behalf of Democrats, at the last possible moment.

Many of us feared this happening again. Democrats were counting on this. The MSM, predictably, tried and failed to blame the shutdown this on Republicans. Some people, filled with Trump Derangement Syndrome (“TDS”) bought that argument. But they were wrong. Trump just said no, and his supporters in both the House and the Senate stood beside him. Remarkable.

Democrats made one last feeble stand, in the House, but the Republican Speaker of the House, is Mike Johnson, not Paul Ryan. The continuing resolution easily passed.

The best way to evaluate this is to watch how certain people react. The usual suspects in the media are absolutely horrified that Democrats caved and got nothing in return. Politicians like AOC and Bernie Sanders are over the moon with rage. This is pure evidence that they lost and in the worst way possible. For the first time in an exceptionally long time, Democrats are shouldering all the blame for the government shutdown. Although the media tried to play along and, predictably, blame Republicans it didn’t work. It didn’t work for one simple reason. Donald Trump does not negotiate with hostage takers. That left Democrats with only bad choices. They could continue the shutdown guaranteed to get even more blame, or they could cave, giving Donald Trump the victory. They caved. They caved because eight Democrat Senators decided enough is enough and voted to do the right thing. Something the liberal left will never ever even consider.

Just a few days ago Democrats were celebrating like no tomorrow. Well tomorrow came and they aren’t celebrating now. They are totally defeated and the only thing they can even consider doing is becoming more outraged. In other words, they are doubling down on a strategy guaranteed to fail.

What could make this worse. Easy. Democrats tried to release a couple of redacted emails and desperately try to link Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. This was beyond silly. They even claimed Trump spent Thanksgiving 2017 with Jeffrey Epstein. The numerous news media outlets covering Trump celebrating Thanksgiving at Mar-a-logo made that beyond ridiculous. Democrats had reached the absolute bottom. But wait, there was one more drop to fall. Hakeem Jeffries arrogantly leaked emails from Ghislaine Maxwell in a desperate attempt to embarrass Trump. He just forgot a couple of minor details. Like the emails didn’t mention Trump. And, oh, by the way, he got them from Prison Guards who got them illegally and were promptly fired. Oh boy. It turns out Hakeem Jeffries, who happens to be a lawyer and the former law professor failed to realize that what he did was illegal. Like really really illegal. The only person he exposed to legal liability was himself. Oops.

All of this is because of the terminal disease of Trump Derangement Syndrome. People who should know better, are so fixated on destroying Trump that they failed to realize they were destroying themselves, again. Trump is not perfect, but the people filled with Trump Derangement Syndrome are perfectly awful. Again.

Enjoy, but avoid celebrating. Republicans remain the leaders of the snatching defeat from the jaws of victory society. But this time, the challenge may be beyond their reach. It’s a beautify thing.

TDM

Last night was a disaster for Republicans. A Muslim extremist communist was elected Mayor of New York City. That is extremely likely to be a disaster. One percent of the residents of New York City already pay 48% of income tax revenue. Promising to raise taxes on them will only encourage anyone on the fence that it is time to relocate.

Virginia replaced an effective Republican Governor with a Trump hating liberal. She is also promising to resist Trump. Good luck with that.

New Jersey, predictably, elected another liberal Democrat to be governor. Then California decided to throw all common sense aside and redistrict the entire state to prevent anyone other than a Democrat from ever winning a congressional election. Republicans look like the big losers, but the real losers last night were the few remaining moderates in the Democratic Party. The problem is that they predictably won where the outcome was predictable. But nothing they are planning to do is going to have a positive impact on their state or their city. Winning an election is different from governing well. Blue states will continue to be governed by liberal Democrats, and the results are not only predictable, but they are also guaranteed. To be blunt, by winning they have done nothing more than speed up the path to the bottom.

Republicans also need to learn from this. One is to stop trying to win difficult elections with horrible candidates. Curtis Sliwa had zero chance to win the election. The only thing Sliwa accomplished was to make it impossible for Andrew Cuomo to win. That is a good thing, because Cuomo would have done a decent job running New York City and may have fixed some of the problems. He, at least, wouldn’t have made things worse. He would still be a scumbag, but an effective scumbag. New York City is going to get a firsthand dose of Mamdani and that is guaranteed to be beyond bad. Things only change in places like New York when Democrats gain total control and muck things up beyond repair.

In New Jersey, Republicans ran Giacchino Michael Jack Ciatrelli who has now lost his second attempt at running for governor. Very few people win their second attempt at statewide office. They just lose by bigger margins the second time around.

In Virginia, Republicans ran Winsome Earle-Sears. Not only did she lose, she lost by such a large margin that Virginia also elected the worst possible choice for Attorney General. The reality is that mediocre candidates do not win statewide political races.

California continues to have all mail-in voting, with no voter ID and even less cross checking of ballots. In addition, ballot harvesting is legal in California. Until this changes, California will continue to elect people like Adam Schiff and Gavin Newsom. Republicans will become increasingly irrelevant.

Despite the bad news, there is good news. Republicans have an enormous opportunity. The only way things ever change in a Blue state is when Democrats gain total control and predictably mess things up. Republicans need to start preparing now to provide a rational alternative to insanity in four years.

Here are my suggestions for Republicans.

1. Do not even consider giving in to Democrats regarding the government shutdown. Now that these elections are over, Democrats own this lock stock and barrel. Let them hoist themselves on their own petard. Republicans are famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Democrats have shot their wad in a desperate attempt to win races they were almost certain to win anyway. The dumbest thing Republicans could do at this point is to cave to idiotic Democratic demands. Then Republicans would get all the blame, Democrats would get all the credit, and the 2026 midterms would be a disaster. But, if Republicans stand firm, they will increase control of both the House and the Senate.
2. Recruit better candidates. You can’t beat somebody with nobody, and Republicans are famous for running nobodies. The Republican establishment is famous for choosing people guaranteed to lose elections.
3. Help Donald Trump succeed, but recognize that Donald Trump is famous for promoting Donald Trump. But he is equally skilled at making people angry. This works great when he is the candidate. His involvement in local elections may not be as effective as he believes. In too many cases, it helps motivate the opposition more than Republicans.
4. Do a better job of messaging. For example, Democrats routinely claim that billionaires are funding Republican candidates. Perhaps I am wrong about this, but it sure seems like more billionaires are funding Democrats than vice versa. Obviously, a whole lot of extraordinarily rich people in Hollywood support liberal Democrats. If they really thought Democrats were going to tax the rich, they wouldn’t do that. No one voluntarily pays more income tax. When you raise tax on businesses, they don’t lose money, they just raise their prices.
5. Fight back harder against false narratives. Many people believe prices have increased under Trump. Prices are higher, but not because of his policies. They are higher because he inherited a hot mess of an economy. One reason Democrats shut down the government is that they knew it would result in higher prices and chaos, and they knew Trump would get the blame. Remember that Trump was coasting to re-election in 2020, until COVID. Democrats seized the day and shut down the country. The results were catastrophic, and Trump got most of the blame. Democrats are more than willing to do anything that gets them elected. Republicans need to do a better job of pointing this out.

If Republicans cave on the government shutdown, the results will be catastrophic. Democrats will continue to act irresponsibly, without regard to the impact on others, if it works. This is why negotiating with hostage takers is always a bad idea. It just encourages more hostage taking.

In addition, realize that Democrats only thrive in densely populated areas. These areas do not represent how people living in the rest of the country view things. If you look at the post-election map of Virginia, you will see that the results were determined by extremely dense population centers, and most of the state voted red. New Jersey and New York are composed entirely of high-density areas.

The bottom line is that if Republicans learn from this and seize the day it will be Democrats singing the blues in 2026.

TDM

Next year we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the United States. But perhaps the real beginning was when the Constitution was adopted on March 4, 1779. It was that constitution that made us unique. When asked what kind of government this would be, Ben Franklin responded to a question by Elibeth Willing Powers.  “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin responded: “a Republic, if you can keep it.” We have kept it, but not without challenges. One is reminded that the great Roman Empire lasted for an incredibly long time, but eventually it fell because its’ citizens became complacent and ultimately it collapsed completely in 1453.

Roman Empire – Wikipedia

The following article by my good friend Larry outlines his analysis of four distinct periods of time where our republic had to find a way to handle difficult issues in order to survive. It is a great reminder that freedom is never free, it requires all of us to stand firm on our core principles or we risk losing the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Forthcoming Reckoning

America has gone through three great eras—three “republics.” Each one could have been stronger, fairer, and more united if the people had taken responsibility instead of expecting someone else to do it. Each time, ordinary Americans looked the other way when action was needed. And now we live with the consequences.

The First Republic gave us the Constitution and talked about liberty—but the founders protected slavery because it suited them. They left the hardest moral problem to someone else. Ordinary citizens mostly went along, hoping it wouldn’t touch them. We inherited that mess—and it shaped the nation for generations.

The Second Republic was the Civil War and Reconstruction. The nation finally confronted the problem slavery created, but again, ordinary Americans failed to fully confront their own role in the nation’s divisions. We ended slavery—but we didn’t repair the trust and unity that had been broken. Bitterness lingered. Division remained.

The Third Republic came after World War II. America built prosperity, institutions, and opportunity. But instead of fostering responsibility and unity, we let politicians exploit fear and division to win votes. Citizens watched, comforted themselves, and let convenience replace courage. We let ordinary Americans be pitted against each other—and we stood aside.

Now we are in the Fourth Republic. Families are fragile. Institutions are weak. Civility is under pressure. Truth is negotiable. And the responsibility lies with us—our generation. We could have insisted on standards. We could have demanded integrity. We could have taken responsibility when it mattered most. Instead, we got quiet, distracted, or passive.

This Fourth Republic isn’t about lectures or guilt trips. It’s about reckoning. We must step up or the country doesn’t recover. We have to rebuild trust, teach responsibility, restore civility, and show that being a citizen means more than posting outrage online or complaining about politicians.

The Fourth Republic will not be saved by hashtags, TV pundits, or political slogans.
It will be rebuilt by people who actually do the work:

– Neighbors treating each other with respect.
– Communities rebuilding trust.
– Families passing down values.
– Adults acting like adults.

We remember when America worked because we lived it.
We know what’s possible.
We also know what happens when people sit back and assume someone else will do the job.

The Fourth Republic depends on us.
If we don’t act, the country we love won’t survive intact for our children or grandchildren.

It’s on us. And we still can.

Thanks Larry. Great job. We’ve been warned.

TDM