RUTHFULLY YOURS

Donald Trump couldn’t have scripted it better himself: The Democratic Party’s karma knocked them right on the head this week as their countrymen watched in disgust—some, admittedly, in delight.

After three years of deception, gaslighting, and public temper tantrums, these power-hungry partisans finally got their comeuppance. An assembly of agents provocateurs, motivated by an insatiable amount of contempt not just for the president but for Americans in general, who gambled on a farcical impeachment crusade rather than build a persuasive policy case to win over voters this year, are ranting and pouting and tearing up stuff because . . . well, because they are losing. If Nancy Pelosi could have thrown a pacifier from her Capitol high chair Tuesday night, she would have.

The past several days have been filled with delightful metaphors: The president gave a lengthy interview before kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday, touting his achievements and mocking his political foes. A team from a pro-Trump red state faced a team from a Trump-hating blue state, which was favored to win. The San Francisco 49ers, based in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hometown, had a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Yet the Kansas City Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the final seven minutes and won the game.

A party that insists it can run the country’s health care system botched a simple caucus routinely attended by a relatively tiny number of Americans. The one time leading presidential candidate, a fixture in Democratic politics for two generations and the party’s best hope to defeat Trump in November, doddered around Des Moines and came in fourth place. An obnoxious empty suit millennial mayor declared victory before any results were available.

One of the Democrats’ biggest media mouthpieces, Chuck Todd of NBC News, was caught moaning off-camera that the party’s caucus confusion was an “effing disaster.” The party’s biggest fraud who promises she will end the country’s use of fossil fuels tried, unsuccessfully, to hide behind a campaign staffer after deplaning a private jet on a New Hampshire airport tarmac. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s primary rival, a Green New Deal architect and hater of modernity, did her one better: Senator Bernie Sanders waved to reporters in front of a carbon-emitting SUV that delivered him to the roaring engines of an even bigger carbon-emitting private jet.

As the House impeachment managers continued to make their case that a “rogue” president must immediately be removed from office because he threatens the well-being and stability and goodwill of the country, poll results proved otherwise. A Gallup survey showed Trump currently enjoys his highest job approval rating ever at 49 percent. The president has the support of 94 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of independents.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans approve of how the president is handling the economy. Impeachment is politically backfiring on Democrats: 51 percent have a favorable view of the Republican Party compared to 45 percent for Democrats. Republicans have a slight advantage in preferred party identification. While Democrats daily portray a dystopian America under siege from Bad Orange Man, 59 percent say they are better off than a year ago, the highest figure in two decades. Three-quarters of Americans think their situation will be even better a year from now, the highest rate since before Pete Buttigieg was born.

There was more bad news from the Democrats: A January jobs report blew away expectations; the private sector created 291,000 jobs last month, the biggest spike in nearly four years.

And then—the State of the Union address. Spoiled brats pretending to be serious lawmakers such as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced they would boycott the event. Pundits speculated that Trump would roast Democrats over their fruitless impeachment trial; Republicans advised against it.

Trump entered the chamber with an uncharacteristic air of modesty and solemnity. He delivered his speech on-script without his signature riffs and shade-throwing. Speaking mostly to the Republican side of the room, the president matter-of-factly ticked off an impressive list of accomplishments with little self-puffery. It was a solid performance.

The same, however, could not be said of the Democrats. Pelosi ignored the president while pretending to read the speech he handed to her before he began. (Without a handshake, a move that caused a stir, even though he didn’t shake Vice President Mike Pence’s hand, either.)

Pelosi and her tribe of petulant pouters refused to cheer positive economic news, progress on the fight against terrorism, and promises to improve health care and prescription drug costs. Three representatives, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), stormed out.

As the president introduced a number of American victims and heroes, including a centenarian Tuskegee airman and his great-grandson, Pelosi’s caucus remained seated. When the brother of a man murdered by an illegal alien in Pelosi’s home state was introduced, Pelosi did not even look up from her papers. The Democrats snubbed a reunited military family; an African American grade-schooler; and a sobbing mom with her two-year-old daughter who survived a very premature birth.

But the hissy fit crescendoed into a shocking spectacle as Pelosi, second-in-line to the presidency of the United States under the Constitution, stood and with dramatic flair tore her copy of the State of the Union in half. For all the lows of the past few years—her incoherence, her inability to control her know-nothing freshman “squad,” her failure to come up with a realistic policy alternative to Trumpism, it was Pelosi’s lowest moment.

She ripped up a speech that showcased the best of America; achievements that no other country in the world can boast. Heroes of every color and economic background—patriots who have sacrificed so much, even their lives, in battle—and young future leaders.

Her display, however, gave away the result of the game. Just like her hometown football team, Pelosi has lost. She has been defeated by Donald Trump.

Not only did her unruly caucus fail to take down the president, it has had a boomerang effect. Dozens of her members will campaign in their Trump-won districts empty-handed and forced to defend a vote to remove a now-popular and successful president. Pelosi’s current term as House speaker has been a disaster. It very well could be her last.

Trump now stands acquitted; the Democrats must confront the debacle that is their presidential primary field and run on a nonexistent record of achievement as the 2020 campaign season kicks off. Joe Biden, who confessed Wednesday morning that the Iowa outcome was a “punch” in the gut, will be the only real casualty of the Democrats’ impeachment rampage. Their best hope to beat Trump won’t finish the race because Democrats highlighted his son’s illicit business dealings as part of their impeachment gambit.

Karma, indeed, is a bitch.