RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-iron-grip-on-his-party-trump-evangelicals-hunter-investigations-62c1cb3?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

From the moment Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, his critics on the left have bewailed the overwhelming support he receives from evangelical Christians. How could those who claim to esteem traditional moral values—monogamy chief among them—support a profane libertine like Mr. Trump? The implicit charge was that socially conservative Christians cared more about political ends than about moral values. But the charge was specious. Their political ends were perfectly consistent with the values they purported to hold, even if the agent through whom they sought to promote those values (Mr. Trump) didn’t exhibit them. And anyway I’m not sure what choice socially conservative religious voters had on Election Day in 2016. Were they supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton?

The idea that lust for power explains evangelical support for Mr. Trump is one form of a larger accusation leveled by liberals and progressives against Republicans in the Trump era. Every time a Republican praised the 45th president, it was an indication of the party’s “fealty” or “near-total fealty” or “total fealty” to the president. And every time a Republican candidate took Mr. Trump’s view on a subject, it was an instance of the president’s “grip” or “iron grip” or “death grip” on the GOP.

I gladly concede that many Republican candidates and officeholders aligned themselves in unseemly ways with Mr. Trump. Some sang his praises as president despite having scorned him as a candidate. Others took up his crotchets as their own—voter fraud, trade deficits—having never complained about those things before. And many—though far from all—remained silent about his erratic, frequently childish and vulgar personal behavior. Still, some form of “fealty” by Republicans to a sitting Republican president is unavoidable, and it was hardly surprising that the head of his party had a “grip” on it.

Whatever may be said about the GOP’s solicitous attitude to Mr. Trump during the years of his presidency, it compares favorably with the left’s omertà in the face of President Biden’s obvious mental infirmity, incompetence and what appears to be a history of self-enrichment.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/bidens-age-economic-worries-endanger-re-election-in-2024-wsj-poll-finds-67a7bba8?mod=hp_lead_pos3

Voters overwhelmingly think President Biden is too old to run for re-election and give him low marks for handling the economy and other issues important to their vote, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll that offers a stark warning to the 80-year-old incumbent ahead of the 2024 contest. 

The negative views of Biden’s age and performance in office help explain why only 39% of voters hold a favorable view of the president. In a separate question, some 42% said they approve of how he is handling his job, well below the 57% who disapprove.

And Biden is tied with former President Donald Trump in a potential rematch of the 2020 election, with each holding 46% support in a head-to-head test.

The Journal survey, while pointing to a large set of challenges Biden faces in persuading voters that he deserves re-election, also finds weaknesses in his likely opponent. Voters in the survey rated Trump as less honest and likable than Biden, and a majority viewed Trump’s actions after his 2020 election loss as an illegal effort to stop Congress from declaring Biden the proper winner.

The economyInflation and rising costsSecuring the borderImproving infrastructureDealing with ChinaCreating jobsWar in Ukraine0%10203040506070

“Voters are looking for change, and neither of the leading candidates is the change that they’re looking for,” said Democratic pollster Michael Bocian, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio. 

Although the candidates are only three years apart, 73% of voters said they feel Biden is too old to seek a second term, compared with 47% of voters who said the same of the 77-year-old Trump. Two-thirds of Democrats said Biden was too old to run again. 

By an 11-point margin, more voters see Trump rather than Biden as having a record of accomplishments as president—some 40% said Biden has such a record, while 51% said so of Trump.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/us-consumers-crush-bidens-reelection-hopes

Summer is over. Kids are heading back to school, workers are heading back to their jobs, and the 2024 campaign is heating up. Joe Biden is touting “Bidenomics” to voters, boasting of job gains and, finally, some rise in real income.

But Americans, who have been spending like crazy on vacations, eating out and travel, may be about to rain on Joe’s parade. Consumers are stretched financially, having financed their summer holidays and post-pandemic spending by saving less and borrowing more – not a sustainable trend. People have been willing to pile up debt because jobs have been plentiful and they’ve not worried about a sudden loss of income. That appears to be changing.

Plunging consumer confidence, rising debt delinquencies and a weakening jobs market suggest that the party could soon come to an end, with the economy hitting an unexpected rough patch as we approach election season.  

Given that the Real Clear Average of polls on the president’s handling of the economy today shows only 38% approving and 58% disapproving, a downturn could clobber his reelection hopes.

A recession is not the consensus forecast. Despite aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, the economy has remained resilient, mainly thanks to unexpectedly robust hiring.   

But now the jobs market is clearly sputtering, albeit from a frantic pace.  In August employers added 187,000 jobs, far below the monthly average of 271,000 over the past year. While job gains have plummeted, reported additions for recent months have been revised sharply downward. Also, wage gains slowed last month. That is what the Federal Reserve has been hoping to achieve through its aggressive interest rate hikes. The question is, will hiring slow or turn into layoffs? 

Employers across the country have defied prognosticators for months by continuing to add or keep workers even as corporate profits turned down. Companies had struggled to increase staff after the pandemic shutdowns, and were taking no chances of again facing a shortage of labor.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/benbartee/2023/08/31/rfk-jr-still-pushing-20-in-dem-primary-polling-despite-constant-attacks-censorship-smears-n1723508

Biden 60% Kennedy 19% Williamson 10%

A recent poll conducted by Big Village CARAVAN assessing Democrat Party voter preferences in June 2023 found that the Brandon entity is sitting at 60.3%, RFK Jr. is at 19%, and Marianne Williamson is at 9.7%. “Someone else” gets 10.9%.

This means that just about 40% of his own party’s voters actively oppose the re-nomination of Joseph Brandon and endorse other candidates — nearly unheard of for a sitting president. And this is without any debates and with the entire corporate state media in his corner.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ron-desantis-hurricane-idalia-florida-a4ec7f61?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Ron DeSantis spent Thursday visiting rural Florida counties hit by Hurricane Idalia, and during his morning news update the Governor was in command of the details. “As of 6 a.m. today,” he said, “there are approximately 146,000 power outages reported across the state,” but thousands of borrowed linemen were at work, and 420,000 accounts had already been restored.

As of the night before, Mr. DeSantis said, authorities had done about 40 successful rescues. “All state bridges, including the Cedar Key Bridge, have been cleared, and that happened within 12 hours of landfall,” he added. Schools? “Thirty of the 52 districts that closed during the storm are open today, and an additional eight will be open tomorrow.” Fuel, water, tarps? “All that stuff we have an abundance of, and we’ll be providing that as needed.”

The driving winds in Florida’s Big Bend region were enough to rip off roofs and topple a gas-station canopy. Yet worse appears to have been avoided because Idalia hit mostly rural areas, after a forecast of its path that Mr. DeSantis called “pretty doggone accurate.” The contrast is with Hurricane Ian last year, which was predicted to hit the Big Bend but veered into Fort Myers and killed about 150 Americans.

Mr. DeSantis received high marks for his handling of that disaster, in particular after the state Transportation Department made swift emergency repairs to two bridges the storm damaged, stranding thousands of residents.

Hurricane Idalia cleanup isn’t over, and perhaps there will be hiccups. But if there aren’t, we’ll know it by what we don’t read in the national press. The Governor will get no credit for success.

This seems to be Mr. DeSantis in his element, examining the figures, the emergency response plans, the Covid-19 statistics, and then synthesizing it into government policy. Everyone knows an introvert like this, and the flip side of the personality type is that Mr. DeSantis, now a 2024 presidential candidate, has proved less than adept at making small talk with Iowans.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/08/30/what_if_biden_backs_out_of_the_race_149692.html

President Biden has declared he’s running for a second term, but it’s far from certain he actually will. His infirmity and low poll numbers raise serious doubts. His physical decline shows when he walks or climbs the stairs of Air Force One. His cognitive decline shows when he refuses to hold press conferences or answer even the simplest questions, like how he feels about the devastating fires in Maui. His decline in the public’s estimation shows when pollsters ask Americans how they’re doing. Four out of five answer, “Not good. Not good at all.”

Voters also say they don’t want another general election choice like the last one. So many votes in 2020 were negative ones “against the worse candidate,” not in favor of the better one. They don’t want another grudge match between two unpopular candidates.

Biden’s dismal poll numbers form a somber backdrop for his reelection campaign. That backdrop is even darker now that his health problems are so visible. These mounting problems may not prevent him from running, but they do lessen the chances. True, he keeps saying he is running. But, like all politicians, he may be deceiving the public or himself. The biggest “tell” is that Biden is avoiding the very things active candidates do. He’s not campaigning. He’s not attending a lot of small events with big donors. He’s not running ads. He’s not using the White House’s bully pulpit to address the nation on our challenges and his response to them.

Still, those signs are not definitive. Biden might be lying low because the Republicans are fighting among themselves. Why get in their way? Better to wait until late autumn to ramp up his campaign.

He might be unsure if he really is running, uncertain if he is up to the arduous task, physically and mentally.

Or he might have already decided, privately, that he will not run but is delaying the announcement since it would immediately turn him into a powerless lame duck.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/25/the-paths-forward-for-the-gop-presidential-field/

Wednesday evening’s much-anticipated first Republican presidential primary debate came and went without an obvious “winner” or dominant figure. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the onstage front-runner given the conspicuous absence of former President Donald Trump, performed ably with numerous compelling and substantive answers, but pre-debate expectations were high enough – and his national horse race polling deficit with Trump wide enough – that it was left unclear whether such a performance might suffice.

Some of the second-tier candidates, such as former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, likely outperformed; some, such as Haley’s fellow South Carolinian, Sen. Tim Scott, likely underperformed. And there was the glib charlatan Vivek Ramaswamy, whose egomania and insufferably grating nature were finally exposed before a national television audience; his personal favorability polling metrics have cratered, accordingly.

Of those who participated, DeSantis was the steadiest hand and delivered the best performance overall. He was righteously indignant when such indignation was called for, and he reminded the viewers of his transformative governing track record in Florida at the right moments. It would have been gratifying to see DeSantis knock down Ramaswamy a few notches, but the governor came across as competent, untouched, and above the fray. A post-debate Fox News focus group and most available post-debate polling revealed DeSantis as the most popular choice when those who had watched the debate were asked to identify the “winner.”

But it was not a thoroughly memorable or dominant performance, either — not exactly a first-round, Mike Tyson-style knockout blow. And a certain Palm Beach denizen, now fending off four separate criminal indictments from this most vindictive of regimes, was notably absent from the Milwaukee melee. More data is needed before offering any firm conclusions, but it is difficult to foresee the next batch of polls moving the needle a great deal. It must also be noted that a multicandidate debate format simply does not play to DeSantis’ strengths as a politician; he has many strengths, but this is just not one of them. So perhaps we cannot reasonably expect more than Wednesday’s cool, composed and low-key winning performance in future crowded debates. The question thus becomes whether, at this current trajectory, “slow and steady” will indeed “win the race,” as Aesop once taught.

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/24/grading-the-first-peanut-gallery-debate/

While the eyes of well over 160 million people were on the highly-anticipated interview between President Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, the undercard debate of also-ran candidates proved very telling in its own way, often at the expense of the GOP.

With a single exception, all of the candidates onstage proved to be underwhelmingly mediocre, presenting plenty of platitudes but no clear vision for a country in desperate need of a tectonic shift in leadership. As such, all but one of the candidates should receive no higher than average marks after this performance.

Individual Scorecards

Vivek Ramaswamy: A

The man who had the most to lose at the debate tonight wasn’t the Governor of Florida. It was the one and only man who has been steadily rising in the polls leading up to tonight. Despite having high expectations, he met and surpassed them in spades.

Vivek Ramaswamy openly acknowledged his dilemma that many Republican voters still might know who he is, with a lighthearted self-deprecating joke about “this skinny guy in the middle of the stage with a funny last name,” before launching into his opening remarks. This tactic served to defuse any lingering confusion over what kind of a man he truly is, and dictated his tone throughout the rest of the night: Willing to talk about serious issues, but also capable of remaining lighthearted even when the knives came out.

In many ways, Vivek felt like a stand-in for Donald Trump circa 2015, taking the most flak from rival candidates and effortlessly withstanding all of it. He laughed off multiple attacks from Christie, Pence, and Haley, often firing right back with even more devastating one-liners.

He called out the rest of his opponents as “super PAC puppets,” and when his unapologetic response to the “global warming” question was to call it a hoax and declare that he was the only candidate on the stage “who isn’t bought and paid for,” he clearly riled up the moderators so much that the entire conversation suddenly shifted: The moderators proceeded down the rest of the stage not asking the other candidates about global warming, but instead asking the question “Are you bought and paid for?” Game, set, match: Vivek Ramaswamy effortlessly changed the entire conversation with just one smooth response, laughing as all of the other candidates – as well as the moderators – were seething.

The first attack of the night was launched against Vivek by Mike Pence, quickly setting the tone of the debate with Vivek as the underdog. Poking fun at the increasingly absurd political language used by everyone else, Vivek joked that he “didn’t exactly understand Mike Pence’s comment” criticizing him on Social Security and Medicare, before saying “I’ll let you all parse it out.” Pence’s response of “I’ll go slower this time” came across as extremely condescending and thus earned requisite boos from the audience, and it only got worse from there.

https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/24/desantis-and-ramaswamy-were-the-only-gop-debaters-who-understood-their-base/

EXCERPT

Aside from DeSantis and Ramaswamy, the other six talking heads apparently don’t know what time it is or care. Right now, we have a Department of Justice weaponizing America’s law enforcement apparatus in an attempt to imprison a former president and the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner ahead of a major election. We have leftists attempting to chemically castrate and indoctrinate our children. We have a wide-open southern border allowing millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country unchecked.

We have a tyrannical health bureaucracy attempting to bring Covid authoritarianism back into style. We have abortion-obsessed Democrats trying to legalize baby-killing up until the moment of birth. We have leftist nonprofits interfering in our elections to benefit Democrats, plus many other pressing challenges.

But sure, let’s continue to talk about tax cuts and defending the borders of countries that aren’t our own while the left ransacks every institution in the country. I’m sure our children will be grateful when all that’s left of their country is a broken shell of what the great American experiment used to be.