Category: Donald Trump

Why Is Ann Coulter Doing This?

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An unnecessary conflict:

Former Donald Trump fan Ann Coulter yesterday went on an extraordinary Twitter rant, calling the president a ‘disloyal retard’ and a ‘blithering idiot.’
Coulter was incensed on Sunday after Trump tweeted ‘Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions’, the latest attack by the president on his former Attorney General.
The far-right pundit said Trump’s endorsement of Tommy Tuberville – Sessions’ opponent in the Republican primary – showed he was ‘the most disloyal human God ever created.’
The author of the 2016 book ‘In Trump We Trust’ went on to say: ‘I will never apologize for supporting the issues that candidate Trump advocated, but I am deeply sorry for thinking that this shallow and broken man would show even some remote fealty to the promises that got him elected.’
Coulter, 58, once one of the few people who Trump followed on Twitter, has gone after the president ever since she feels he betrayed his immigration pledges, particularly his failure to build the wall.
She defended Sessions in her tweets, saying he was ‘the ONE PERSON in the Trump administration who did anything about immigration.’
It comes amid a bitter war of words between Trump and Sessions which centers around the Alabamian’s time as AG and his infamous recusal in 2017.
Trump was furious Sessions recused himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Sessions ultimately resigned at Trump’s request.
Trump tweeted Saturday: ‘3 years ago, after Jeff Sessions recused himself, the Fraudulent Mueller Scam began. Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions. He let our Country down. That’s why I endorsed Coach Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville), the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda!’
Coulter disagreed with the president’s analysis of how the ‘Mueller Scam’ came to pass, writing: ‘Sessions HAD to recuse himself, you complete blithering idiot.
‘YOU did not have to go on Lester Holt’s show and announce you fired Comey over the Russian investigation. That’s what got you a Special Prosecutor.’

Everyone wishes Trump would be more circumspect in his Twitter usage, but I don’t see the benefit of engaging in such public feuds. I am not an enemy of Jeff Sessions, but I think most conservatives see his recusal as a mistake, and I don’t see why Sessions believes he is owed a return to his former Senate seat. If you feel differently, of course, you have the right to your own opinion, but I won’t argue with you about it, because I don’t enjoy seeing conservatives lacerating each other in public this way.


 

The Battle of Atillis Gym

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This may go down in history books as the 21st-century Concord Bridge:

A few hours after workouts began Monday morning at New Jersey’s Atilis Gym — which is making national headlines for its early reopening in defiance of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus shutdown order — police showed up outside the Bellmawr business.
What happened next?
The large group of people outside the gym were angry and hostile, likely believing the officers showed up to shut down the gym, hand out tickets, or even make arrests. Amid the mostly unintelligible hollering, a few phrases rang out clearly:

“You have the right to refuse unconstitutional orders!”
“Freedom!”
“You swore an oath to protect our rights!”

Soon enough the crowd quieted down enough so that one of the officers was able to address them.
“We are and we’re only here for everybody’s safety today,” the officer began. “We planned for the worst, hoped for the best, and it seems like that’s what we have out here today. Formally, you are all in violation of the executive order.”
Then came the officer’s surprising follow-up statement: “On that note, have a good day. Everybody be safe.”

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)

In other COVID-19 news, President Trump revealed he has been taking hydroxychloroquine as a precaution, and the media freaked out:

President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed at the White House that he was taking hydroxychloroquine and zinc as preventatives against the coronavirus.
“I happen to be taking it. I’m taking it. Hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah,” he said.
Trump said that he had been taking the medicine for about a week and a half.
“I’m taking the two, the zinc and the hydroxy, and all I can tell you is, so far I seem to be ok,” Trump said.
He said that a doctor and many others had sent him positive letters about the effectiveness of the drug.
“I’ve heard a lot of good stories and if it is not good, I will tell you right,” he said. “I’m not going to get hurt by it.”
The president spoke to reporters about the drug on Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with restaurant owners.
“I’m still here,” he said, saying that he had “zero symptoms” from the drug or the virus.

Predictably, CNN gave air time to Trump’s enemies to tell lies:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to President Trump as “morbidly obese” during an appearance Monday night on CNN and said he shouldn’t be taking hydroxychloroquine to stave off coronavirus.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, made the remark in an appearance on “Anderson Cooper 360” during which she was asked about Mr. Trump’s taking the drug, which he’d revealed earlier in the day.
She said taking that drug was not a good idea for the president because of his “age group and in his, shall we say, weight group,” which she described as “morbidly obese.”
The 80-year-old speaker, who is second in the presidential succession line behind Vice President Mike Pence, said she would “rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists.”
To be considered “morbidly obese,” a technical term, a person would have to be 100 pounds over his ideal body weight and have a BMI of 40 or more, or 35 or more if he also has obesity-related health conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
Those conditions would not seem to apply to Mr. Trump.
His body-mass index, according to a 2019 medical examination, is 30.4, which is considered “obese,” but not morbidly so.
At 6-foot-3, his 243-pound weight isn’t close to 100 pounds too much, and the same physical put him in “very good health overall” with a resting pulse rate of 70 and a blood pressure reading of 118/80 — all three figures well within normal range.

Ask around and see how many people over 60 are in such excellent health as President Trump. If he’s not as lean as a marathon runner, perhaps it’s because he has been too busy to go jogging lately. As to the Speaker’s assertion that hydroxychloroquine has “not been approved by scientists,” (a) the drug has been commonly prescribed for more than 70 years, and (b) many health-care workers, including nurses and doctors, are doing exactly what Trump is doing, using the hydroxy/zinc combination as preventative medicine during the pandemic. Also, as many people pointed out, if Trump is “morbidly obese,” what is Stacey Abrams?




 

Transcripts Prove Adam Schiff Lied; More Releases Expected From DNI Grenell

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A couple of years ago at CPAC, in the hotel lobby, I was introduced to Richard Grenell who, at the time, was still awaiting confirmation as our ambassador to Germany. Whatever specious pretexts Senate Democrats offered for opposing Grenell, the real reason was that he is “the real deal,” my conservative friends assured me. Grenell “gets it” in terms of the larger geopolitical struggle against “globalism” and, as such, is a threat to the status quo defended by the “Deep State.” My CPAC encounter with Grenell was brief, but the eagerness with which my friends vouched for him made a strong impression, and he has since proven his value to the administration, so much so that President Trump appointed him acting Director of National Intelligence, and wow, is he ever the real deal!

It was Grenell who pushed for the release that made big news Thursday:

Newly released transcripts of interviews from the House Intelligence Committee’s long-running Russia investigation reveal top Obama officials acknowledged that they knew of no “empirical evidence” of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, despite their concerns and suspicions. . . .
The transcripts, which were released by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., revealed top Obama officials were questioned over whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy — the issue that drove the FBI’s initial case and later the special counsel probe.
“I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified in 2017. “That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence. … But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, according to the transcript of her interview, was asked about the same issue. Power replied: “I am not in possession of anything — I am not in possession and didn’t read or absorb information that came from out of the intelligence community.” . . .
Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice was asked the same question.
“To the best of my recollection, there wasn’t anything smoking, but there were some things that gave me pause,” she said, according to her transcribed interview, in response to whether she had any evidence of conspiracy. “I don’t recall intelligence that I would consider evidence to that effect that I saw…conspiracy prior to my departure.”
When asked whether she had any evidence of “coordination,” Rice replied: “I don’t recall any intelligence or evidence to that effect.”

And so on down the line. Every single witness in this testimony (which at the time was secret) disavowed having any evidence of “collusion,” and yet Adam Schiff spent three years publicly claiming to be privy to conclusive evidence of this alleged Russian conspiracy. If there was ever any doubt that Schiff was lying, that doubt is now over. As I say, it was acting DNI Richard Grenell who made this happen:

Schiff released the files — approved in late 2018 for release by the committee — after facing pressure earlier this week from Republicans to do so. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell then notified Schiff that the redaction and declassification process was complete, and that the records were ready to be made public.
“At the bipartisan request of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Intelligence Community reviewed all transcripts for classification and made appropriate redactions. HPSCI voted unanimously in 2018 to publicly release these transcripts, and it is long past time that these are released,” Grenell said in a statement Thursday.

Schiff has been exposed as a dishonest fraud, and there may be even more proof on the way, thanks again to Richard Grenell:

President Trump’s top spy chief reportedly has a “satchel” of documents related to the Russia investigation that could be released as early as Friday.
After the House Intelligence Committee released dozens of witness transcripts from its investigation into Russian election interference on Thursday, Fox News chief White House correspondent Ed Henry reported two sources told him acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell is prepared to unveil additional documents that will show how Chairman Adam Schiff and other investigators “knew for a long time there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin “even though they kept saying they had direct evidence.” . . .
Attorney General William Barr received a separate “satchel” of documents, Henry said in a report Friday evening on Tucker Carlson Tonight as Fox News aired video that a producer took of Grenell personally delivering them to the Justice Department.
Henry noted that his sources would not say precisely what was in the satchel, but they expect the contents could be made public as early as Friday.
The reporter also said that while a senior administration source told Fox News previously that Schiff was in “panic mode” about the House Intelligence Committee witness transcripts, the California Democrat may be “even more panicked” now.
The release of the witness transcripts and related materials came after the Justice Department filed to drop all criminal charges against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Keep an eye on this. The wheel of karma is turning.




 

‘In a Statement, Biden Said …’

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OK, first the great Ace of Spades headline:

Biden: Believe All Women
(Except The Lying Whore Accusing Me)

This is about a policy position taken by the Democrat:

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that if he’s elected president, he will reverse a rule issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos aimed at bolstering protections for students who are accused of sexual assault on university campuses.
In a statement, Biden said the new rule was an effort by the Trump administration to “shame and silence” survivors of sexual assault
“It’s wrong,” Biden said. “And, it will be put to a quick end in January 2021, because as president, I’ll be right where I always have been throughout my career — on the side of survivors, who deserve to have their voices heard, their claims taken seriously and investigated, and their rights upheld.”

In other words, this is not literally something “Biden said.” Instead, reporters are quoting a press release issued by the Biden campaign. This is an important distinction because, as we all know, Biden’s mental deterioration has become so acute that he cannot speak coherently. Biden’s enablers in the press corps, of course, are obligated to pretend they don’t know this, therefore, they report “Biden said” things that he is, in fact, incapable of saying. You know who’s been calling b.s. on this? A guy by the name of Donald Trump. From a press conference Monday:

REPORTER: “Joe Biden actually just attacked you in a tweet, I don’t know if you have seen it.”
TRUMP: “He just what?”
REPORTER: “Attacked you.”
TRUMP: “He didn’t write anything. He has professionals from the Democrats writing.”
REPORTER: “Let me read what he said. He says Donald Trump is not responsible for the coronavirus but he is responsible for failing to prepare our nation to respond to it. How do you respond to that, sir?”
TRUMP: “He didn’t write that. That was done by a Democrat operative. He doesn’t write. He doesn’t — he’s probably not even watching right now. And if he is, he doesn’t understand what he’s watching. . . . Joe Biden didn’t write that. Joe Biden didn’t write that. He wished he did but he didn’t.”

 

Boom!




 

Gen. Flynn Exonerated; Trump Blames Obama Administration: ‘Human Scum’

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Big news about a victim of the “Russian collusion” hoax:

The Justice Department on Thursday dropped its criminal case against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In court documents, the Justice Department said it dropped the case “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.”
A proposed order presented to US District Judge Emmet Sullivan would dismiss the case “with prejudice,” meaning the same charges cannot be brought in the future. . . .
In its filing, the Justice Department said it concluded that Flynn’s interview by the FBI was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the interview on Jan. 24, 2017, was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”
Earlier Thursday, federal prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from the case.
The US attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended the move to Attorney General William Barr last week and formalized the recommendation in a document this week.

Trump reacted characteristically:

“He was an innocent man. . . . He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president. What they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid. . . . What they did, what the Obama administration did, is unprecedented. . . . I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price because they’re dishonest, crooked people. . . . They’re human scum. This should never have happened in this country.”

Gee, Mr. President, why don’t you tell us how you really feel?




 

Who’s Right: James Carville or … Me?

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Last night on MSNBC, James Carville uncorked a rant about how the Trump campaign is run by “grifters” who know they’re going to lose:

“Every poll, we’re ahead. There’s nothing but overwhelming evidence. Look what his campaign is doing. They’re a pack of grifters. His campaign manager got two condos, a Ferrari, a yacht, a Range Rover, and they’re all just fleecing the campaign. This is all about making money, and they’re going in there and giving him fake polls … This whole thing is like a crumbling empire right before your eyes. . . .
“He’s not going to win. He wasn’t going to win when unemployment was 3.5%. He’s certainly not going to win now.”

Except . . . no, James. You were the guy who started freaking out about “the end of days” in February when Bernie Sanders was winning. You rallied the Establishment to support Joe Biden, a deeply flawed candidate who can’t maintain his train of thought long enough to speak two consecutive coherent sentences, and it’s you who are now doomed to deal with the consequences. Speaking of poll numbers and money, by the way:

Different polls yield varying numbers, and it would be foolish to race ahead, confidently predicting the November outcome based on a few cherry-picked findings from polls taken in April and May. Nevertheless, one can spot obvious signs of trouble for Biden’s campaign, including a recent poll which found that 22 percent of Bernie Sanders’ supporters say they don’t plan to vote for Biden, and a CNN analysis last month that found the 77-year-old Biden underperforming with younger voters. That was before widespread media attention to former aide Tara Reade’s accusations of sexual misconduct against Biden, and a poll released Tuesday found that 28 percent of Democrats now want Biden off the ticket. Never mind, of course, the visible evidence of Biden’s declining mental acuity (“Weekend at Biden’s,” May 4). Oh, yes, and don’t forget that Biden’s son got rich from a sweetheart deal in China, which looks worse in the wake of COVID-19.
Trump obviously has his flaws and weaknesses as a candidate, but these are already well-known to the electorate, whereas Biden’s flaws and weaknesses have not yet been targeted in a sustained campaign. Considering that Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have a cash advantage of $187 million over Biden and the Democratic National Committee, the GOP could at any time unleash a blitz of attack ads aimed at Biden that the Democrat could scarcely afford to answer. With such a massive edge in campaign cash, the Trump/RNC machine could afford to spend $20 million a month on campaign ads, every month between now and November, and still reach election day with more than a $50 million advantage over Biden and the DNC. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.




 

Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Andrew Cuomo: The Media’s Favorite Scientific Geniuses

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Watching MSNBC today (so you don’t have to) and it’s amazing how laser-focused they are on the blame-Trump narrative of COVID-19. The MSNBC viewer is given the impression, for example, that Joe Biden was presciently warning about this Chinese disease in January, when what is being quoted is not what Biden himself said, but campaign statements issued on the candidate’s behalf. Likewise, Joe Scarborough passes over as inconsequential the fact that Nancy Pelosi, who now presumes to lecture the president about “science,” was in January and February leading an impeachment effort in Congress that might have distracted the president from keeping up with the latest developments in the pandemic.

And what about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo? The media, which relentlessly attacks Trump at the White House coronavirus briefings, has nothing but praise for Cuomo, despite the fact that Cuomo has presided over the worst outbreak in the country. The most insulting part of the media’s coverage of COVID-19, however, is that they claim for themselves the authority of scientific experts — and expect to be taken seriously:

A virus is not magic, epidemiology is not voodoo, and the credentialed experts are not a priesthood. Yet the reporters, anchors, and commentators on cable TV news — most of whom have no more claim to expertise in such matters than you or I — exhibit a cult-like faith in the ability of the Pandemic Priesthood to predict the future. Previous failures by these experts to predict the course of the COVID-19 outbreak are ignored, as the television preachers of “science” encourage their viewers to regard the priesthood with religious reverence. Most amazing of all is how the media has conferred expert status on certain politicians, as if New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were qualified to deliver scientific lectures on preventing the spread of contagious disease.
All of this, of course, has little or nothing to do with actual science, and very much to do with political bias. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.




 

A ‘Granular’ Re-Opening Plan

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During the past couple of weeks of daily briefings, Dr. Deborah Birx has popularized the word “granular” to describe how the COVID-19 task force is tracking the spread of the disease. While the news media remain focused on the Big Numbers — the cumulative total of cases and the death toll — those whose job it is to try and control this contagion must pay attention to a series of small-scale pictures: What is causing the increase in cases in one particular county? Are local health officials able to do complete contact tracing on new patients? Does the task force need to move more resources into this region?

During the discussion of when and how to “re-open the economy” (a misleading phrase, because large segments of economic activity have not been restricted by “stay-at-home” orders), the anti-Trump media seemed to be under the impression that a one-size-fits-all approach would be imposed by the White House, which never made sense. There are many parts of the country where rates of COVID-19 infection are still very low, and there is no reason why these communities cannot be permitted to ease restrictions, while at the same time keeping the viral “hot spots” under lockdown orders. For example, in Florida, no one is suggesting that the Miami area should just “go back to business” anytime soon, but it doesn’t make sense to maintain indefinitely the same restrictions in Lakeland and Kissimmee.

If the level of infection, on a per-capita basis, is comparatively low in a community, and if the number of new cases is small enough that each individual case can be contained via quarantine and contact tracing, then a return to something like “normal” life is possible. Of course, there must be measures to protect the elderly and other high-risk individuals, but let me quote something from an Associated Press article:

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

That’s from an article about Brazil, whose president fired the health minister this week, but it is a fair summary of what we know: Most people who become infected with COVID-19 are never hospitalized; some are asymptomatic, or nearly so, while a relatively small percentage of those infected develop serious problems which may be fatal. Thursday’s report from Florida, for example, shows 23,340 known coronavirus cases since March 1, of which 3,458 (14.8%) have ever been hospitalized, and 668 (2.9%) have died. Keep in mind, of course, that some unknown percentage of Floridians have actually been infected already, but experienced few or no symptoms, and recovered without ever being tested or treated by any medical professional. So the actual death rate is probably lower than what has been reported, and Florida’s 668 deaths in a population of more than 21 million are but a fraction of the per-capita death rate in New York, New Jersey or Michigan. Letting states and local communities manage their outbreaks, under guidance based on “granular” metrics, is what the Trump plan is about:

President Donald Trump gave governors a road map Thursday for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.
“We’re starting our life again,” Trump said during his daily press briefing. “We’re starting rejuvenation of our economy again.”
He added, “This is a gradual process.”
The new guidelines are aimed at easing restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while holding the line in harder-hit locations. They make clear that the return to normalcy will be a far longer process than Trump initially envisioned, with federal officials warning that some social distancing measures may need to remain in place through the end of the year to prevent a new outbreak. And they largely reinforce plans already in the works by governors, who have primary responsibility for public health in their states.
“You’re going to call your own shots,” Trump told the governors Thursday afternoon in a conference call, according to an audio recording obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re going to be standing alongside of you.”

My guess is that we’ll see a resumption of spring training games in Florida in a matter of weeks. Just keep watching the numbers.