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The Broadside | Thank God for Donald Trump

Donald J. Trump is going to be the 47th president of the United States. When Trump won Pennsylvania at 12:20 a.m., it effectively foreclosed any path for Harris to win.

It’s truly astonishing. Here’s a guy who, in his first term, was the victim of several hoaxes, twice impeached (and acquitted) on trivial charges, and subverted by members of his own administration. Since then, he’s been smeared as Hitler and a Nazi fascist, survived two assassination attempts, and has stood up under a barrage of lawfare on 90+ charges no one else would ever have been indicted with.

Some optimists were thinking that Trump would win back the presidency in a landslide. I wasn’t one of them, but I was curious to see if Trump could deliver those kinds of numbers.

He was well on his way to doing just that when I set this post up at 3:00 a.m.

It is undoubtably the greatest political comeback in US history.

It’s also a mandate. Trump helped flip the Senate to a Republican majority, which means he gets his Cabinet appointments, which means he’ll have the team he wants. At the time I wrote this, it looked like the GOP would hold a slim majority in the House, too.

Trump put together a broad coalition that is more diverse than the Democrats. Trump increased his support among blacks and Latinos. He won support from the young, from union and non-union blue-collar workers. He’s got a terrific leadership team made up of former Democrats, libertarians, and conservatives.

The American people have just told the Democrats that they’ve had enough of their destructive “policies” like open borders, sending billions of our dollars to useless wars where it’s laundered and pocketed by our enemies foreign and domestic, and tipping us into an economic depression.

They also told the legacy media what they think of them, too: we no longer listen to you. You’re irrelevant. After all the gaslighting and lying you did, the vicious attacks on Trump and his “garbage” supporters, we no longer need you. It’s a total repudiation of what was once an important institution.

It’s also a major setback for Barack Hussein Obama who has been the guy pulling the strings behind Sleepy Joe’s incompetence. If Harris had won, Barry would’ve had another four years to impose his destructive ideals on America.

Once it became clear that Trump was going to win, the Left immediately started demanding that Trump reach out to the Dems to “unify” the country.

Even Fox News’s Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat, said Republicans should reach out to Dems and show grace. My reaction was: no freakin’ way.

Here’s my take: I think we should pound the political snot out of the Democrat Party and make sure they can’t offer another candidate for the next 25 years.

The party that has demonized half the country wants the winners to be gracious. You know what? It starts with the Democrats respecting the will of the people. They just got their butts handed to them. Maybe they might want to take a minute to figure out why.

To Trump’s credit, in his comments after he locked up the win, he talked about unifying the country. “We’re going to help our country heal.” While I think he can be of good will towards the Dems, he better not concede anything to them.

It’s a wild time to be alive. We’re watching a radical realignment of the political makeup of the political parties. The Republican party has been transformed. It isn’t the party of George Bush and Dick Cheney anymore.

In his comments, Trump said, “Many people think God spared my life for a reason. To save our country. To restore America to greatness. We’re going to fulfill that mission.”

That may be. Whether or not that is what happens, thank God for His mercy in giving us Donald J. Trump to give us four years to turn things around.

Now let’s get him inaugurated—after Kamala certifies his win in January.

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The Broadside | “This is the Last Chance, Man”

Today’s the day. This is it. This is the day we’ve been waiting four years for.

If you haven’t voted, go out and vote today. Like, now. Go.

It goes without saying that we have to go all out to win this. If you can vote early and have not done so, do it today. Now. Don’t wait till tomorrow. Get it done. If you can only vote tomorrow, go vote early. Get it done, get it out of the way. Who knows what surprises lurk in the next few hours? Fire, flood, plague of frogs – nothing is off the table. We are in the Land of the Black Swans.

As inspiration, watch this clip of Elon Musk with Joe Rogan (who endorsed Trump yesterday).

It’s that serious.

All the arguments have been made. You have three choices: vote Trump, vote Harris, or stay home. If you stay home, you don’t get to complain about the state of the country. Same is true if you vote for Harris, except no one (not just you) will be allowed to complain about the state of the country.

I’ll be watching returns tonight and reporting tomorrow morning.

Let’s hope it’s good news.

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The Broadside | The Signs Are Looking Good, But Don’t Relax

It’s the day before perhaps the most consequential presidential election of my life. We’re either going to repudiate the insanity of Obama’s third term or we’re going to march into a thousand years of darkness. OK, that might be overstating it a bit, but if anyone but Trump takes the helm in January, I’m afraid that any chance to resurrect America as founded will be gone for a long time—perhaps for good.

Think of it as the last chance to grab a dead branch sticking out of the riverbank as you’re swept along with the current toward the falls just around the bend up ahead.

While the race is a virtual dead heat, there is some reason for hope.

As for the battleground states, the newest poll has Trump ahead in all seven swing states, including Wisconsin. If that wasn’t good enough news for you, his lead is outside the margin of error in three states: Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada.

In North Carolina and Georgia, Trump holds modest leads, outpacing Harris by 3.4 and 2.5 percentage points, respectively. His biggest leads are in Arizona and Nevada, where his advantage reaches 6.5 and 5.5 points. In Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, the race is closer, but Trump maintains slight leads, with margins ranging from 1.0 to 1.8 points. Overall, while the race remains tight in some states, Trump has managed to secure a consistent edge over Harris throughout these battleground regions.

Then there’s this take:

On top of that, Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, thinks the pollsters are missing a key dynamic in the race because it has remained so tight over the last couple of months.

I think the pollsters are getting this wrong. We’re all missing something, because they’re giving us the same poll over and over again. There isn’t even statistical variation. You know, 95% confidence level means that 5% of the time you’re going to get a crappy poll. We hardly ever see that.

It’s like they’re telling us we’re watching a basketball game where every play’s a jump ball. Somebody’s missing something. What I think they’re missing is a massive shift in voter registration underneath all of this. 31 states have voter registration by party. 30 of them in the past four years have seen movement toward Republicans. Miami-Dade County is now voting more Republican.

Iowa was +1 Republican. It’s now +10. And yet we’re getting these surveys that I think are off base. Somebody is missing something. I think there’s, I’m not going to call it a wave, but I think there’s a wavelet out there of Republican enthusiasm and registration. If I register to vote Republican, whether I’m switching or new, what am I going to do?

This all bodes well for Trump. But as I’ve said before, I don’t trust the polling, I don’t trust the Democrats, and I won’t feel any relief until Trump takes the oath in January.

If you haven’t voted, get out there tomorrow and vote like Trump is down and your vote is the one that will put him over the top.

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The Broadside | Why Voting Early Is Important

Welcome to November 2024, the month I’ve been waiting for since November 3, 2020. This is the month we finally have the chance to expel the disgrace that is Joe Biden from the White House.

I spoke with a local precinct committee member who has canvassed 200 homes in her district so far this election cycle. She’s been a vocal proponent of voting early, which neither I nor the missus have ever done until this election, with her encouragement.

(I’ve always been a purest, voting on Election Day, where I would go stand in line to cast my vote with others from my community. Although I must say that in the last few elections I’ve voted in, turnout has been disappointingly low, so it’s not the community activity it used to be.)

This precinct committeewoman (PC), who’s been doing this for 25 years, said there are at least three reasons to vote early, and I pass them on to you for consideration.

The first is that when you vote early, you bank your vote early. The reason that’s important is that if your vote is already counted, “they” (those who might be looking for ways to cheat) can’t change the numbers of those who voted early, because they’ve already been counted and are locked in. On election day, there’s more opportunity for bad actors to rig the vote in real time and less chance they’ll be caught. Flood the polls early so that the “banked” numbers are so large it’s “too big to rig.” Democrats have used that tactic to their advantage, and Republicans need to do the same.

The second reason is to promote efficiency and reduce cost. This PC gets a list of registered Republicans who have NOT yet voted and makes a personal visit, going door-to-door in neighborhoods. It can take a long time to make those visits. However, if someone votes early, their name is taken off the list and the canvasser doesn’t have to make a visit, freeing up time to get to others who have yet to vote and reducing the number of visits that need to be made. The PCs can also save money and time by focusing emails, texts, mailers and phone calls on those who really need a nudge to go vote.

The third reason to vote early is that you reduce the risk of disruption on Election Day. You don’t know what could happen: a power outage, bad weather, illness, travel delays, or long lines. If you go early and something happens to keep you from voting, you can try again another day. If you go on Election Day and something happens—you lose your opportunity.

We voted early and it was easy-peasy lemon squeezy. It felt weird, like it was illegal or something, but everybody was friendly and we went through the same process we normally do when we vote. The only difference was that we voted in a different location than where we normally go to cast our ballots. That’s true for a lot of precincts, so check your local .gov site to find out where to go to vote early. Just google “Where to vote early in <your town and state>.”

Here’s a Brit who is intensely interested in our presidential election and understands the power of voting early.

I think this is first election in which I’ve been much more aware of how much of the world watches our elections. Look at Ms. Berg’s final comment: “Everything is at stake.”

Not only are millions of Americans desperately hoping Trump win (by a blowout!), but other people around the globe are counting on Donald Trump winning. We need to keep our foot on the gas — go vote if you haven’t yet.

Have a great weekend.

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The Broadside | Let’s Take Out the Trash on November 5

Trump is a master troll.

O’Biden, the gift that keeps on giving, called all Trump supporters “garbage” on Tuesday. Conservatives and Republicans, but most of all Trump himself, all pounced and seized on the opportunity to turn the insult to their advantage.

The guy is a brilliant marketer and knows how to get free airtime with the media. Then he takes it a step further and addresses a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, wearing the orange vest—and THEN he thanks all American sanitation workers.

In the 24 hours from the moment O’Biden’s insult went viral, Trump’s team had to have the idea, arrange for a white garbage truck, get a large decal made to put on the sides of the truck, get the truck cleared to meet Trump on the airport tarmac, and get the media to cover it.

Incredible.

In the meantime, surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy spent the day working as a garbage man sanitation worker and then rode the garbage truck to a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It doesn’t matter how much the Left spins O’Biden’s insult, we all heard what he said, and these intelligent stunts keep the slander in the news cycle and give supporters an image to attach to it. We’re less than a week out from the election and this motivates Trump’s supporters.

I don’t know if this is a “When life gives you lemons …” or a “Sticks and stones may break my bones …” moment, but I saw every conservative social media account I follow embrace the insult because it’s an act of defiance against the regime.

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The Broadside | When the Democrats Tell You What They Think of You, Believe Them

Remember when Barack Hussein Obama called citizens of middle America bitter clingers?

Remember when Hillary Clinton labeled half of Trump’s supporters as irredeemable “deplorables”?

That was a moment I remember well because I was a Trump supporter by that time and, even if I hadn’t been, I sure wasn’t supporting her. I had never heard a presidential candidate outright smear those they are asking to lead.

Joe Biden must’ve been taking notes, because he had his own “deplorable” moment yesterday.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” he says. When the Democrats tell you what they think of you, believe them.

That includes the hysterical claims from Harris and her flying monkeys in the media that Trump is Hitler and his followers are Nazis. I listened to her final speech last night for ten minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore.

She lied throughout her propagandizing from the ellipse in DC, where Trump held his rally on January 6, 2020. She’s in a razor-thin race and instead of going to a swing state she needs to win, she stays in DC and conjures up the specter of January 6.

Because that event hasn’t been litigated enough!

Not even five minutes into her speech she lied that Trump “sent an armed mob” into the capital. He didn’t order them to attack the capital, and no one was armed. The only people who died that day were two women who were killed by capital police.

Kamala lied throughout her propaganda. She claimed, against all evidence, that Trump would outlaw abortion nationwide (he’s promised to veto a federal abortion ban), that he would limit IVF (he’s actually pledged the opposite), and told us that Project 2025 is Trump’s. It isn’t and he’s disavowed all ties to it.

Trump spoke with Sean Hannity on Fox News yesterday to talk about his policy positions. (For the record, I am not a fan of Hannity’s. I can’t listen to his self-aggrandizing monologues—even during guest interviews—and I don’t think he’s all that rigorous an interviewer.)

Did we learn anything new from this latest set of comments?

Maybe a couple of things. First, I thought Trump would’ve see the economy as the number one concern, but he told Hannity that immigration is the biggest issue. He then said that Kamala let “21 million people” into the country. That’s a bigger number than is usually bandied about, which is about 10 million. I actually think that the 21 million is a more accurate number. Frankly, I’ll bet that it’s even bigger than that.

He also said that more than 300 former generals, admirals and former cabinet members have signed an endorsement of him. Surprisingly, I hadn’t heard that yet.

The group, organized by former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien and former National Security Council chief of staff Alex Gray, wrote in a letter that “securing peace” is “the legacy of Trump.”

The signers, numbering more than 300, include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump in this year’s Republican primaries, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe.

Trump also said something interesting that I hadn’t heard from him before. He was talking about this administration’s weaponization of the DOJ against conservatives and he said, “They go after Catholics; evangelicals will be next.”

That’s a little foreboding. I think we’re already in their sights, but does he know something we don’t?

He spent time listing his achievements, like building 500 miles of border wall; delivering the “largest tax cuts in the history of our country”; and declaring that China and everybody else respected us when he was president.

He also said that Elon Musk would “tackle waste, fraud and abuse in our budgets,” cutting costs and saving us 2 trillion dollars. Now that’s something I’d like to see!

It reminds me that I’m not just voting for Trump; I’m voting for Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the other cast of characters that he’s pulled together. It’s quite a politically diverse set of smart people. The Democrats have nothing like it even though they’re the ones screaming about diversity all the time.

Hannity brought it around to how I started this post: everyone is calling Trump a Nazi and a fascist and Mussolini and Stalin; he’s survived two assassination attempts; Iran has hit squads in the U.S. who want to take him out. “This is the environment we’re in” Hannity says.

Trump, never one to miss an opportunity to boast, says, “they only go after consequential presidents. I’m very consequential.” LOL.

Frankly, I think he’s right. And the Leftist anti-Americans have no answer for him other than to rachet up the evil rhetoric to whip their minions into a frothy frenzy that they can use to burn the country down should Trump win. Just watch what MSNBC did during his Madison Square Garden rally:

Shameful. You really don’t hate the mainstream media enough.

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The Broadside | How the Culture of Death Took Over Our Christian Nation

It’s no secret that we live in a culture of death today, marked by abortion, sexual confusion, and the mutilation young bodies. In fact, all of the profoundly corrupt ideology is targeted directly at our children.

In an eye-opening documentary, activist Seth Gruber explains, with the help of other conservative opinion leaders, where this menace got its start and how it is that we have been enveloped in a culture of death. I strongly urge you to watch this film; make the time to do it.

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The Broadside | I Watched Literally Hitler’s Speech at Madison Square Garden and It Was Amazing

It’s hard not to believe that the momentum and energy is with Donald J. Trump nine days from the election. It’s amazing to see figures like RFK Jr. from the storied Democrat dynasty standing and addressing a sold-out crowd in MSG who are all wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and holding “Dream Big Again” and “Trump Will Fix It” signs.

Add Tulsi Gabbard (former Democrat candidate for president) and Elon Musk (who didn’t vote Republican until 2022) to Trump’s supporters—then consider Liz Cheney traveling with Kamala Harris and it’s clear that we’re experiencing a total political realignment. (I’ve heard, but can’t verify, that Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney have threatened to leave the Republican Party if Trump wins. Big deal; they’re barely Republicans anyway.)

I heard that there were 20,000 people inside the Garden, with up to a reported 20,000 outside who couldn’t get in (I couldn’t verify that final number). According to Eric Trump, almost 200,000 people tried to get into the event. We’re living in truly historic times.

Several MAGA celebrities preceded Donald Trump at the podium, including Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., Tucker Carlson, Dr. Phil, Hulk Hogan, Dana White, JD Vance, and several of Trump’s family members, including Don Jr., Eric and Lara Trump, and a rare appearance by Melania Trump to introduce her husband. Even Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was there (boooo … or, yay, I guess).

Trump started off with Ronald Reagan’s question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” and promised a “new golden age” in America. He used inspiring imagery and words such as “dream big again” and “I will bring back the American dream.” He said that “this election is a choice between four more years of incompetence or the four greatest years in American history.”

That sounds like hyperbole, but Trump has earned the right to make big promises. The man created a peaceful America the last time he was in the Oval Office, survived an assassin’s bullet, and has been tirelessly campaigning for 56 days straight. He’s unstoppable.

Meanwhile, no one knows where Biden is, and Harris pulled a bait-and-switch with a rally in Houston, where Beyonce was promised to perform but only spoke for 3 minutes before walking out of the room.

LOL. Way to fire up your support!

Trump also declared that “The United States is an occupied country” and that on January 20, 2025, he would launch the largest deportation effort in our history, citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. From the text of the Act:

An Act Respecting Alien Enemies

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies. 

You know that if Trump invokes that law the deep state will sue to prevent him from using it. If SCOTUS is smart, they will allow Trump to make the determination if what we’re experiencing is an “invasion or predatory incursion.”

The other thing Trump said about illegal aliens is that he’s “calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.” I’m all in on that. We need to meet intransigence and violence from foreigners against our citizens with unrelenting force.

Trump also reiterated his promise not to tax tips and announced a new policy—a tax break for caregivers who are caring for family members, which should encourage families to care for elderly or otherwise incapacitated loved ones.

Elon Musk addressed government efficiency during his remarks, saying, “all government spending is taxation.” You got that right. He promises they will “get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook” and that “America is going to reach heights never seen before.” Somewhere I saw that he thinks he can save us on the order of $2 trillion dollars once he takes on government inefficiency.

Tucker Carlson said, “Donald Trump is going to win” and “Trump gave people permission to tell the truth.” I think both are right. Before Trump started calling things as they were (fake news, Sleepy/Crooked Joe) I think Americans pretty much trusted they were being told the truth. If nothing else, Trump exposed the deep state and the Uniparty for all to see.

Most polls are showing Trump and Harris in a very close race—too close to call. I personally don’t understand how the contest can be so close when you look at Harris—a vapid and incompetent empty pantsuit, whose whole campaign is built on fear and bashing Trump with extreme rhetoric that no one but the far Left believes.

Then you have Trump who, while imperfect, has been unjustly persecuted and vilified, but who obviously loves this country and wants to protect us and is promising exciting changes to government.

While I think that the mood in the country favors Trump, I won’t breathe easy until he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025.

We’ll see. In nine days, we’ll know just what we’re in for the next four years.

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The Broadside | “Jesus is Lord” is Embraced by MAGA But Also Remember “Jesus is Lord” Means Christians Are Independent of Party

Yesterday I wrote about my caution with receiving Tulsi Gabbard into the Republican Party. On the one hand I welcome her. She’s intelligent, authentic, and seems like a genuinely nice person who’s guided by common sense. On the other hand, she’s been a Democrat for 20 years and an Independent for two, and she has a terrible record on abortion, gun rights, and fiscal policy. Time will tell exactly what she brings to the party (see what I did there?).

Today I have a similar caution with respect to the recent kerfluffle over pro-Jesus comments being shouted in a Harris and in a Trump event and how the two handled it.

First, Harris: “Oh you guys are at the wrong rally.”

Here’s the same moment filmed from a different angle, where you can see the person who yells about Jesus being Lord and Christ being King being kicked out of the rally.

Note that Kamala mocks the students—a “sick burn” if you will—and the crowd immediately laughs and applauds her one-liners. Setting aside the fact that shouting while someone is speaking is rude and disruptive, Dr. Ben Carson made the point that Kamala didn’t have time to prepare an answer … she just said what was on her heart.

A day or so later, JD Vance was speaking at a Trump/Vance rally, and again, someone shouted “Jesus is King!” Here’s how Vance handled it:

A stark contrast to Kamala’s response, no? And then, Donald Trump weighed in on the exchanges: “In our movement, we love Christians, we welcome believers, and we embrace followers of Jesus.”

It’s heartening to hear that the MAGA movement embraces believers; as Christians, we should always count it a blessing when those in authority—and in the culture at large—have favorable attitudes towards us. But here’s where I think we should be cautious about being embraced by either political party.

We owe our allegiance to only one Man, Jesus Christ, and it is too easy to get caught up in putting our trust in a political leader or a political party to do the work of reforming a culture’s moral makeup. It cannot and will not be done through laws or other political means.

We certainly can vote for politicians who support policies that align with Christian principles and obedience. But as we’ve seen, politics follows culture and as the culture decays, Christians are at risk of being demonized (ironically) as what’s holding the culture back.

But once we surrender any of our dependence on God to a political party, we can be played by that party. Be thankful for the support we have from a major political party but maintain your independence as a Christian so that you don’t allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of security just because a political party embraces your faith.

Keep God first. Then family and country.

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The Broadside | Tulsi Gabbard: “I’m proud to stand here with you and announce that I am joining the Republican Party.”

This is truly historic because she was a Democrat candidate for president just four years ago, having served as a Democrat in the Hawaii Legislature and then in the House from 2013 to 2021, as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016 and as a combat veteran.

The first Hindu member of the US Congress, she left the Democrats in 2022, saying they were an “elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” While I welcome her to the Republican Party, I’m a bit cautious.

Part of that caution is because, as I’ve written before, I don’t trust either of the parties in Congress. They’re effectively a UniParty, separated only by the degree by which they want to take my money and restrict my freedom.

Plus, Tulsi had been a lifelong Democrat. Just because she has switched parties doesn’t mean she’s now a conservative.

Gabbard’s most recent endorsements and ratings reflect something other than conservatism. In the area of gun control, Gabbard has a 0% rating from both the National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Foundation. In recent years, she has publicly supported bans on assault weapons, among other legislation supported by the gun control lobby.

Regarding abortion, Gabbard received a 100% rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and 90% from NARAL Pro-Choice America, both in 2020. She received a 0% rating from both the National Right to Life and Susan B. Anthony list in the same year.

When it comes to fiscal conservatism, she received an 11% rating from Americans for Prosperity, 7% from Heritage Action for America, and 9% from the Club For Growth, all in 2020.

That’s from an article in 2022.

Maybe Gabbard has moved further to the right than we know. She’s part of Trump’s transition team, along with RFK Jr. (who is most definitely not a conservative or a Republican).

Then again, she’s a smart woman. Why not align herself with a winner like Donald J. Trump since she no longer has a major party to call home? I worry that she may be embraced by Republicans who begin to compromise their principles (if they have any to start with) while in proximity to her.

I welcome her to the party, but let’s wait to see whether she is truly conservative.