OPINION: Trump redux

In December 2015 I wrote an article that made the case for a likely Trump victory in 2016. I submitted it to our local paper and it was rejected as a “ridiculous notion.” At the time the Huffington Post would not even cover Trump in the political section. Let’s try this again.

The election of 2020 was a referendum on the Trump presidency. All the Trump positives weighed against all the Trump negatives. Biden simply ran a non-campaign with apparent strategy of hidin’ Biden lest he make another cringe worthy faux pas.

The voters were deciding between the reality of the Trump presidency with all its “issues” or a hypothetical Biden presidency with all its promises. Remember that at that time Trump was besieged with impeachment, Russia collusion accusations, a hostile mainstream media, a corrupted social media, and the pandemic while Biden and Harris were marketed as the “adults” who would unify the country. As so often happens, foolish people chose false promises over reality.

It was obvious that Trump, in the fullness of time, would look better and better. The deep state knew this as well so the torments continued with a second post-election impeachment, the Jan. 6 inquisition, the Mar-a-Lago raid and subsequent incitement, ex post facto legislation allowing Trump specific litigation, etc.

One would expect that these trials and tribulations would fulfill their intended purpose, to seal Trump’s fate and bar his return to office, but then we have the Biden administration. From day one, Biden has been a train wreck with deliberate policies that have brought us skyrocketing energy prices, runaway inflation, humiliation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine war with its threat of nuclear holocaust, an invasion at our southern border, alienation of half the nation as “extreme MAGA Republicans,” voluminous evidence of corruption at the highest levels, a vice president that can’t seem to speak coherently without a script, and appointed officials who are selected for anything but competency.

It is as if the underlying agenda of the Biden administration is to beat down and humiliate a proud America; a goal well aligned with that of China. Mission accomplished.

The deep state “intelligence community” was willing to destroy their own credibility by the obfuscation of the Hunter Laptop story. The 50+ signers of the now infamous letter which attempted to discredit what the FBI knew to be credible evidence, should be investigated for criminal election interference. Faith in our government institutions has reached an all-time low…and falling.

One of the earliest criticisms of Trump was his “Build the Wall” border policy. No reasonable person can look at the disastrous invasion at our southern border with its accompanying child sex trafficking, drugs which are killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, and economic stresses and not know that Trump was right; that we need a secure border. A Rasmussen pole shows that a majority of all voters now support Trump’s pledge to deploy the military to secure our borders.

The release of the Jan. 6 videos, the Democrats' J6 inquisition, and the horrific treatment of the J6 political prisoners have impressed on the minds of voters that there are two standards of justice; one for Republicans and one for friends of Biden. 67% of those polled believe Hunter Biden got a “Sweetheart Deal” concerning prosecution of his multiple and flagrant crimes.

Trump was the only president in modern history that did not start a new war and actually made historic advances toward peace, especially in the Middle East. Few doubt that the Ukraine war would have happened under Trump, and Trump’s claim that as president again he could quickly end that war seems credible.

Trump’s economic policies of America First, deregulation, energy independence and freedom unleashed a booming economy with unprecedented growth and prosperity. He recognized the economic and ecological threat posed by China and canceled or renegotiated agreements that were not in America’s best interest.

Comparing Trump’s past performance with the stark reality of Biden’s rapid declining metal acuity, failing policies, embarrassing performance on the world stage, and his political weaponization of federal agencies has support from even his own party crumbling. Factor in the other advantages that have been removed from play: the collusion between federal agencies and social media now banned by injunction, or the purchase and liberation of Twitter by Musk, and the Biden arsenal is well and truly depleted.

Remember that for all their talk about “democracy," Democrats do not popularly nominate their candidate for president. They pretend like they do, but at the DNC they have “Super Delegates” who are party elites with outsized voting rights. Just like with Russian or Chinese “elections,” it is Democrat party leadership who pick the candidate, not the people. This opens the possibility to a viable primary challenge from the likes of Gavin Newsom or JFK Junior should Biden become unserviceable.

Trump’s only serious competition on the Republican side is Ron DeSantis, and people don’t go for the tribute band when the original is an option so Trump’s nomination at the RNC is very likely. The public’s perception of the Biden administration is being calibrated, and as 2024 approaches, Trump’s negatives are fading while his positives are looking better every day. Obviously, conditions are aligning for a Trump victory in 2024.

It’s just common sense.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.