The Patriot Post Digest 11-9-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-9-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Nov. 9, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Donald Trump’s “yuge” win shocked nearly everyone. So what now?
Not only that, but the GOP kept the Senate and the House.
And on down the ballot, it was a Republican wave. Democrats were wiped out. Again.
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” —Thomas Paine (1776)

2016 by the Numbers1

As we go to press, here are the raw numbers, all of which will change as results are finalized.

Donald Trump: 279 electoral votes (likely 320) and 59.23 million votes Hillary Clinton: 228 electoral votes and 59.41 million votes

Senate: 52 Republicans, 47 Democrats (loss of one for Republicans)  House: 237 Republicans, 193 Democrats (loss of seven for Republicans)

Governor: 33 Republicans, 14 Democrats (gain of three for Republicans)

State legislatures: Republicans now control more than two-thirds of all chambers.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
How Great Is America?2

By Nate Jackson

We fully expected to be writing analysis about putting the Republican Party back together after Donald Trump’s inevitable loss to Hillary Clinton. We’ve never been so glad to be wrong — Trump will be the next president of the United States after a stunning upset. Not just an upset, but a resounding win, and a major defeat for the so-called “progressive” establishment.

Trump won at least 276 electoral votes, and almost surely 320 once a few too-close-to-call states are decided. That said, he also likely lost the popular vote by more than 100,000 votes, thanks entirely to California. Look for Democrats to start gunning for the Electoral College.

There are many storylines here, so let’s get to it.

First of all, we clearly had our differences with Trump and laid them out during the primaries. Once he became the nominee, however, we largely trained our fire on Hillary Clinton, and Mark Alexander even endorsed Trump3.

Trump defied expectations all the way through the primaries, and proved once again that media pollaganda can be really effective — until the people reject it. We predicted in June4 that the Brexit vote could portend the U.S. results. That turned out to be correct. Voters didn’t let pollsters dictate the results.

Not only did Trump defy electoral predictions, but he proved that a Republican who’s not really a Republican can win. He and the party in part ran against each other. Trump repudiated the establishment5, even as many of them tripped over themselves figuring out how to address his rise. It remains to be seen how much his positions on numerous issues, immigration and trade in particular, will influence and move the GOP platform in the days ahead. He’s not a conservative, but populism resonated and conservatives must use this new voice to right a lot of wrongs.

This is huge for the Supreme Court. Senate Republicans held fast in refusing to confirm Barack Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland6, to replace the revered Antonin Scalia7. Now, Trump will get to choose the next justice, and his list8 is impressive.

The importance of Trump’s victory is also hard to understate for other issues, from gun rights to taxes to foreign policy to the bureaucrats who run the government.

As for the Democrats, this is what happens when you nominate a criminal who was above the law in a rigged system. The American people gave her — and Obama’s banana republic9 — a pretty resounding rebuke. She even managed to cost Democrats the Senate. Hillary Clinton was a truly awful candidate. So awful, in fact, she couldn’t beat a man (and his supporters) she and her Leftmedia super PAC spent 24/7 painting as racist, bigoted and just plain crazy. Who knew that a good portion of America — the “irredeemable” “basket of deplorables10” — doesn’t take kindly to being smeared in such a hateful way11? Yet the Left is already doubling down on that as they express horror and dismay and the results.

We learned that Trump can talk over the media, directly to the American people. That ability is going to be critical going forward.

In any case, it’s Clinton who’s the criminal, and she was finally held accountable. That in and of itself brings an awful lot of relief and hope.

Democrats have already begun blaming the “rigged system” themselves — specifically FBI Director James Comey for “interfering” in the election by reopening the criminal probe into Clinton’s email 11 days before the election. Democrats should remember, however, that it wasn’t Comey who set up a private server on which classified information was illegally handled, all in order to conceal pay-to-play schemes at the Clinton Foundation. That’s all on Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, Comey did his best to provide a layup exoneration12 for Clinton. It didn’t work.

Will Comey have a job for much longer?

Again, this was a huge rebuke not just for the Clintons, but for Obama, who campaigned vigorously for Clinton and Democrats around the country. He boldly told voters that, while he wasn’t on the ballot, everything he had done over the last eight years was. Turns out voters weren’t so keen on his record after all.

How big a role did ObamaCare play in this result? Americans all over the country are being squeezed by skyrocketing health costs for which Democrats bear sole responsibility. Trump promises repeal, and Americans gave him a win and a GOP Congress to get it done.

Rather than rebuilding the GOP, it will be Democrats performing the autopsy and engaging in an ugly recriminations battle. They brought this crushing wave on themselves.

Finally, Hillary is such a — how do you say it? — “nasty woman” that she refused even to address her supporters last night, instead sending out her campaign manager to tell them to go home because votes were still being counted.

On Wednesday morning at about 11:45, she finally took the stage to offer a concession speech that wasn’t a concession at all, but her usual laundry list. “You represent the best of America,” she told her supporters. To be distinguished from the other side. After saying, “This is painful, and it will be for a long time,” she lamented, “We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought.” Because the Democrats' playbook is based on a divide and conquer strategy, she then proceeded to divide everyone by their “identities,” which is exactly the problem. The American people said “no!” to that Demo division.

By the way, she also mentioned “Rule of Law,” which is frankly hilarious.

Trump, by contrast, was gracious to her, saying in his victory speech13, “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely. Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together. To all Republicans, Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”

He also aptly summed up why he won: “It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will. Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”

So on to the task of cleaning up from the disastrous Obama-Clinton years!

Surprise — GOP Keeps Congress14

By Lewis Morris

After months of sweating the possible negative effects that Donald Trump’s slash-and-burn campaign for the presidency would have on down-ballot races, congressional Republicans were rewarded for their hard work Tuesday night. The House, which was never really in play despite the rosy predictions of Democrat strategists, remains comfortably in GOP hands with a 236 to 192 majority as of this writing. But the real action, such as it was, took place in the Senate15, and Republicans prevailed there too.

Republicans walked into the 2016 race having to defend 24 seats, and Democrats were licking their chops at the possibility of flipping the chamber in their favor. A lot was riding on the Senate outcome, not the least being which party would hold advice and consent power over upcoming Supreme Court nominees. Democrats were counting on negative feelings about Trump to trickle into Senate races, and they spent a lot of time and treasure attempting to link vulnerable Republicans to the volatile Republican presidential candidate.

In the end, though, it appears that voters were more interested in sending a message to the current president and his party. Former Democrat Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin were perfect examples of the repudiation16 handed to Democrats. Bayh, who retired in 2010, and Feingold, who was defeated after his vocal support for ObamaCare, were recruited by top Senate Dem Chuck Schumer to run again and reclaim their seats. Both men were decisively defeated last night, and they can each likely thank ObamaCare.

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-9-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, former presidential candidates who were both targets of Trump’s harsh primary campaign, both won re-election. Rubio had previously vowed to retire, but decided to give the Senate another go, winning his race with 52% of the vote.

Democrats did manage to pick up one seat in Illinois, where Tammy Duckworth defeated Republican incumbent Mark Kirk. But six other Republicans who were also elected to the Senate in 2010’s wave election were able to successfully defend their seats. This is a further indication that the public was and remains staunchly against ObamaCare and the hard-left governing style that rose out of the Obama administration.

Now the GOP will control the White House and all of Congress upon a presidential victory for the first time since 1928. We certainly hope that finally means ObamaCare’s days are numbered. And we also hope, along with that, the unconstitutional, autocratic method of government that we have had to suffer for these last eight years dies a well-deserved death.

The Wave Kept Going Down the Ballot17

By Thomas Gallatin

In light of Donald Trump’s historic election victory2, it may be easy to overlook just how deep and wide the victory was, not just for Trump, but for the GOP. The Trump victory is looking like the crest of another Republican wave18. The GOP maintained majorities in both the House and Senate, giving Republicans the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1928. But Republicans also picked up three more governorships, increasing their number by three to 33 — and they’ll perhaps add yet another soon. And they expanded their control of state legislatures to more than two-thirds.

There were also significant initiatives on the ballot in several states.

Four more states — California, Maine, Nevada and Massachusetts — voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use, with voters in Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota passing a medical marijuana measure. It now seems likely that the legalization of marijuana19 nationwide is not far off.

Several states had minimum wage increases on the ballot. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington chose to raise the minimum wage, while a measure to lower the minimum wage to those workers under the age of 18 was rejected in South Dakota. So long as the economy languishes at near stagnation levels, the minimum wage issue won’t be going away anytime soon.

In Colorado, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have implemented a single-payer health care model. If this had passed, Colorado residents would have seen a 10% tax on their payroll and veered to the left of even Vermont.

The death penalty removal measure on the ballot in California appears to have been rejected by voters, while Nebraska voted to reinstate the death penalty.

Four states had various gun control related measures on their ballots. California voters appear to have approved a measure to require background checks on the sale of ammunition. Maine voters rejected a measure to increase background checks for gun sales. In Nevada, the result was not yet fully known on whether an initiative requiring private buyers and sellers to conduct background checks had passed. And in Washington, voters passed an initiative allowing courts to temporarily seize guns from individuals.

Alabama voters passed a measure that added a right-to-work guarantee to its state constitution, while Virginia voters rejected a similar measure. South Dakota voters rejected Measure 23, which would have effectively eliminated the state’s right-to-work law, in place since 1947.

Results have yet to fully come in on Colorado voters' choice regarding Proposition 106, legalizing physician-assisted suicide.

In California, voters by a large margin approved Proposition 58, which now allows for public schools to teach in Spanish. And Massachusetts voters rejected school choice in voting against an initiative that would have added 12 new charter school each year.

All in all, 2016 produced an awful lot more hope and change than many observers were counting on. Let’s see what Republicans at the local, state and national levels can now do with their winnings.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Jim DeMint: The People Have Spoken: Change Must Start Now20
Star Parker: What Happened to American Ideals?21
L. Brent Bozell & Tim Graham: The Year of the Fact-Checker?22

For more, visit Right Opinion23.

TOP HEADLINES

North Dakota Sues Over Transgender Regulation24
Feds Knew About EpiPen Overcharges25
Marilyn Mosby Posts Illegal Ballot Photo26
Russia’s Goading Rattles NATO27

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report28.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Washington Examiner: “Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the presidential race is not just devastating to liberals in general and Hillary Clinton in particular. It is also concerning to many conservatives as well. Trump’s vision of America, the ‘Crippled America’ of which he has written, is not one that most people share in all its particulars. But most Americans can see some plain, unvarnished truth in it, which is why Trump is on his way to the White House. … Trump will now be president, and every American owes it to him and to their country to hope he succeeds. This is every incoming president’s due. That doesn’t mean rolling over and letting him win every item on his agenda. It means, rather, starting with and sustaining the desire to see the Trump presidency promote the common good. … Trump can learn from Obama’s most egregious mistake, which was to govern as though his opinion was the only one worth considering. … America has rarely been so divided. It falls to Trump to heal those divisions. Few people, even among his supporters, might think of him as right for that emollient role. But he has surprised everyone repeatedly in the past 18 months, and he now needs to do so again.”

Read more29.

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “Issues matter. Remember that Hillary Clinton’s poll lead began to decline before FBI Director James Comey’s Oct. 28 announcement of the reopening of the Clinton secret email system investigation; it began with the announcement of the big Obamacare premium increases. Barack Obama has never sweated much about the details — accepting dysfunctional provisions of Obamacare, conceding almost every point in the negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal — but it turns out that details can matter.” —Michael Barone

Upright: “There is a measure of real justice in the America’s rejection of Hillary Clinton. The electorate has directly and intentionally rebuked her corruption, her double standards, and her arrogance. This election was less about the love of Trump (though many millions do certainly love him) than it was about rejecting the colossal hubris of the progressive establishment. This is a good thing, a very good thing indeed.” —David French

Ungracious: “Well folks, I know you’ve been here a long time and it’s been a long night and it’s been a long campaign, but I can say we can wait a longer, can’t we? … Everybody should head home. You should get some sleep. We’ll have more to say tomorrow.” —John Podesta, standing in for Hillary, who refused even to address her supporters

That’s certainly not what Dems were portraying: “Our democracy has always been rowdy and raucous. We’ve been through tough and divisive elections before and we’ve always come out stronger for it. Remember, no matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning and America will still be the greatest nation on earth.” —Barack Obama

Rare straight talk: “To put it bluntly, the media missed the story. In the end, a huge number of American voters wanted something different. And although these voters shouted and screamed it, most journalists just weren’t listening. They didn’t get it. … The strange thing, of course, is that the media helped to give Trump his chance.” —liberal Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan

And last… “An important lesson is that yelling ‘Bigot!’ doesn’t cause white people to magically disappear.” —Frank Fleming

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.