The Patriot Post Digest 1-27-2017

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 1-27-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Jan. 27, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

    Trump’s populist feud with Mexico over the border wall.
    Did fake news swing the election? Eh, not so much.
    Now that Hillary’s defeated, what’s next for the most powerful Democrat couple?
    And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“Unequivocal in principle, reasonable in manner, we shall be able I hope to do a great deal of good to the cause of freedom & harmony.” —Thomas Jefferson (1801)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Trump’s Twitter Tiff With Mexico1

What happens when two populists from neighboring countries fight for their respective constituencies? They don’t get along well, that’s what. President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto next Tuesday, but the latter canceled the meeting after the two sparred over Trump’s order2 to complete the 2,000 miles of border wall authorized in 2006. A wall supported by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as then-Senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

Trump reiterated Wednesday, “There will be a payment [from Mexico]; it will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form.” (That might be some kind of border-adjustment tax3 on imports, as the White House floated Thursday.) Peña Nieto was having none of it, retorting, “I have said time and again, Mexico will not pay for any wall.” Which was a far friendlier way of saying what his foul-mouthed predecessor, Vicente Fox, had declared more than once: “Mexico is not going to pay for that f—king wall.”

Aside from pure Mexican pride (or, conversely, Trump’s humiliating demand), our neighbor’s leaders reject the wall largely because Mexico benefits financially4 from immigrants who cross our borders and send money back home to their families. Trump wants them to pay for the wall because they’re not doing much to stop the flow of immigrants — not only Mexicans fleeing that country’s horrendous drug war, but Central Americans passing through. Our southern border is a porous terrorist threat5, too.

“I regret and reject the decision of the U.S. to build the wall,” Peña Nieto said, adding that it was divisive. Has he never heard that good fences make good neighbors?

In any case, Trump told his counterpart (via Twitter, of course), “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” Thus Peña Nieto had little choice but to announce (via Twitter, no less), “We have informed the White House that I will not attend the working meeting planned for next Tuesday with @POTUS.” What else could he do? Both men are playing to their constituent citizens. Trump is obviously less popular in Mexico than he is here, so Peña Nieto had almost no reason to cave on the meeting. And Trump won election largely by way of his promises to secure the border and to not take crap from other nations. We expect both men are, at the moment, testing each other and setting their opening proposals for a deal.

The Real Deal With Fake News6

With the calamitous outcome of last year’s presidential election still haunting their every dream, many mainstream media folks have seemingly suffered an existential crisis. How could so many people be so stupid as to vote for Donald Trump, they wondered. In the scramble for answers, an old concept was brought forth, dressed in the novel language of a simpleton — fake news7. Yes, these media sages concluded, American voters were duped into casting their votes for the villainous Trump because of the insidious and pervasive power of fake news. Oh, the humanity!

With its newly coined buzz word, the Leftmedia is now obsessed with what to do to stop this pandemic of propaganda. Social media sites like Facebook took up the cause by devising new filtering systems8. But did these phony stories actually persuade enough Americans to change their minds so as to alter the electoral outcome? Not according to a recently released study by Stanford University, which concluded that fake news had little impact on the election results.

The study found that only about 8% of the adult population are willing to believe almost anything if it sounds plausible and fits their political preconceptions. In other words, most adults are discerning enough not to believe everything they read, and few change their political views based on a single news story, credible or not. In reality, these propaganda stories are only able to further cement what true partisans already believe. A discerning mind has the ability to critically evaluate the trustworthiness of new information. As our parents often told us, don’t believe everything you hear. Snake-oil salesmen are nothing new.

Top Headlines9

    U.S. economy slows to 1.9% in 4th quarter — worst year since 2011. Thanks Obama. (Market Watch10)

    Share of U.S. workers in unions falls to lowest level on record. (The Wall Street Journal11)

    Miami-Dade abandons “sanctuary” status one day after Trump’s crackdown. (Miami Herald12)

    Trump administration choosing to replace several senior State Department diplomats. (The Washington Post13)

    Border Patrol chief forced out. (Associated Press14)

    Clinton received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, study finds. (The Washington Times15)

    Mike Pence will make history as the first administration official to attend the March for Life. (Independent Journal Review16)

    Trump calls for “renewed commitment to expanding school choice.” (Reason17)

    Media Matters says its secretly working with Facebook to fight “fake news.” (The Washington Free Beacon18.)

    Gore, others revive canceled CDC climate and health confab — kind of. It’s at a different venue and the government is no longer behind it. (ABC News19)

    Policy: Bilateral trade deals are a “yuge” waste of time, resources. (AIE’s Claude Barfield via The Hill20)

    Policy: America needs a strong partnership with Mexico. (Heritage Foundation’s Ana Quintana via Real Clear World21)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Hillary’s Next Mountain to Climb22

By Michael Swartz

Like the rest of us who have endured professional setbacks, the life of a losing presidential candidate has to go on somehow. John McCain and John Kerry simply went back to the Senate, while Mitt Romney returned to the business world and Al Gore grew rich on climate change alarmism. Now that the inauguration is over, and with a 24/7 media ever in search of news, it’s time for the speculation to begin on Hillary Clinton’s next move.

To that end, a lengthy piece in Politico23 laid the groundwork for portraying Hillary as a willing helper for the Democrat Party going forward, doing things like fundraising and perhaps appearing for candidates in need of a boost (you know, because she knows how to win). In its fawning article, Politico didn’t go into some of the health concerns or criminal suspicion hanging over Hillary’s head as the campaign drew to a close last November. Instead, it portrayed Hillary and Bill, who’s busy analyzing the election results and determining where she underperformed, as eminent elders who now realize it’s time to pass the torch.

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 1-27-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

But pardon us if we’re a bit skeptical. Clintons will be Clintons, and they’re no doubt mulling what longtime friend and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell said recently: “I’m certain Trump will screw up enough that by the fall of ‘18, Hillary’s numbers will be way up again.”

So Hillary isn’t ready to ride off into the sunset to enjoy her grandchildren just yet. The question then becomes what she’ll do. Some are speculating the abortive pre-election idea of TrumpTV may be a model for a television talk show24 hosted by Hillary — one in which she would control the narrative with her warm personality. Such a show “would energize the Democratic Party base and her tens of millions of fans,” said one unnamed insider, and position her for a 2020 rematch.

Others are claiming a “50-50 chance”25 that Hillary will try to carpetbag another New York political position26, that of New York City mayor. Note, though, that it’s not just Democrats “begging her” to make a bid later this year: “I’m not sure she would have an opponent,” said Bradley Tusk, the campaign manager for former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who initially ran as a Republican. Current mayor Bill De Blasio “would have to drop out if she ran.”

Supporters cite the 79% of the vote Hillary received in the five boroughs of New York City, but the scary part is that she actually could be an improvement over the current regime. “De Blasio is a repeat offender when it comes to stupidity,” said one Clinton backer — the Rev. Johnny Green, of Harlem’s Mount Neboh Baptist Church. Fellow pastor Patrick Young, who heads the First Baptist Church in the East Elmhurst section of Queens, agreed, calling Hillary “a breath of fresh air.” (Let that sink in for a moment.)

“We have a cloud over our leadership right now,” added Young. De Blasio must really be awful if people pining for Hillary Clinton to save them.

Then there are the skeptics who think that Hillary and Bill are through seeking office. “The Democratic Party does need new blood, new faces, and I don’t think Bill or Hillary Clinton would ever want to get back and run for anything,” said former Sen. Mark Pryor, a fellow Arkansas politician. “I don’t think a team of mules could drag them to do that.” Unless, of course, someone hitched that team of mules to a wagonload of greenbacks. The only question, then, is which political office could be most easily exploited for the Clintons’ enrichment.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    Nothing Trumps Federalism27 — DC has all the power, but it shouldn’t.
    Mexico Is Not the Enemy28 — Trump’s trade rhetoric is creating unneeded tension with Mexico.
    Is the VA Swamp Finally Draining?29 — Two tarnished employees are given the boot.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Erick Erickson: Twenty-First Century Slavery30
    Jonah Goldberg: Humiliating Mexico Over Border Wall Would Be a Big Mistake31
    David Harsanyi: Stop Telling Us How to Be Patriotic32

For more, visit Right Opinion33.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Jonah Goldberg: “By all means, build a wall on the border, but don’t make Mexico pay for it. … The Greek historian Thucydides argued that countries go to war for three reasons: honor, fear and interest. He put honor first, and yet that is probably the least appreciated aspect of foreign policy today. … Both the first and second world wars cannot be properly understood without taking the role national honor plays in foreign affairs. Similarly, Vladimir Putin’s constant testing of the West only makes sense when you take into account the despot’s core conviction that the fall of the Soviet Union was a blow to Russian prestige and honor. Now, I don’t think a war with Mexico is in the cards, even if the Trump administration were to figure out a way to get Mexico to foot the bill for a border wall. But forcing them to pay for it would be a punitive and gratuitous act of humiliation. Expecting a democratically elected president of a sovereign and allied nation to, in effect, grovel to the United States is the equivalent of asking him to drink poison. … In economic terms there’s little difference between asking them to pay for it and forcing them to build it themselves. … Nations don’t just act on their interests; they act on their honor. And shouting ‘You’ll pay!’ is a surefire way of guaranteeing no one will hear anything else.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Shame is a kind of anger turned in on itself. And if a whole nation were to feel ashamed it would be like a lion recoiling in order to spring.” —Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Upright: “Far be it from me to lecture anyone on how to love their country, but if your devotion to America is contingent upon the party or the person in office, you’re probably not doing it quite like the Founding Fathers envisioned.” —David Harsanyi

Food for thought: “Trump likes it this way, because when the press is constantly attacking him over trivialities, it strengthens his position and weakens the press. Trump’s ‘outrageous’ statements and tweets aren’t the product of impulsiveness, but part of a carefully maintained strategy that the press is too impulsive to resist.” —Glenn Reynolds

Spillin' the beans: “This law was never supposed to help everybody.” —ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber

Non Compos Mentis: “Since Roe v. Wade first guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the United States 44 years ago, opponents of abortion have been systematically working to establish their own ‘alternative facts’ and have turned those lies into harmful laws. … The real facts (or ‘facts,’ as we used to know them) show that abortion is one of the safest medical procedures provided in the United States.” —National Partnership for Women & Families vice president Sarah Lipton-Lubet

For the record: “That’s a very serious charge. They’re not saying the bust is taken out, what they’re saying is I’m a racist.” —Donald Trump responding to fake news that he removed MLK’s bust on inauguration day

Late-night humor: “There are reports that Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway actually punched a guy while trying to break up a fight at Trump’s inaugural ball. Though she says it wasn’t a punch, it was an ‘alternative high-five.’” —Jimmy Fallon

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.