The Patriot Post Digest 7-7-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-7-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 7, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump and Putin are at odds over many things, despite the collusion narrative.
In his Warsaw speech, Trump sets a positive tone for America and the West.
June jobs numbers are encouraging, and Republicans can move the ball even further.
In fact, the GOP is working to help the economy a lot by killing regulations.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“The powers of the general government will be, and indeed must be, principally employed upon external objects, such as war, peace, negotiations with foreign powers, and foreign commerce.” —Joseph Story (1833)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Trump and Putin Face Off While Media Push Collusion Conspiracy1

President Donald Trump is meeting today with Russian President Vladimir Putin in what has become an increasingly tense geopolitical environment. On Thursday, Trump delivered a powerful speech in Warsaw2, Poland, where he highlighted the need to defend Western values against those who actively seek to undermine them — a.k.a. Moscow. He boldly called out Russia over its aggression, saying, “We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes — including Syria and Iran — and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself.” Indeed, Putin is actively working against U.S. and Trump administration interests in many areas. So much for the Leftmedia’s narrative of Trump and Putin being best friends forever.

But even faced with a growing credibility crisis, much of the Leftmedia can’t swallow conceding their anti-Trump agenda. Once again the Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy swirls despite the lack of evidence — in fact, in the face of evidence to the contrary3. Why this dogged determination by the media to hold onto their anti-Trump dogma? Follow the money. Many of the Leftmedia’s so-called “fact-checkers” are funded4 by wealthy socialists like George Soros. And “fact-checkers” are still insisting that even if the details are all wrong, the overall narrative is still valid5.

If the Leftmedia were indeed most concerned with the health of American democracy rather than seeking to take down Trump, they would be raising a stink over the incessant flow of daily leaks — at least one per day6 — that undermine Trump and our national security. No, they’d rather pan and vilify Trump’s agenda (or his humorous tweets7) than actually engage in diligent journalism. Meanwhile, Trump is moving forward in his efforts to deal with the most pressing threats to the freedom of Americans and our allies.

June Jobs Numbers Beat Predictions8

The Labor Department has released its jobs numbers for June and the news is good. Employers added 222,000 jobs this past month, surpassing several leading economists’ predictions. June saw the strongest job increase since Donald Trump took office, which continues to indicate that the American economic engine is steadily gaining momentum. The broader measure U6 unemployment rate rose to 8.9%, which counterintuitively indicates good news — an increasing number of people who had been sitting on the sidelines are entering the workforce, proving to be another encouraging sign that the economy is indeed pulling out of years of near stagnation. Remember, the headline unemployment rate declined under Barack Obama because people were leaving the workforce.

Trump, clearly upbeat over the news, tweeted, “Really great numbers on jobs & the economy! Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun!” However, Republicans will need to get ObamaCare repealed and replaced and act on tax reform in order to really get the economy surging. The sooner the better.
Congress Follows Trump’s Lead in Cutting Regulations9

The Republican-led Congress is looking to follow President Donald Trump’s lead in cutting government regulations. This week, the House Appropriations Committee recommended slashing what amounts to a year’s worth of regulations enacted under Barack Obama. Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, described it10 this way: “The suite of appropriations bills released this week goes further, curtailing more than $19 billion in total regulatory costs and eliminating 10.4 million hours of paperwork, the equivalent of eliminating all regulations from 2006 and freeing 5,200 employees from paperwork compliance.” Historically, Congress has moved very slowly in cutting regulations, but Republicans seem to be eager to ensure that the Trump-initiated deregulation reform isn’t easily reversed by future administrations.

And speaking of Congress’ work, as is often the case, popular perception belies reality. Congress has sent more legislation to Trump’s desk than either George W. Bush or Barack Obama saw at this point in their presidencies. In fact, since Jimmy Carter, only Bill Clinton has seen more bills passed this early in his presidency. Clearly, Congress has been busy, but leave it to The Washington Post to seek to diminish Republicans’ accomplishments under Trump.

The Post ran a scoop with the dubious title “60 percent of the bills Trump has signed into law have been one page long11.” In the story, the Post, while admitting that Congress has produced more legislation than recent previous presidents including Obama, downplays the legislative significance, suggesting that a short page length must equate to a lack substance. As if the Obama era’s 2,000 page laws are desirable. The article’s author laughably reasons, “One rough metric we can use to assess [the significant value of legislation] is the page-count of each bill signed into law. It takes a lot less language to, say, name a courthouse after former senator (and ‘Law and Order’ actor) Fred Thompson than it does to repeal and replace ObamaCare.” That’s true as far as a pithy line goes. But by this logic one wonders what level of significance The Washington Post ascribes to that one-page document known as the Declaration of Independence.

Top Headlines12

Russia nixes U.S.-drafted UN resolution against North Korea. (The Washington Times13)

Leftmedia “fact-checkers” get $1.3 million from leftist billionaires Soros, Omidyar. (Newsbusters4)

Investigation: Trump admin hit with at least one national security leak a day, threatening U.S. operations. (The Washington Free Beacon6)

23 Democrats move to remove Trump from office. (National Review14)

House Democrat IT suspects wanted untraceable payments, and millions disappeared. (The Daily Signal15)

CBO and OMB Agree: Federal spending will top $4T for first time this year. (CNS News16)

Countries that refuse to take back illegals cut in half, “big” win for Trump. (Washington Examiner17)

Applicants for U.S. citizenship surge; Mexicans least likely to apply. (CNS News18.)

Democrats override Illinois governor’s tax hike veto. (The Washington Free Beacon19)

Ratings collapse: CNN now losing to Nick-At-Nite in prime time ratings. (The Federalist20)

Policy: What Trump should tell Putin. (American Enterprise Institute21)

Policy: The real dangers beyond North Korea’s targeting the U.S. (Independent Women’s Forum22)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report23.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Trump Shores Up Relationships With Forgotten Friends in Poland2

By Michael Swartz

President Donald Trump headed to Poland this week, where he gave a very important speech Thursday that may come to define his foreign policy. In what was in some sense a broad apologia for the West, Trump intoned, “Americans, Poles and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty.” He spoke of the ideals that separate the West from other parts of the world and much of human history. It was a very appealing and thoughtful representation of American nationalism.

Poland is a place of some significance. In 2008, just before leaving office, former president George W. Bush recognized Poland’s strategic importance as a central European ally and fellow NATO member by working with it to bolster the West’s ballistic missile defense system. That program was quickly canceled by Barack Obama24, however, in a move seen at the time as a victory for Russia. Obama chose, after all, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. That snub by Obama was perhaps the biggest sign of neglect in a relationship between the Polish people and the Americans that has lasted since our earliest days, even before Polish nationhood.

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-7-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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While Obama was well-known for mistreating friends and embracing enemies, so far Trump has restored at least the idea of supporting our oldest, dearest friends. Indeed, Trump explicitly affirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Article 5 provision for mutual defense. His efforts may not necessarily be in the most diplomatic tone — witness Trump’s blunt insistence25 on NATO allies sharing more of the burden for defending themselves, or the outrage some in the world community have exhibited over his withdrawal26 from the Paris Climate Agreement — but The Donald is sending a clear message that America is returning to leadership once again.

It was a message received with approval in Warsaw27, as President Trump revealed that Poland will be acquiring the Patriot missile defense system from the United States and also would be working with other European nations on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from American sources. Both are important policy points.

For defense purposes, Poland isn’t necessarily going to be threatened by most of its neighbors. Anyone with rudimentary knowledge of European geopolitics knows that missile defense is essentially protection for the NATO allies against Russia, although the proximity of the Middle East does leave open the possibility of a rogue Iranian strike at Europe. But, alongside the U.S., Poland is one of just a few NATO members that takes both its financial and military commitments seriously. Not only do the Poles pay their fair share, but their troops fight alongside ours in both Iraq and Afghanistan with distinction28. It’s even been suggested that the U.S. relocate its European bases from Germany to Poland29 as both a cost-saving operation and because Poland is a better strategic location.

On the economic side, LNG exports to Poland can achieve two complementary goals: providing a market for American natural gas exports while giving Europeans an alternative to its current primary supplier, Russia — a nation that has a history of cutting off supplies for political reasons. Polish ambassador to the U.S. Piotr Wilczek wrote30 in The Wall Street Journal, “America’s renewed interest in our region is also visible in last month’s delivery of American liquefied natural gas to Poland. Central and Eastern Europe have long been dominated by an energy monopoly left over from the Cold War era. We no longer have to be victims of geopolitics. Thanks to the newly constructed LNG import terminals on the Baltic coast and a system of interconnected pipelines, LNG delivered by ship to (ports in) Poland can be transported throughout our region and beyond. These terminals allow us to exert greater energy independence, and we look toward our American partners for continued LNG gas exports.”

Poland has opposed the construction of a pipeline from Russia to Europe, fearing that Moscow could corner too much of the energy market — so Warsaw is a very willing partner for American energy exploration. Our resources may not be the cure-all31 for Poland’s situation due to the price difference of shipping the natural gas via tanker, but it would keep the other players in the game honest.

Trump’s choice of Poland as his initial European stop is also intriguing for another reason: It’s one of a select few EU nations that doesn’t admit Middle Eastern refugees — a stance that has gotten Poland in hot water with the EU but finds favor with a majority of its people32. Naturally, the other side of the political aisle is panicking over the “alt-right manifesto”33 tone of Trump’s Warsaw speech, but note carefully that these were the same people who’ve been playing up the Russian collusion angle since the 2016 election. They can’t look beyond Trump’s strong rhetoric because to do so would dismantle their carefully scripted Russia narrative.

Yet as we’ve seen so far in his presidency, Trump has a curious way of winning when people think he’s completely lost everything. Thus, this chess game of many dimensions may challenge those with short attention spans. As Trump said about Poland, “This is a nation more than one thousand years old. Your borders were erased for more than a century and only restored just one century ago.” We can learn a little bit about patience from the Poles and see how this situation plays out.

Trump closed with these worthy lines: “I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph. So, together, let us all fight like the Poles — for family, for freedom, for country, and for God.” All in all, Trump’s remarks were welcome and important, and we hope it’s a defining moment.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

CNN Body Slams Its Own Credibility7 — By going after the guy who made an animated gif, the once-great cable news network falls even further.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

David Harsanyi: What CNN’s Threat to Dox a Redditor Tells Us About the State of Journalism34
Gary Bauer: Trump Defends the West35
Paul Kengor: Marking Natural Law With Mark Levin36

For more, visit Right Opinion37.

OPINION IN BRIEF

David Harsanyi: “If you’re going to create nasty memes to get attention, demand people give you credit for those memes and celebrate when the president of the United States shares one with his roughly 33 million followers, I have no sympathy for you. You’re not a martyr for the cause of free expression. There was a time when anonymity allowed Americans with unpopular or unconventional beliefs to make their arguments without fear of retribution. Today, the Internet has created an environment that incentivizes people to create detestable messages meant to troll and harass. Then again, this story isn’t really about online harassment or the Reddit user … who has taken credit for the creation a GIF of President Trump body-slamming a wrestler — which I feel the need to reiterate is fake violence — with a CNN logo imposed on his face. The story itself means little. This is about how places like CNN function these days: how it overreacts to everything the president does, how many of today’s newsrooms give some people a pass and destroy others.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “Barack Obama, when he was president … found out about [Russian election interference] in August. Now, the election was in November. That’s a lot of time. He did nothing about it. Why did he do nothing about it? … I think what happened is he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election and he said, let’s not do anything about it. Had he thought the other way, he would have done something about it.” —Donald Trump

Dreaming big: “I actually think we’re going to win the Senate back and the House. There’s no one in Washington who agrees with me. But if [Republicans] pass this [health care] bill, I have no doubts about my prediction whatsoever. It’ll be a wave.” —Howard Dean

The BIG Lie: “It’s not really a health care bill. What’s driving it are two things: Number one is getting a win, saying we fulfilled our promise. And number two, you know, setting a stage for massive tax cuts for the rich.” —MSNBC’s Charlie Sykes

Braying Jackass: “The United States is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Our people should not have to beg for their right to health care.” —Bernie Sanders (“The reality is that those who rely on socialized medical systems have to beg for their healthcare whenever they need it.” —Tom Rogan in the Washington Examiner)

Non Compos Mentis: “As far as I know, I am not a gay man. Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well. … I am a gay man right now just without the physical act — that’s all.” —actor Andrew Garfield, who just brilliantly played Medal of Honor hero Desmond Doss38 in “Hacksaw Ridge”

And last… “If President Trump cured cancer tomorrow, the American press corps would assail him for putting a bunch of scientists on the unemployment line. He cannot win when a press corps has decided it would rather lie to smear him than tell a truth that might make him look good. The whole of it undermines American democracy and the very freedoms the press depends on to push their lies.” —Erick Erickson

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.