The Patriot Post Digest 7-10-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-10-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 10, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/57027-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Judges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.” —John Adams (1776)

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump prudently nominates Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court — but Democrats will resist.
Trump’s colorblind policies are proving to be a welcome remedy for minorities.
What is the calculation behind the burgeoning trade wars?
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

IN BRIEF
Trump’s SCOTUS Nomination Provides Little Resistance Ammo1

Thomas Gallatin

President Donald Trump’s choice of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy quickly earned high praise from Republicans who laud his conservative judicial record on the DC Circuit Court while at the same time presented Democrats with little substantive material to raise against his confirmation. In introducing Kavanaugh, Trump noted2 the importance of choosing a justice who was committed to upholding the Constitution, stating, “In keeping with President Reagan’s legacy, I do not ask about a nominee’s personal opinions. What matters is not a judge’s political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require. I am pleased to say that I have found, without doubt, such a person.”

While Kavanaugh was not the flashiest pick as some of the others potential nominees may have been, he was by far the safest choice in light of the Democrats’ determined resistance. Former President George W. Bush, who originally tabbed Kavanaugh for the DC Circuit Court back in 2003, offered his full-throated support, stating3 that Trump had made an “outstanding decision” and that Kavanaugh was a “brilliant jurist” who “will make a superb Justice of the Supreme Court of the United State.” And maybe more importantly, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is one of two moderate Republicans that Democrats have targeted to swing their way, struck a positive note, stating4, “Judge Kavanaugh has impressive credentials and extensive experience.”

However, the reality is that no matter who Trump chose, Democrats and their cohorts in the mainstream media were committed to engaging the #Resistance, doing everything in their power to prevent Trump from replacing Kennedy — famously or infamously known for being the Court’s swing vote — with a constitutionally committed conservative justice. For Democrats, it is a hill worth dying on. In fact, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) called the issue a “life-and-death” scenario and even suggested that Democrat senators up for reelection in red states need to be willing to lose in an effort to prevent confirmation.

Durbin further opined, “They [Democrats] understand it’s an historic decision. It’s about more than the next election. It’s about what future the United States of America is going to chart.” Durban’s comments were clearly intended for those three Democrats up for reelection in states that Trump won. Those Democrats, who previously crossed the aisle to vote in favor of Justice Neil Gorsuch last time — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly — will now be faced with even greater party pressure this time to toe the line.

The Democrats’ strategy in opposing Kavanaugh will be two-fold. First will be an attempt to make the issue of ObamaCare central by raising questions as to whether Kavanaugh would continue to support it as constitutional. Kavanaugh’s past remarks on ObamaCare are something Democrats will undoubtedly target. Secondly, Democrats will attack his Roman Catholic faith in order to call into question his stance on abortion. As far as Kavanaugh’s judicial record, Democrats have little ammunition to challenge him on, therefore they will seek to attack his personal beliefs and not his commitment to upholding the Constitution. Ultimately, the Democrat Party’s endgame is to convince those Democrats in tight election races not to break ranks while at the same time convincing one or two moderate Republicans to do just that.

One thing is becoming increasingly obvious, as evidenced by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) recent stratospheric hyperbole: “Civilization as we know it today is at risk in this election. We have to win. We have to win.” Democrats are entering panic mode.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57026-trumps-scotus-nomination-provides-little-resistance-ammo

Trump’s Colorblind Economy5
Business Review Board

Our own Mark Alexander has written about how Liberty is colorblind6. Unfortunately, leftist policies and constant demagoguery have resulted in too many American minorities succumbing to cultural degradation and falling short in economic progress. But things have changed under President Donald Trump. As described by Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), Trump is overseeing a “colorblind jobs boom7.”

“Trump, it turns out, has been the most consequential president in history when it comes to minority employment,” IBD says. “In June, for instance, the unemployment rate for Hispanics and Latinos 16 years and older fell to 4.6%, its lowest level ever, from 4.9% in May. The previous all-time low was 4.8%. African-American unemployment bounced up from its all-time low of 5.9% in May to 6.5% in June. But that 6.5% still represents the second-lowest unemployment reading ever for Black Americans. As for Asian-Americans, unemployment similarly bounced off its all-time low of 2.1% in May, rising to 3.2%. And that’s still 0.6 percentage point lower than when Trump entered office.”

IBD observers that Trump “is winning over those who have benefited most from his policies: Minorities. On average, minority unemployment has dropped 18% since Trump entered office in January of 2017. More than 2 million people have dropped off food stamps and returned to work.” In other words, minorities are seeing firsthand the enormous progress that genuine conservative policies produce. That, in turn, is resulting in broader support for Trump among minorities. “Despite a relentless media barrage aimed at Trump and his immigration policies,” IBD reports, “a new Harvard/Harris Poll found a 10% rise in approval for Trump among Hispanics.”

Financial self-assurance is also heading up: “minority Americans’ confidence in their own finances has risen from 57.1 to 63.5 since Trump took office. That’s important, since people’s happiness with their own finances is a good indicator of future voting tendencies.” Suffice to say, these are troubling developments for Democrats. Victimitis works only so long as its target audience remains under the delusion that they are perpetual victims. But Trump’s colorblind policies are proving to be a welcome remedy. No wonder the Left — which only pretends that Liberty is colorblind — is full-bore scared.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57007-trumps-colorblind-economy

Top Headlines8

President Trump nominates Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to Supreme Court (The White House2)

George W. Bush praises Trump for “outstanding” Supreme Court pick (Washington Examiner9)

Chuck Schumer to oppose Kavanaugh nomination: “Now is the time to fight” (Washington Examiner10)

House Judiciary Committee subpoenas anti-Trump FBI lawyer Lisa Page (The Washington Times11)

Judge refuses Trump request to change court order on family detention (Fox News12)

Mexico reportedly will create its own border force (The Washington Times13)

Twenty-four alleged MS-13 members indicted in Maryland — drugs, murder, bodies dismembered (CNS News14)

Older immigrants “crowding out” U.S. teens for summer jobs (Washington Examiner15)

California university works to reduce number of white people on campus (The College Fix16)

Humor: Mexican restaurant under fire for racially profiling white girl, offering her mild hot sauce (The Babylon Bee17)

Policy: Time for Secretary DeVos to rescind Obama-era school discipline policies (Manhattan Institute18)

Policy: How we enabled the Chinese opioid supply chain (American Enterprise Institute19)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report20.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57021-tuesday-top-headlines

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

57010 57011 57012 57016 57015

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion25.

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Trump’s Real Tariff Strategy26

Lewis Morris

The trade wars that economists predicted would follow President Trump’s raising of tariffs against various nations and trading blocs around the world have officially begun.

China announced27 last Friday that it was matching $34 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports with an equal level of tariffs on U.S. goods coming into China. The American imports targeted include soybeans, lobsters, SUVs and whiskey.

China said it is responding28 to 25% taxes levied by the U.S. on Chinese industrial products coming into America. The Chinese economic ministry claims the Trump administration is guilty of “trade bullying” and that the U.S. had begun the “biggest trade war in economic history.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-10-2018
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Trump probably takes that latter statement as a compliment, but for the Chinese to accuse the U.S. of being trade bullies is more than a bit hypocritical.

China reached its status as second-largest economy in the world through a lot more than just having a large, hard-working population. Currency manipulation, breaking trade agreements, rigging contracts with foreign companies, industrial espionage — China’s done it all. The problem for the Chinese now is that the president of the United States is looking to do more than just shake his fist.

Trump has stated since his campaign that he wanted to punish the countries that have taken unfair advantage of America in international trade. That list includes Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China. All these nations are big trading partners with the U.S., but they have all placed tariffs and trade barriers to keep America’s strongest companies from being able to compete in their markets while prying open America’s market and making it accessible to cheaper foreign goods.

This has been going on for years, but economic globalists, at least three previous presidents and many members of Congress have done little more than lament America’s trade deficit with a shrug, as if to ask, “What are ya gonna do?” Well, Trump came up with an answer to that half-baked question.

It’s hard to know if Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods will have the desired effect of motivating our trade partners to play fair. There are many economists who are against tariffs under any circumstances, even if the alternative means America getting hammered by trade agreements that tilt in favor of foreign partners. These people claim that we should use the World Trade Organization29 to press our case for better trade practices.

The WTO has supported the U.S. consistently in its trade disagreements with China, but the process is long and arduous and its enforcement regime moves painfully slow. China has learned to play the bureaucratic wrangling of the international body to its advantage, changing its tune to suit any given situation.

The media has portrayed the coming trade wars as Trump’s fault. It conveniently leaves out the part of the story that reveals Trump is responding to foreign tariffs and trade restrictions, not causing them. The media complains that Trump’s actions will bring an end to free trade30. This claim is meant to gin up anti-Trumpers, many of whom don’t support free trade anyway. Besides, we don’t really have free trade now. America operates in a sea of tariffs, fees and taxes that make international business needlessly more complex and costly than it needs to be.

This is not to say that Trump’s actions don’t have the potential to cause harm. International stock markets and consumer prices on goods in affected industries are stable so far, but the real trade war has only just begun. Many analysts note that they have already baked in some of the cost of a trade war between the U.S. and its partners, but no one can predict what will happen if this drags on for weeks or months.

Trump supporters31 in the farm belt are still with the president, counting on his business skill and his courage to face down China to get them through. Again, their views may change if things drag on and they start to feel the heat from higher prices and shrinking foreign markets. And these people may feel it first. Foreign countries are making a point of retaliating against Trump’s tariffs by targeting industries in states he won in 2016.

Any trade policy that costs American jobs is a bad policy, but so is one that maintains a meager status quo that does not grow the U.S. economy. That’s the policy we’ve had for several years, and Trump wants to change that. He has an advantage in that the American economy is strong and growing right now. He may be calculating that the U.S. can absorb a mild hit caused by a trade war if it means getting our trading partners to change their ways.

There is no good time for a trade war, but if it has to happen, then now may be that time.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57005-trumps-real-tariff-strategy

OPINION IN BRIEF

Dennis Prager: “The combination of affluence and secularism produces boredom as surely as the combination of hydrogen and oxygen produces water. Without affluence, people have a built-in purpose: obtaining food and shelter, supporting oneself and one’s family, etc. And religion, with or without affluence, likewise has always provided people with meaning. Without religion, therefore, purpose is often lost. Add to that the number of people who are not married and do not have children (also a result of the combination of affluence and secularism) and you remove another universal source of meaning. A disproportionate percentage of those on the Left (not traditional liberals) do not lack for material needs, have no religion and are single and/or childless. Those left-wing screamers you see in restaurants, the left-wing mobs on campus, the left-wing ‘antifa’ thugs and the left-wing Black Lives Matter demonstrators who close down bridges and highways do not generally consist of married people with children who attended church the previous Sunday. These people find this lack of purpose assuaged by leftism. It provides meaning and excitement, a very heady combination.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “Hillary [Clinton] is doing all the things that prospective candidates do, and she certainly does not look or sound like someone who is done with politics. During the campaign, Donald Trump said, ‘Elect me and you’ll get tired of winning.’ Maybe Hillary’s 2020 slogan could be, ‘Support me again and you’ll never get tired of losing.’” —Gary Bauer

Braying Jackass I: “The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh will threaten the lives of millions of Americans for decades to come and will morph our Supreme Court into a political arm of the right-wing Republican Party.” —Terry McAuliffe

Braying Jackass II: “Civilization as we know it today is at risk in this election. We have to win. We have to win.” —Nancy Pelosi

Non Compos Mentis: “It’s going to be quite a visual when five men overturn Roe.” —Vox’s Ezra Klein (“Seven men decided Roe.” —Matt Walsh)

“Party of Tolerance”: “Very few times I’ve felt threatened while out in the field. The mood here tonight is very volatile. Law enforcement appears to be closing down 1st Street in front of SCOTUS.” —Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on the steps of the Supreme Court

True, but good luck with that: “Progressives can still win many of these issues. They simply will have to do so in a small-d democratic way, by winning elections.” —The New York Times’ David Leonhardt

Fake news: “Fox and Trump, Trump and Fox. You know they’re close. But do you realize just how close? This kind of relationship has never existed between a U.S. president and a TV network. It is unprecedented.” —CNN’s Brian Stelter, seemingly oblivious to the Leftmedia’s fawning over Obama

And last… “Obvious but still worth noting that hysteria over Kavanaugh is strictly political. No one in America would claim he is not a brilliant lawyer. He is controversial only because he will faithfully apply the law rather than use it as a tool to advance the ‘progressive’ agenda.” —Andrew C. McCarthy

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57023-tuesday-short-cuts

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Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher