Not Tired of Winning
Ignore the media: Trump is rolling up the score
On the occasion of Trump’s 100th day in office earlier this week the media was unanimous that Trump is in trouble—his polls are collapsing, and his agenda running aground. Which can only mean the opposite is true of course.
It is both a chore and boring to fisk through all the poll numbers; it is actually amazing that Trump’s top- and bottom-line numbers aren’t worse given the relentless media attacks, distortions, and omissions in their “reporting.”
One of Trump’s few understatements was his boast in 2016 that “we’ll get tired of so much winning.” To paraphrase Hillary Clinton when she’s below the Mason-Dixon line: “I ain’t no ways tarred of all the winning. . .”
Let’s take stock of just this week:
• A jobs report this morning that came in much stronger than expected, perhaps indicating that the negative-growth GDP report earlier this week is not the whole story. I think there’s a good chance that GDP number will be revised upward a month or so from now. Add to this reports that China is indicating a willingness to talk with Trump about trade, amidst reports that Trump’s tariffs are starting to bite China’s economy.
• The declaration, early today, that Trump will strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. I may have to get out the really expensive whisky and my best wine to mark this delirious occasion.
• An executive order halting funding to PBS and NPR. (Question: Why has no previous Republican administration—or Republican controlled Congress—had the wit to do this? That failure alone shows why we needed Trump.)
• While wondering about past failures of a Republican Congress, let us give credit where credit is due for the House voting (with 35 Democrats joining Republicans) to invoke the Congressional Review Act to overturn California’s coercive and reckless electric car mandate, which several other states have adopted. Under the CRA, a regulation struck down cannot ever be brought back again in the future by the bureaucrats, but only by an act of Congress. Would Congress ever vote to outlaw gasoline-powered cars ten years from now? Of course not; that’s why the Biden/Newsom climatistas had bureaucrats do it. Now it’s over to the Senate for a vote, where the Senate parliamentarian has cast doubt on whether the electric car mandate qualifies for CRA consideration. Here’s a first big test for new GOP Senate leader John Thune. If he wimps out on overriding the parliamentarian (which a Senate majority can do), people may actually wish for the return of Mitch.
• The Trump administration is suing four states over their lawsuits attempting to pick the pockets of oil companies for their supposed responsibility for climate change. Savor the lede this totally unbiased news report from CNN:
The Trump administration filed lawsuits against four states Thursday in an effort to halt their plans to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate damage, marking the government’s latest attack on climate action and raising fears about states’ ability to act on climate change and hold polluters accountable. . . The filing called the laws “a transparent monetary-extraction scheme” paid for by out-of-state businesses.
You may think you hate CNN, but you can’t hate it enough.
• Trump has made his first judicial appointment: Whitney Hermandorfer for the Sixth Circuit. I’ve never heard of her either, but she gets high marks from people I know who track these things. Separately, I did hear from a well-placed and completely sound senior source in the judiciary a month ago that the Trump team is assembling a number of solid nominees. I suspect the delay is due to the fact that the White House counsel’s office is overwhelmed with urgent matters like all the district court lawfare against Trump, as well as the clogged pipeline of other administration appointments that need filling as soon as possible.
• But maybe Trump should just appoint Marco Rubio to everything:
Apparently the vice president agrees:
Let the conclave begin! Have a great weekend everybody.
1 - I am inclined to believe, but am not sure enough yet to claim that I do believe, that the contradictory economic info (mrkts, fed res, SBA numbers, CPI changes, payroll rpts etc) to the extent that it can be believed, reflects a dramatic shift in investment and control from Wall Street to Main Street. If so, this may take a year or more to settle out with the dems seeing the sky falling and the mid term voters seeing their lives improving.
2 - you missed, I think, Trump's biggest win of the week: he leveraged TDS to get Carney elected in Canada.
Not only does this virtually guarantee a change from the multi-lateral NAFTA and USCANMEX agreements to a pair of bilateral agreements, but it will almost certainly lead to a separatist (future econ partner or 51s state) movement in western Canada and, more importantly, a tremendous reduction in Ottawa's silent opposition to projects like Keystone II.
Trump 1.0 was slightly better than average, but 2.0? Holy Cow!
I'm still in shock and awe. This is what I voted for.
Professor, store away all those videos of Democrats stating "This is Trump's economy" when the averages were down. They'll be excellent when played back to them in a few months.