Ever been in a mall novelty shop when you happened upon one of those strange statuettes depicting two sides of the same contorted face, one with a happy, expressive grin and the other a grim and pessimistic one depending on which side is pointed towards you? Based
on your point-of-view, you witness the full range of moods at practically the same time.
Shopping for a particularly grouchy morning person? This is just what you need to make the point.
It’s safe to say the silly statuettes describe a good many people these days, their moods influenced by the news every morning. Whereas someone could be happy and forward-thinking and optimistic one day, the next they’re down and believing the whole world is against them.
This is especially true in American politics, where it’s become more and more difficult to remain hopeful based on the distorted, biased worldview portrayed in the establishment media. With two months to go until the 2024 election – and with some states authorizing the receipt of mail-in ballots beginning this week – conservatives can’t afford to wake up on the wrong side of the figurine.
In an opinion piece titled “Despite the Harris Candidacy, I’m Actually Optimistic”, the usually sanguine and confident Scott McKay wrote at The American Spectator the other day regarding many of the trends in the news:
“Well, just understand that a lot of those surveys showing favorable numbers for Harris are grossly oversampling Democrats. There is also such a thing as response bias ... Girdusky noted that old white leftists are far and away the most likely human beings to answer polls, and their frequency of picking up the phone when others are too busy or otherwise refuse is very likely skewing the numbers in those demoralizing surveys you see.
“There is a reason Nate Silver has suddenly gone very diffident in Harris’ chances of winning, after all. A Trump victory in November is not a tonic for all of what ails the country and the world, in either culture, politics or economics. But based on prior performance he can be said to be a tourniquet.
“And if it isn’t quite moving in his direction, particularly following Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s endorsement a week and a half ago, at least the momentum of Harris’ Team Incompetence campaign appears to have halted.”
Most people are at least glad for the final fact. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the grumpy face side of things when you’ve got Democrats devoting the better part of an unhindered month talking about how great Kamala Harris is, even though, just a week prior to that time, they were all-but plotting to get rid of her along with broken-down old goat senile Joe Biden.
Perhaps it’s because Biden has returned from his half a month vacation at the beach (in California and Delaware) that’s re-inspired people with a “sun will come out tomorrow” feeling, since many, many Americans seem to have temporarily set aside their reservations about granting Harris and Biden another four years. Senile Joe summed it up beautifully the other day when he said, “I know I trust her. Not a joke! I trust her.”
One can only imagine Kamala wasn’t too thrilled to hear her boss and mentor mention “joke” and her name in the same thought, adding the “no joke” assurance as he often does when hoping to assure people that he is serious about something. It’s not too far off his past tendency to utter “I give you my word as a Biden!”, or “Barack Obama swore that he chose me because I was ready to step in as president.”
It’d be like saying, “I love my mom, no joke!” Or supposing a gun enthusiast would toss out, “I revere the Second Amendment, no joke!” or, “Abortion is murder. No joke!”
At any rate, McKay is correct to be (mostly) optimistic. After taking a few days over the Labor Day holiday to relax, get away from politics for a short while and perhaps gain a little perspective, there are a number of things to be optimistic about. Yes, go ahead and turn the figurine’s smiley face forward!
In no particular order, consider:
First, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are steering the Republican ship.
Or it could be said that Trump’s campaign brains have managed, somehow, to convince him that it’s better to win the election and assume power than it is to be right about everything, settle scores, create gobs of controversy and achieve fame – and lose.
It’s often been said, mostly unfairly by critics who don’t like Trump, that he’s petulant and picky and all about himself, how he cares way too much about stagecraft and situations and lighting and the like, a lifetime’s worth of being in front of the camera and a man so used to getting everything he demands that he’s unable – or unwilling – to subjugate his desires for the good of the team.
I sense that those days are over. Maybe it’s by necessity, but Trump appears more willing to share the spotlight, particularly with “new” running mate J.D. Vance, a man roughly half the older man’s age, but also possessing a similar ability and willingness to appear anywhere and talk to anyone.
Trump has similarly “moderated” his views on a number of topics, particularly abortion, which hasn’t endeared himself to social conservatives. The former president has never been an outspoken advocate for the pro-life cause, but as he himself has pointed out, he’s accomplished more results for social conservatives than others could’ve ever hoped to achieve.
This, on balance, is something to display the optimistic face for. Not everyone can be happy all the time.
Second, in terms of the most recent horserace polls, Trump’s support only has a floor, not a ceiling.
Conservatives should be heartened by the fact Trump has pretty much taken the best shots the Democrats could muster, and he’s still, at worst, in a tight, deadlocked race. Like a champion horse with a winning “kick” on the backstretch, Trump still has plenty to give to a closing effort. And he’s not that far behind, if at all.
A number of reports (including one cited by McKay) indicated that, for example, polls are under sampling Republicans. How? Haven’t pollsters learned their lessons from the previous two presidential elections where survey after survey failed to take into account Trump’s strength in the swing states? It got so bad that Democrats had to massively cheat to give them their winning margin.
The reasons why Republicans and conservatives avoid polls are many, but most boil down to the notion that Trump backers just don’t trust the polling industry and are much less likely to respond to a survey call. But sure enough, in a number of current polls – including the “big” ones from the New York Times, for example – are undercounting Trump’s 2016 and 2020 participation. Trump may not be the most popular pol in the world, but it’s highly unlikely that cackling Kamala will overperform senile Joe’s 2020 tally and Trump would underperform it.
Meanwhile, every survey indicates that the economy is the most important factor to weigh in the election, and who consistently leads on the top issues?
Hint: It ain’t cackling Kamala. She’s got nowhere to go but down. Trump will only (comparatively) go up.
Third: The Democrats’ lawfare farce will meet the economics law of diminishing marginal returns.
It’s safe to say that a couple months ago when the Supreme Court issued its decision on presidential immunity that many conservatives and Republicans figured the court’s opinion would have solved the Democrats’ lawfare obsession. The majority of justices effectively ruled that much of what the Democrat government prosecutors had based their witch-hunt cases on were barred under the Constitution itself.
One could only envision the disappointed looks on the faces of Special Merrick Garland Prosecutor Jack Smith, New York District Attorney (a George Soros disciple) Alvin Bragg and Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis as they realized that they likely had to redo everything to see what was subject to privilege and what wasn’t – but also that the entirety of their cases would probably end in disgrace.
Not to mention that they didn’t have a prayer of getting a “real” conviction before this November’s election. There’s just not enough time and no “fast track” would ever speed it up that much.
Not to be deterred, Smith and Bragg are returning to their respective courtrooms to try again using slightly altered pleading materials which don’t have any shot to succeed. Or, at the very least, the American public will recognize how desperate they are and move on without them.
So much for the “convicted felon” charge sticking to Trump. Democrats always overreach, and the American people – at least the half with common sense – knows what’s happening. And it won’t work.
The old saying is you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip. But you can’t squeeze substance out of a Democrat hack, either.
Lastly, Republicans have got Democrats basically conceding that they’ve been wrong all along on immigration.
In recent weeks cackling Kamala Harris has made a number of issue/position switches regarding illegal immigration, in effect admitting that their policies haven’t worked and begging voters to see theirs as a successful effort to get ahead of the border problem. Yes, that’s right, Kamala Harris is now for building a border wall.
Do Democrats think Americans are dumb? Democrats regularly rely on voters’ ignorance on their positions – except for abortion, where they’re proud of being pro-death on demand – but they won’t fool informed citizens for long. The mere fact Democrats are talking about stealing Trump’s positions indicates they’re worried about their status in the race. It will end badly.
No contorted grinning novelty mugs for them. Thankfully, Democrats can’t be two-faced on this one.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
Kamala Harris candidacy
Donald Trump campaign
Harris Trump debates
J.D. Vance
Kamala vice president
Speaker Mike Johnson
Donald Trump assassination
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
Tim Walz
Regarding that last item on border security, it may well be that the Harris campaign has determined that the ten or 12 million (or whatever the actual number is) of new voters is all they're going to be able to get in time for this election, so it's a no brainer to say they favor border control. Kamala can make that promise knowing she would do nothing about the border if she won the election. Democrats have made a science of promising but never producing. As P. T. Barnum said, ". . ."