Sorry, Jeffrey Lord, but there was no order for 10,000 troops

 Jeffrey Lord, one of the most reliably drool-besotted leg-humpers in the cult of the Very Stable Genius, thought he had himself a real gotcha situation on his hands in his piece yesterday for The American Spectator. Yes, indeed, he was full of ha-ha and ho-ho and hee-hee as he thought he had what it took to debunk the Wall Street Journal and New York Post.

Both papers had recently published editorials saying that enough was now known about Trump's behavior on January 6, 2021, and indeed from the preceding November 3, to disqualify him from ever being allowed to participate in the nation's political life again:

Particularly startling is the WSJ saying Trump sat watching the chaos and was “refusing to send help.” It also says:

Mr. Trump took an oath to defend the Constitution, and he had a duty as Commander in Chief to protect the Capitol from a mob attacking it in his name. He refused. He didn’t call the military to send help.

What?????

Amazingly not noted in either piece is what Trump did in the run-up to January 6, specifically to protect the Capitol and the crowd of protestors.

Here is the headline from ace investigative reporter John Solomon’s Just the News:

Trump Pentagon first offered National Guard to Capitol four days before Jan. 6 riots, memo shows

Official Capitol Police timeline validates Trump administration’s account, shows Democrats’ fateful rejections of offers. “Seems absolutely illogical,” one official wrote about security posture hours before riot began.

Solomon reports this:

The Pentagon first raised the possibility of sending National Guard troops to the U.S. Capitol four days before the Jan. 6 riots, setting in motion a series of rejections by Capitol Police and Democrats that left Congress vulnerable as threats of violence were rising, according to government memos that validate Trump administration officials’ long-held claims.

Over at Townhall, columnist Deroy Murdock asks this:

Likewise, if Donald J. Trump (DJT) wanted his supporters to storm Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, and disrupt that day’s congressional certification of Electoral College votes, would he — two days earlier (sic)  — have approved 10,000 to 20,000 Washington, D.C. National Guard (DCNG) soldiers to stymie his own seditious plans?

You read that right. Before January 6 — four days before according to the official Capitol Police timeline — the president authorized the use of 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol and did so in front of Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Miller’s chief of staff Kash Patel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. All of this is confirmed by Fox’s Sean Hannity. Yet the Post said:

What matters more — and has become crystal clear in recent days — is that Trump didn’t lift a finger to stop the violence that followed.

Say what? Say again, anticipating a problem four days before January 6 according to the Capitol Police timeline proves exactly that Trump authorized the deployment of 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard troops quite specifically in case there was violence. There it is in black and white. It is, to borrow from the Post, “crystal clear” that Trump authorized thousands of troops to stop any violence.

Um, there's a problem:

Former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told the House select committee investigating the Capitol Hill insurrection that former President Donald Trump never gave him a formal order to have 10,000 troops ready to be deployed to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to new video of Miller’s deposition released by the committee.

“I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature,” Miller said in the video. 

Miller later said in the video definitively, “There was no direct, there was no order from the President.”

“We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning,” Miller added. “There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature.”

Trump has previously said that he requested National Guard troops be ready for January 6. He released a statement on June 9 that he “suggested & offered” up to 20,000 National Guard troops be deployed to Washington, DC, ahead of January 6 claiming it was because he felt “that the crowd was going to be very large.”

The committee released Miller’s testimony after already revealing that Trump did not make calls to military personnel or law enforcement to intervene as the Capitol attack was unfolding. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee that he never received a call from Trump as the attack as unfolding. 

Milley testified to the committee that he spoke to former Vice President Mike Pence “two or three” times on January 6. Keith Kellogg, former national security adviser to Pence, also told the committee that Trump never asked for a law enforcement response.

It's astounding to me, but at this late date there are still those who want to put lipstick on this pig. 

Millions of our fellow citizen to whom, if you posed the question, "If Trump is the GOP nominee in 2024, will you vote for him?" would answer, "Oh, hell, yes, in a heartbeat."

That's where we are, folks. 

 

Today's January 6 testimony: heart-wrenching and infuriating

 There's the experience of Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman:

The mother and daughter from Fulton County who were thrown into a dizzying harassment campaign by President Donald Trump and his allies in the wake of the 2020 election gave emotional testimony on Tuesday to the Jan. 6 Committee about the life-altering effects of that campaign. 

"Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States to target you?" Ruby Freeman, the mother of now-former Fulton County elections worker Wandrea' "Shaye" Moss said in taped testimony. "The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. but he targeted me, 'Lady Ruby' - a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stood up to help Fulton County run the election in the middle of the pandemic."

Freeman was a volunteer at State Farm Arena on Election Night 2020, a fateful event that launched them into the crosshairs of the most powerful man in the world as he sought to overturn Georgia's election results and remain in office.

The two were among the small handful of people who stayed late at State Farm Arena counting ballots into the early morning after most workers, observers and media members had left due to a misunderstanding about whether counting was done for the night.

The zombie-eyed Very Stable Genius cult has made a point of trying to ruin Ruby's life:

"I've lost my name, I've lost my reputation, I've lost my sense of security - all because a group of people starting with No. 45 (Trump) and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen," Freeman said.

Her daughter's life is shattered as well:

"I don't go to grocery store, I don't do nothing anymore. I don't wanna go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do," she said. "It's affected my life in a major way, in every way. All because of lies for me doing my job, same thing I've been doing forever."

There's the experience of Rusty Bowers:

• According to Bowers, who said he denied ever calling the election rigged, then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed that 200,000 unauthorized immigrants and "5,000 or 6,000 dead people" had voted in the election.
• He said that after asking "multiple times" for evidence, Trump interrupted and said, "Give the man what he needs, Rudy!" 
• But Giuliani never produced the evidence, he added.
• Giuliani also claimed that Arizona had a "legal theory or a legal ability" by which electors of President Biden could be removed and replaced, Bowers said. 
• When the lawyer pressed Bowers on it, the Arizona House speaker said he told him, "You’re asking me to do something against my oath, and I will not break my oath."

He was not somebody who had been opposing Trump prior to running into his controversy: 

Bowers was one of five recipients of this year’s John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, given to public officials who protect U.S. democracy.

“As a conservative Republican, I don’t like the results of the presidential election,” Bowers said, according to the awards page. “I voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him. But I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.”

These people came under attack by one of the most toxic and fearsome elements in our very dark society. Trumpism is a force for destruction of everything that has identified America since its founding. What astounds me is that this buffoon, this obvious flaming narcissist, who has never been driven by anything more noble than hedonistic impulses, wealth accumulation and garnering of praise has convinced such a significant swath of the American public, from the yay-hoos whose vehicles are decked out with confederate flags to credentialed lawyers with distinguished pasts such as Rudy Giuliani to formerly respected intellectuals such as Roger Kimball and Conrad Black, to go to these lengths to try to shore up his glorification.

And he'll brook no interruption or lessening of that determination to go to such lengths. He throws his own daughter under the bus.

And even an undyingly devoted leg-humper can become expendable when push comes to shove. Exhibit A: John Eastman.

Anybody who finds anything appealing about this absolute charlatan at this late date has some serious answering to do if he and his movement continue to dominate the Republican Party. You think what Biden and the Left are doing to this country is horrible (and I don't disagree)? Just wait until you see the horrifying transformation Trumpism re-elected will wreak on post-America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Republican Party is an irredeemable sewer

 I wanted so much to believe the South Carolina primary was going to turn out otherwise, but alas:

South Carolina Republican voters on Tuesday split on two US House incumbents who defied former President Donald Trump, renominating Rep. Nancy Mace but souring on Rep. Tom Rice, the first of the 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment last year to fall in a primary.

State Rep. Russell Fry, who was endorsed by Trump, will defeat Rice in the 7th District, CNN projects.

Despite facing a severe backlash over his impeachment vote, including death threats in its aftermath, Rice did not back off his criticism of Trump or decide, like some of his impeachment-backing GOP colleagues, to leave office at the end of his term rather than face voters again. A staunch conservative and Trump supporter before the insurrection, the five-term congressman instead took his case out on the campaign trail. Republicans in his 7th District rejected it – and delivered the nomination to Fry, who will clear the 50% mark to avoid a runoff.

Rice’s ouster underscores Trump’s enduring popularity with most Republicans, especially in conservative districts like the one Rice has represented since 2013. But results in the 1st District demonstrated that the former President’s hold is not entirely firm. 

What happened in Nevada bolsters the case made in the above paragraph:

Jim Marchant, a former state lawmaker and leading proponent of Trump’s lies about widespread election fraud, won the Republican primary for the Nevada secretary of state’s office Tuesday – adding the Silver State to the growing list of those where election deniers are positioning themselves to take over the election machinery ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

Marchant is seeking to replace Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican who has repeatedly said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, but who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

There are a few Republican office-holders - Asa Hutchinson, Ben Sasse, and, of course, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger - who are principled, admirable, and reliably conservative. Kinzinger's bowing out of government service at the end of his current term, and Cheney's in the fight of her life in Wyoming. As for the other two, it remains to be seen how they fare going into the future in a party that, as Cheney has said, has become a cult. At the moment, their having any influence and impact looks like a Sisyphean task.

I know there are still those arguing for staying within the party and striving to wrest it free from this infection and get it back to a path in keeping with its laudatory heritage.

I can't see it. Readers are invited to convince me otherwise, but your case had better be damn compelling. 

And this brings us to a very grim juncture, since the Democrats have utterly failed to provide us with an alternative.

 

 

 

 

It doesn't appear there's any salvaging the Republican Party

 This morning I gave the Democrats a good thrashing, and deservedly so.

Now it's the Republicans' turn. 

The Very Stable Genius has been showing up on the radar screen a bit lately.

He held a rally in Georgia the other night. That would be the state whose chance to put Republicans in the Senate majority he squandered because he felt his ring wasn't being sufficiently kissed.

He claimed the crowd was massive, but more credible sources say it was the smallest in years. 

He used the occasion to praise Putin's and Kim's intelligence and describe Russia's massing of 180,000 troops on Ukraine's borders as "a hell of a way to negotiate."

In a recent interview with Just The News, an outlet whose Trumpist slant gives the lie to its name, he calls on the instigator of the bloodiest, most vicious assault on one European nation bay another since the 1940s to take a little time out from his tyrannical, expansionist schedule to release info about Hunter Biden:

Amid widespread criticism of his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, former President Donald Trump publicly called on Putin on Tuesday to release any dirt he might have on Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

Trump, in an interview with Just the News, seized on an unsubstantiated claim about Biden’s obtaining a hefty payment from Elena Baturina, the former wife of the late former mayor of Moscow, and asked Putin to provide details.

“She gave him $3.5 million, so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said. “I think we should know that answer.”

Trump was referring to information from a partisan Senate report published just weeks before the 2020 election, which also focused on Biden’s role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Charlie Sykes at The Bulwark makes clear just how and why this is despicable:

Here’s where we come to the treasonous smoking gun: Trump explicitly frames his request to Putin as an act of retaliation not just against Biden, but against the United States itself.

Some accounts leave out the key phrase that Trump uses when he explains why Putin might help him. 

"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country... I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it... you won't get the answer from Ukraine... I think Putin now would be willing to probably give that answer."

As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country... said the former and perhaps future president at a time of international conflict.

Then there's the seven hours of phone calls from the log during the time of the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection that are missing from the log turned over to the January 6 Congressional committee. 

And the s--- about not even knowing what a burn phone is. John Bolton says the VSG damn well knows what a burn phone is.

Still, the voters registered with the once-great Republican Party would put him back in office in a heartbeat:

PollTracker

@PollTrackerUSA

2024 National Republican Primary Poll: Trump 59% Pence 11% DeSantis 10% Haley 3% Rubio 3% Cruz 2% T. Scott 2% Pompeo 1% . Without Trump: DeSantis 28% Pence 24% Cruz 10% Haley 6% Rubio 5% Pompeo 3% T. Scott 2%

And every one of the other names offered in the poll would support him.

Cowards, nuts and sycophants. That's all that's left now.  

 

The Republican Party must be entirely replaced if actual conservatism is to have any shot at viability - today's edition

 The prospects for each of post-America's two major political parties remain what they were when I wrote the introductory paragraphs to this post on November 16:

I don't doubt the findings of a Washington Post/ABC News poll showing Republicans having the widest margin of advantage over Democrats in a generic poll concerning how respondents would vote re: their districts' House candidates. 

Not surprising at all. Democrats are increasingly recognized as the party of wealth redistribution, climate alarmism and wokeness. And there are even more than a few progressives who are put out with the administration for being completely inept at seeing through its leftist aims. Mediocrity and incompetence characterize the way it operates. Voters know it.

So it's all wrong for the nation and doesn't deserve your vote.

But, you see, this is exactly why I long ago (as in mid-2016) eschewed the binary-choice argument. 

The Republican Party's status as a cult can't be reversed. Its leadership has either convinced itself of the rigged-election narrative or signed on to the we-need-to-move-on-and-be-about-a-forward-looking-agenda set of talking points. In any event, there's no room for the only remaining Republicans who refuse to indulge the delusion. 

That was well-established already, but with the 38-page memo now in the hands of the public, the dangerousness of this cult should be plain to every citizen who is not caught up in it:

A 38-page plan for overturning President Joe Biden's electoral victory reportedly involved declaring a nationwide national security emergency and invalidating all electronically-cast ballots.

Mark Meadows shared a PowerPoint presentation dated January 5 with the Capitol riot committee, titled 'Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN,' as part of the trove of documents he was compelled to hand over in the House's ongoing probe.

Its existence was revealed by Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat representing Mississippi in Congress, in a letter informing Meadows' lawyer that the panel had 'no choice' but to move forward with a criminal referral for the ex-White House Chief of Staff for refusing to appear for a deposition.

This thing leaves no room for doubt that comparisons of  the final lineup of Trump-administration personnel to Latin American strongman operations is no exaggeration. 

Portions of that presentation shared by The Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell detail a series of 'recommendations,' apparently for Trump, to follow ahead of the planned electoral vote certification the next day.

They include declaring a national security emergency over accusations that China 'gained control over our election system,' claiming US electronic voting systems were 'under foreign influence and control,' and briefing federal lawmakers on the alleged 'foreign interference.'

It also calls for Trump to declare all electronically-cast ballots invalid and instructing Congress to undergo a 'legal & genuine' count of paper ballots or other 'Constitutional remedy.'

Another slide features three recommendations for ex-Vice President Mike Pence, who it's now known told Trump on January 5th that he wanted no part of his efforts to overturn Biden's win:

'VP Pence seats Republican Electors over the objections of Democrats in states where fraud occurred,' the first point states.

'VP Pence rejects the electors from States where fraud occurred causing the election to be decided by remaining electoral votes.

'VP Pence delays the decision in order to allow for a vetting and subsequent counting of the all the legal paper ballots.'

It appears to be in line with a memo written by John Eastman, a law professor who advised Trump on how to overturn the election and was also subpoenaed by the committee. 

Eastman took part in a January 4 Oval Office meeting where participants debated whether Pence had the authority to not accept votes certified by states that ultimately made Biden president when Congress met to count votes on January 6. 

Another slide in the PowerPoint allegedly linked to Meadows refers to all non-paper ballots as 'counterfeit.'

It claims that electronic voting machines 'are shifting votes from Trump to Biden' and therefore only paper ballots could be counted, which would 'almost certainly' hand victory to Trump. 

By eliminating mail-in ballots, a majority of which went to Democrats in 2020, 'US Senators, US House Races, State, and Local races now turn to Republican,' the presentation states.

It also appears to call for all urban-area votes to be rendered invalid, claiming without evidence that foreign actors changed votes 'in traditionally Republican strongholds in order to deliver a Biden win because they could jam no more into the major cities (fraud votes).' 

The purported plan goes on to outline a recount scenario in which the remaining paper ballots would be 'locked and physically protected' by Trump's government and the vote count would happen under the National Guard's watch.

'A Trusted Lead Counter will be appointed with authority from the POTUS to direct the actions of select federalized National Guard units and support from DOJ, DHS and other US government agencies as needed to complete a recount of the legal paper ballots for the federal elections in all 50 states,' the presentation details. 

Thompson's Tuesday letter to Meadows' lawyer reveals the Trump ally was exchanging emails about the lengthy presentation up until the day before the Capitol attack and it was intended for presentation 'on the hill.'

The letter also revealed further bombshell details about communications that the former North Carolina congressman did send over to the committee. 

One of the most damning appears to be a text exchange between Meadows and an unnamed federal lawmaker that took place after the November 2020 election.

The letter refers to a 'November 6, 2020, text exchange with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be "highly controversial" and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, "I love it"...'    

If, God forbid, he were to win the 2024 election, think about what the whole world would know right off the bat about the value system, if you want to call it that, that informs Trumpist foreign policy. During his 2016-2020 term, he was rightly lauded for overseeing a pro-Israel foreign policy, and he reveled in having established a buddy relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. But what's transpired regarding that bond over the course of this year reveals two things: one, that Trump is truly nuts and believes this whole scenario he's concocted in his head. and, two, he hadn't the slightest understanding or regard for the reason for the US-Israel alliance: Israel is the only Western nation in the Middle East and the only one with a diversified, advanced economy. For the Very Stable Genius, it was all about personal loyalty and betrayal. He had no use for Netanyahu when the latter took the same view of the US election that 60 courts where Trump zombies filed lawsuits did. 

Don't doubt this:

Former President Trump accused Benjamin Netanyahu of disloyalty after the former Israeli prime minister congratulated President Biden on his presidential win earlier this year. 

"I haven’t spoken to him since," Trump said, according to comments released from an interview taken by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid. "F--k him," he added.

Trump accused Netanyahu of speaking up too quickly following what the former president has still yet to concede was a legitimate election. 

"Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi," he said, referring to the former prime minister by his nickname. "But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape."

Despite Trump’s condemnation of Netanyahu, the then-prime minister was not amongst one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for securing the presidential win.

Netanyahu waited roughly 12 hours after the election had been called to congratulate Biden on his election. 

Okay, so there's a - what? - 15 percent chance the VSG won't run. There are a few variables that could dictate a different turn of events from what is likely. 

Who gets the mantle? Some drool-besotted throne sniffer like this?

• NIKKI HALEY finally landed a one-on-onewith DONALD TRUMPafter he rejected her request for a sit-down in February, following her condemnation of his actions on Jan. 6. While Haley faced the prospect of being one of Trump’s sworn enemies ahead of a potential 2024 presidential campaign, she praised him during a recent speech in Iowa and said she won’t challenge him in a primary (something Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS hasn’t done). 
• So last week, nearly 10 months after the first snub, Trump finally granted her a visit to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring. “He doesn’t see the point in making enemies,” a source close to Trump said, adding that the former president is still skeptical of Haley because of her back-and-forth statements about him. “He likes teasing people,” another aide said.

 

 

It will have to be, won't it? Won't the vast majority of Pub voters demand it? 

By a 74%-to-25% margin, Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters (who we'll call potential Republican primary voters) say that Biden didn't win enough votes to win the 2020 election legitimately. 

But it's not just that there are a lot of them. They look to be the ones who are going to be the most likely to cast a ballot next year. 

The margin grows to 86% to 13% that Biden didn't win legitimately among potential Republican primary voters who are extremely enthusiastic about voting next year. Compare that to Republicans who are not enthusiastic about voting in 2022: They believe Biden didn't win legitimately by a 62% to 38% margin. 

Either way, there are a lot of Republicans who don't think Biden won fairly in 2020. 

Importantly, a lot of Republicans are going to prioritize their feelings about 2020 in how they vote in 2022. That is, it's not likely going to be an afterthought when casting a ballot. 

A majority (61%) of potential Republican primary voters say believing Trump won the 2020 election is important to what being a Republican means to them. Only 39% disagreed.

Again though, primaries are often about turnout. The potential Republican voters who are extremely enthusiastic about voting in 2022 say that believing Trump won is important to what being a Republican means to them by a 77% to 23% margin.

This is outside the bounds of any previous consensus on normal. This ought to be on the nation's front burner.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Republican Party must be entirely replaced if conservatism is to have any chance at viability

 I've tried mightily to give a respectful hearing to arguments that the Republican-Democrat duality that has characterized national, state and local elections since 1860. Many people I respect still hold that view. The main argument goes something like this: No one has the combination of resources - finance, connections, influence in media, broadcast, print or social, extraordinary leadership qualities - to build something requisite to the task of serving as a foil to the remaining party.

That argument becomes less compelling in the light of new revelations about what the Republican Party has become.

There are three that have transpired in recent days. 

One involves a lobbyist close to Kevin McCarthy - who, let us remember, while under siege in the House chamber on January 6, was so exasperated in a phone call with Trump about Trump's unwillingness to put a stop to the insurrection, that he screamed, "Do you know who the fuck you're talking to?", but weeks later was making the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring - and, almost certainly, McCarthy himself:

A prominent Washington lobbyist close to Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, is warning Republican political consultants that they must choose between working for Representative Liz Cheney or Mr. McCarthy, an ultimatum that marks the full rupture between the two House Republicans.

Jeff Miller, the lobbyist and a confidant of Mr. McCarthy’s dating to their youthful days in California politics, has conveyed this us-or-her message to Republican strategists in recent weeks, prompting one fund-raising firm to disassociate itself from Ms. Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming.

In response, The Morning Group, a fund-raising firm she hired to help prepare for a primary next year against a challenger endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, informed her last month they could no longer work on her campaign, according to Republicans familiar with the matter.

Then there is the kid-gloves treatment for Steve Bannon - he who said on January 5 on his podcast that "you made this happen and tomorrow it's game day. So strap in. Let's get ready. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It's all converging and we are on the point off attack tomorrow" -  in the House, where all but nine Republicans voted against holding Bannon in contempt for thumbing his nose at the January 6 select committee's subpoena.

And now it seems that January 6 planners had numerous meetings with Republican Congresspersons and their aides. The expected bunch of fine upstanding legislators, including Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorne, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert have been enumerated. Potential preemptive pardons were discussed.

This is a party that has jettisoned all its principles and scorched the political terrain so that it's uninhabitable for actual conservatives or anyone with a subatomic particle of integrity. 

And to those who counter that the GOP stands a good chance of taking back the House next year, I would ask how that can possibly be construed as a good thing. It just sets up November 2024 to be a nightmare. 

Why post-America can't have nice things - today's edition

 Perhaps you've seen the Very Stable Genius's statement on the passing of Colin Powell. It's a microcosm of everything the VSG is about:

"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media," Trump said in a statement released Tuesday morning. "Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!"

This little item also appeared on the radar screen yesterday:

Nearly one year after the 2020 presidential election, a majority of Americans (58 - 35 percent) say they do not want to see Donald Trump run for president in 2024, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of adults released today. Democrats say 94 - 4 percent and independents say 58 - 35 percent that they do not want to see Trump run. 

Republicans, however, say 78 - 16 percent that they do want to see Trump run for president in 2024, compared to 66 - 30 percent in May. 

This is what actual conservatives are up against. Yes, we have Principles First. Yes, we have Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney and Ben Sasse. Yes, we sanity-based outlets like The Dispatch, National Review, and Commentary. (We sort of have The Bulwark, I guess, but it's a rather wobbly participant in the search for a way forward, given as it is to expressions of fondness for policies that are anything but conservative.)

But even more Republicans now than in May want to see this charlatan, this six-year-old in a geriatric body, re-elected. 

Do I need to burnish my anti-Left bona fides before closing out here, just to circumvent any accusations of squishiness? I don't know. A scroll of LITD archives going back to this site's founding makes it pretty clear I have no use for collectivism, redistributionism, identity politics, climate alarmism or Great Reset-style utopian fantasies. I'm well aware that the Democratic Party is as useless to the cause of Western renewal as the GOP, that its freak-show and pillager wings work in tandem to make the unrecognizability of our nation irreversible.

That's why I say, once again, save that binary-choice argument for somebody who thinks we have any kind of shot at a decent future within that framework.