The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “To maintain the ascendancy of the Constitution over the lawmaking majority is the great and essential point on which the success of the [American] system must depend; unless that ascendancy can be preserved, the necessary consequence must be that the laws will supersede the Constitution; and, finally, the will of the Executive, by influence of its patronage, will supersede the laws.” —John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)

Observations: “President Trump has been warning for years about the dangers of rampant globalism and the risks of transferring our manufacturing base to other countries like China. Trump was right, and coronavirus is proving that once again. This virus could deal a body blow to globalism. Let’s hope it hastens the return of U.S. companies who decades ago left for China, even if it means slightly higher prices or lower corporate profits here. I think this virus will bolster political populism on both the right and the left.” —Gary Bauer

For the record: “The first reason Biden will not become president is that no one who served 36 years in the Senate has ever become president. No one who served 30 years in the Senate has ever become president. No one who served 25 years in the Senate has ever become president. No one who served 20 years in the Senate has ever become president. No one who served 15 years in the Senate has ever become president.” —Byron York

Nobody wins 49 states by default: “This was [Rev. Jesse Jackson’s] analysis back then in 1984 that ‘Reagan won not by genius, he won while we were asleep. He won by the margin of despair. He won by the fracture of our coalition. By the margin of racial division. He won by default.’ Does that sound familiar, Michigan?” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Non compos mentis: “Just astoundingly gross to call it the Wuhan Virus.” —MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

Dezinformatsiya: “Katrina was the moment when all the things that felt incredibly incompetent about the Bush presidency … were realized. We gave them a proof point that we were indeed incompetent and, also, people died. This has the making, structurally, for the same kind of moment.” —MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace

And last… “The people who are angry that other people are noting that the coronavirus came from China are only expressing anger because they want to blame as much of it on Trump as possible and reminding people that it came from China limits their ability to attack Trump.” —Ryan Saavedra