Bill Wagner
Columnist.
Will Wagner is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an experienced mergers/acquisitions investment banker and a private investor in and advisor to early stage companies.
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Columnist.
For the last few months I have not been the most popular member of our local Donald Trump fan club. It's not because I think Trump is a flawed individual or because I cringe at times when reading his tweets. All the members are in sync on those aspects. We are all also aligned on our assessment of Trump's performance. We are thrilled at his polices and in awe of what he has actually accomplished in the face of unprecedented Democrat/media obstruction and resistance.
Now that the Tour de France is over, it's time to get back to the serious business of pontificating. When confronted with the daunting task of choosing a topic, it hit me just how many significant events had occurred in just the last 10 days. The world is moving at Trump speed. So rather than delve into a single item, let's try a quick recap.
Sometimes you just don't know whether to laugh or cry.
After a week or so of watching Democrats react to Brett Kavanagh, it seems that even my dire predictions of over-the-top partisan attacks underestimated the vitriol, and we're just getting started. More in a second, but first some random comments.
There's no question the appointment of a Supreme Court justice is a big deal. But does it really warrant the type of hysteria we are seeing from the Left? Justice Anthony Kennedy was unreliable, siding as often with either the liberal or conservative wings of the Court. Chief Justice John Roberts is likely to be more of the same, so the real difference with a Donald Trump conservative on the Court is nowhere near as great as the Left is trying to make you believe.
A 28-year-old Hispanic communist woman community organizer defeated one of the top establishment Democrats, Rep. Joseph Crowley, in the 14th District in New York City last week by 15 points.
How would you like to be a Democrat today? Earlier this week I suggested that elections just might matter. Anyone want to disagree with that?
If you thought elections didn't matter, I give you the Supreme Court ruling today on the so-called Trump travel ban. I found it very scary — not because I disagree with the outcome (I'm thrilled with the outcome) but because the ruling wasn't 9-0.
Charles Krauthammer passed away last week, and with him perhaps the last hope for rational political discourse.
The Department of Justice inspector general's report is out, and the spin doctors are working overtime, led by the sanctimonious, self-serving, "I did nothing wrong" op-ed in The New York Times by James Comey.
Some of this will be repetitive, but it bears repeating after sifting through the inane reactions to the North Korea summit from the usual suspects — Dems, media and #NeverTrump establishment.
It helped to have been up against the worst candidate in history, but the main reason Donald Trump got elected is that enough people were fed up with the status quo and were prepared to give a disrupter a shot.
I have a few thoughts on my favorite topic — negotiations — but first some social commentary.
I have a few more observations on the Donald Trump negotiating style from the weekend news and cable shows, but a more general comment first.
Part two of the Donald Trump negotiation-style assessment involves Iran. But before we get to that, let's take a peek at three liberal reactions to what is happening with North Korea.
Let's get the caveats out of the way first. No one on the outside knows everything that has been going on behind the scenes, so all pundit opinions are speculative. And while we continue to see promising signs of progress, with the hostage release being the latest entrant, anything can happen, and a deal could go off the rails between cup and lip.
When it comes to hypocrisy, Democrats are in a class by themselves. It's no secret that from time to time all pols engage in it, but Democrats have raised it to an art form. I felt like commenting on some recent examples, but given time and space limitations, the hardest part was picking the few to highlight.
It's the right church, wrong pew when it comes to predictions of the media's reporting on North Korea. Of course, Donald Trump is getting zero credit, but Mother Nature is nowhere to be found. Apparently the media didn't get the memo that the mountain fell down and China is not happy about it.
What is coming out of North Korea has been nothing short of extraordinary — handshake photo ops; intent to formally end the Korean War; statements of goals to denuclearize the Peninsula; and even Kim Jong-un stepping across the border. No one could have predicted this when only a couple months ago Kim was firing off missiles, threatening Guam, and bragging about having his finger on a button that could annihilate the U.S. What happened?
I was taking my dog for his morning run at the state park near our house the other day. I pulled into the parking lot behind a Prius with a very large "Resist" bumper sticker just as a couple was getting out with their dog. I decided to break my golden rule of never discussing religion or politics at the park. After all, the odds were good that the couple were dog lovers, so I figured I'd take my chances.