I have tremendous respect for our war fighters, particularly those in the trenches. The men and women who risk their lives defending our country deserve our utmost admiration. 

It is disappointing that our politically correct military establishment here in Washington, DC, has been so outraged by President Trump’s recent efforts to support our heroes on the front lines.  

Of course, I’m referring to the surprise announcement this weekend that the secretary of the Navy was dismissed for “lack of candor” over his repeated efforts to punish Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.

While Gallagher was cleared of the most serious charges against him, he was convicted of posing with the body of a dead jihadist. The Pentagon brass just wouldn’t let it go. 

It is amazing that the secretary of the Navy was willing to go to the mat over this. Even after the president’s commutation of his sentence, they were determined to humiliate him.

By the way, Gallagher’s attorneys were spied on by the government. The irregularities in this case are the result of the Navy wanting to make an example out of Gallagher. It is outrageous and demonstrates that it was in fact government prosecutors who were violating the Constitution of the United States. 

And they wonder why the military is having trouble meeting its recruitment goals. The message sent to our warriors is, “Go to war and fight for your country. But if you do something that annoys the ACLU, we’ll put you in prison and ruin your life. And by the way, the pay’s not that great either.”

The U.S. Navy has much bigger problems. Our newest aircraft carrier is a $13 billion disaster. The propulsion system didn’t work. The munition elevators didn’t work. And neither did the jet catapults and arresting gear. 

Meanwhile, the Chinese have deployed twice as many new ships as we have in recent years. Next year, China’s navy will overtake Russia’s in size. And in the not-so-distant future it will have a navy with more than 500 ships, nearly twice the size of the U.S. Navy.

What Really Matters

As Nancy Pelosi’s impeachmentpolooza drags on, there are rumors that members of Congress are getting an earful from their constituents. Polling indicates that independent voters are increasingly frustrated by the left’s obsession with removing Donald Trump. 

One recent poll found that impeachment ranked last among a list of 11 priorities for independent voters. And by a whopping 40-point margin independent voters said that “Impeachment is more important to politicians than it is to me." 

They want to see results on issues that matter to them. Instead, all they are getting from Democrats and their media allies is "resistance.”

As we noted last week, the president wants a full trial in the Senate, and that makes perfect sense. Any innocent man, falsely accused of a crime, wants his day in court to clear his name.

But at the end of the day, what the president said on the phone to the leader of Ukraine doesn’t affect our lives. Whether foreign leaders stay at the Trump Hotel doesn’t make our lives any better or worse.

There are things that Washington does with respect to economic policy and foreign policy that do matter. For example, President Trump negotiated a major trade deal with Canada and Mexico. It has the potential to create more than 170,000 new jobs.

And it has been pending in Congress for some time. But Speaker Pelosi said last week that the House probably won’t vote on it this year. 

Here’s something else that really matters. This weekend, we learned that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized yet again. It was another reminder that she is 86 years old and has been treated at least three times for cancer. 

President Trump has made two Supreme Court appointments. As you know, Justice Gorsuch replaced a conservative, Antonin Scalia. Justice Kavanaugh replaced Anthony Kennedy, a moderate. So, President Trump has slightly improved the court and prevented it from becoming massively worse by defeating Hillary Clinton.

The odds are overwhelming that in the next four or five years there will be at least one more Supreme Court vacancy, as Ginsburg is 86 and Justice Breyer 81. Next year, Justice Clarence Thomas will turn 72.

Whether it’s Trump or one of his Democrat opponents who makes those appointments, they will determine whether you can own a firearm for self-defense, whether we can build a wall to end illegal immigration, whether innocent unborn children will have any legal protections at all, and whether your pastor, priest, or rabbi will be able to teach what the Bible tells them without penalty from the government. 

2020 Update

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made it official Sunday — he’s a candidate for president of the United States. The former Republican-turned-independent is now a Democrat, and the billionaire media mogul is vowing to spend “whatever it takes.” With an estimated net worth of $50 billion, he certainly could.

And if the latest polls are any indication, he’ll have to, as he currently trails businessman Andrew Yang in the Democrat primary. Meanwhile, Bloomberg just launched a one week, $30 million ad blitz targeting … President Trump, of course.

Chinese Communists Get Crushed

Speaking of elections, pro-Communist China candidates were crushed in Hong Kong’s elections Sunday.  Pro-democracy candidates carried 17 of 18 districts. Initial results indicate that they won 347 of the 452 seats up for election, compared to just 60 seats won by pro-China candidates.

Carrie Lam, Beijing’s puppet leader in Hong Kong, acknowledged the stunning results, saying:

Quite a few are of the view that the results reflect people’s dissatisfaction with the current situation and the deep-seated problems in society. The Hong Kong government will listen to the opinions of members of the public humbly, and seriously reflect.

Of course, just how seriously the Chinese Communist Party reflects on the real cause of the unrest in Hong Kong remains to be seen.