Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Giving Trump His Due
Every Trump critic had “Oh, hell” moments during the primary season. They were when Donald Trump demonstrated a keen, gut-level political instinct that even an exceptionally talented conventional politician would be hard-pressed to match. An example: During a Republican debate in Florida in February, Trump was asked about former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s comment that his country wouldn’t pay for Trump’s “[expletive deleted] wall.”
Liberal Activists Worked With AGs to Target Conservatives
In Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” a future society criminalizes the possession of books and burns them in order to suppress any dissenting ideas, opinions, and views. Today, we have state attorneys general trying to implement their own version of “Fahrenheit 451” to criminalize dissent over a disputed, unproven scientific theory: man-induced climate change. Recently, the attorney general of the Virgin Islands, Claude Walker, unleashed a subpoena on the Competitive Enterprise Institute seeking 10 years’ worth of research and communications about climate change.
Poultry vs. Pinhead: New York City’s Mayor Says Boycott Chick-fil-A
Mayor Bill de Blasio and members of the New York City Council are calling for a city-wide boycott of Chick-fil-A, urging citizens to refrain from eating plump juicy chicken breasts tucked between hot buttered buns. “I’m certainly not going to patronize them and I wouldn’t urge any other New Yorker to patronize them,” the mayor told DNAInfo.com. Councilman Daniel Dromm was even more blunt, accusing the southern restaurant chain of spreading a “message of hate.”
Lots of Luck, Donald Trump
Now comes the hard part. Now comes the part where Donald Trump has to appeal to everyone in the U.S. Trump will rack up lots of easy votes in the fall with his rabid fan base — older grumpy white males and their spouses who want change but don’t really know or care if Trump is a Republican or a Democrat. But voters who want to make America great again by being mean to Latinos or by putting tariffs on air-conditioners and iPhones won’t add up to a majority.
Justice Is Swerved
North Carolina is a textbook example of how the Obama administration has gone about their mission to fundamentally transform America with pen and phone. [Wednesday], Attorney General Loretta Lynch showed off the administration’s creative writing ability by unilaterally rewriting a 52-year-old law to facilitate that White House’s narrative. Of course, this has been the M.O. of the Obama administration for seven and a half years — as we’ve seen with everything from health care and abortion to marriage and gun policy.
Sometimes There Is No Lesser of Two Evils
When your choice is two reprehensible, corrupt and immoral demagogues, you can always pick the ethical way out and choose none of the above. The Republic will survive an election cycle. The Republican Party is a different story, however. For those who are idealists about the Constitution — and there are probably far fewer than some of us like to imagine — there are a number of reasons to sabotage The Trump Party, even if it ends with a Clinton presidency. The first is to salvage some of your own dignity and principles.
The Night Obama Crushed the Comedian
The White House Correspondents Association throws an enormous annual dinner that’s a pillar of the Washington, D.C. power-elite scene. The correspondents hire a comedian and the president comes to be mocked a little...or a lot. Reporters still adore Stephen Colbert for ripping into George W. Bush in 2006, still using his fake conservative idiot alter ego.
Obama Takes Poor Children Hostage for Transsexuals
The Obama Justice Department is attacking North Carolina, threatening to cut off all education funding because of the state’s new law prohibiting men and boys from using women’s restrooms. In the fevered minds of the left-wing bureaucrats at the Justice Department, that commonsense notion now violates civil rights laws.
Can Trump Disrupt the General Election as He Did the Primaries?
So Republicans now have a presumptive nominee — one headed to a clear delegate majority without visible opposition — sooner than the Democrats. It’s another way in which this year’s presidential race has defied expectations and ignored precedent. Donald Trump will now have 10 months to stage-manage his Cleveland convention, while Hillary Clinton must spend the next four weeks going through the motions of campaigning against Bernie Sanders in 10 primaries and the North Dakota caucus.
An Unmitigated Disaster
Republican party leaders may have worried that Donald Trump would not only lose the general election for the presidency, but would so poison the image of the party as to cause Republican candidates for Congress and for state and local offices to also lose. Now they seem to be trying to patch things up, in order to present an image of unity before the general elections this fall. Regardless of how that attempt at patching up an image turns out, Trump’s candidacy could be not only a current political setback for Republicans, but an enduring affliction in future elections.
The Earthquake and the Aftermath
What lies behind Donald Trump’s nomination victory? Received wisdom among conservatives is that he, the outsider, sensed, marshaled and came to represent a massive revolt of the Republican rank and file against the “establishment.” This is the narrative: GOP political leaders made promises of all kinds and received in return, during President Obama’s years, major electoral victories that gave them the House, the Senate, 12 new governorships and 30 state houses. Yet they didn’t deliver. Exit polls consistently showed that a majority of GOP primary voters (60 percent in some states) feel “betrayed” by their leaders.
The Jury Is Still Out
Where am I with the #NeverTrump movement? Well, I almost never say “never.” Notice I qualified that “never” with “almost.” I have said consistently throughout this campaign that I would support the Republican Party’s nominee. As the campaign has progressed, I’ve also said it would be increasingly difficult to honor that pledge. This has nothing to do with sour grapes. Though I supported Rick Santorum in 2012, I full-throatedly endorsed Mitt Romney when he captured the nomination, realizing he is a decent man and light years better than Obama. In 2008 I ended up holding my nose for John McCain.
Trump Can Sell a More Entertaining Story Than Hillary
By conventional rules, Donald Trump should lose to Hillary Clinton in a landslide. But if God were enforcing the conventional rules, Trump would be brooding atop his midtown Manhattan aerie, wondering how he came in last behind James Gilmore. This has to terrify Clinton. She knows how to run against a normal Republican. Unfortunately for her, a normal Republican isn’t on the menu. How would Trump win? The same way he won the primaries: by selling a more entertaining story. About three years ago, the eponymous “Ace” from the legendary Ace of Spades HQ blog wrote a brilliant little essay on “The MacGuffinization of American politics.”
Republicans, Apologize to Bill Clinton
Upon arrival in Washington, DC in January of 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton found themselves in a never-ending independent counsel investigation. The investigation began over a land deal that was known as Whitewater. Then there was a travel office investigation, abuse of FBI files, and President Clinton’s behavior in a sexual harassment case. Ultimately, the American public learned several things. They learned that Bill Clinton had loved women a lot. They learned that feminists did not really believe their rhetoric when it came to women treated badly by Bill Clinton. They learned that Bill Clinton had a sexual relationship with an intern and lied about it.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
How to Encourage Peace in North Korea
Every Korean I know remains saddened by the division of the Korean people into a North and a South at the 38th parallel. The Korean people still dream of reunification, even as they tell me about their appreciation for the sacrifices that their friends, the Americans, made for Korea’s freedom.
Texas Raises Stink Over Target’s Transgender Bathrooms
The Lone Star State is coming to the rescue of shoppers confused over whether to leave the seat up or down in Target’s transgender bathrooms. The nation’s second-largest discount retailer announced on April 19 that it would “welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender.” In response, more than 1.1 million customers joined a boycott sponsored by the American Family Association.
Cancellations Over North Carolina’s ‘Discrimination’ — Silence About Hypocrisy
North Carolina’s new public facilities law simply says that in all government-controlled locations, offices and facilities, any bathroom that accommodates more than one person at a time must be assigned to a single gender. Men shall use the men’s bathroom and women the women’s room, based on the sex indicated on their birth certificates. As for those who’ve undergone sex-change operations and have had their birth certificate reissued to indicate their new gender, the bill will allow them to use the bathroom as determined by the sex on the now-changed birth certificate. That’s it.
Indiana Results: Republicans Have A Nominee
In Indiana, Donald Trump continued smashing his opponents, taking 53% of the vote, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz received 37%. Ohio Governor John Kasich won just 8%. Within moments of the polls closing, the networks called the state for Trump, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that Donald Trump was the presumptive nominee. Indiana’s results convinced Texas Senator Ted Cruz to suspend his campaign last night. And this morning, Ohio Governor John Kasich suspended his campaign too.
Striking a Delegate Balance in Indiana
Indiana is called the “Crossroads of America,” and [Tuesday] night, it was the crossroads of 2016. The Hoosiers’ decision ended up being the final one, as Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made the difficult determination to end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. It was certainly not an easy announcement — not for Ted to make, and not for conservatives to hear. In some of the most politically and culturally turbulent times of our history as a nation, Ted Cruz was a symbol of hope to so many Americans hungry for principled leadership.
A Tale of Two Recoveries: Reagan vs. Obama
In an interview about his legacy recently published by The New York Times, President Barack Obama took a shot at the Reagan revolution to make the case that contrary to conservative dogma, tax cuts and other free market policies — such as cutting spending — weren’t good at jump-starting the economy. The implication seems to be that his preference for big-government policies produced superior results.