Townhall Review | Commentaries

President Trump could make a lot of history—good history—in the next two weeks. But he needs to reach back to his inner gambler to do so.

If he tosses aside the counsels of his usual advisers on immigration, Trump can break the deadlock, fix the border-security immigration mess, and in so doing, earn a lasting place in U.S. history among the most consequential presidents.

President Johnson—as a Southerner—relished being the president to deliver the Civil Rights Act of 1964. No fair reading of the history of those critical laws can overlook Johnson’s absolutely essential decision to throw in with a politically perilous position that ran counter to his solid supporters in the segregationist South.

But “going big” today on border security and immigration means going bigger than what Trump offered last Saturday.

Trump needs to solve the interrelated problems of border security, the Dreamers and, yes, all the undocumented.

Go big, Mr. President.

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The sexual revolution is marching onward—this time in California’s new curricular framework for public education, as they draft a new curriculum for the public schools.

I downloaded all 1,000 pages—and I can simply say, there's a lot to be concerned about here.

Just consider the guidelines on gender for 3rd graders: Gender is described as “boy, girl, both, neither, trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gender fluid, gender neutral, transgender, agender, neutrois, bigender, third gender, two spirit ….” and so it goes.

We also have lesson plans on reproductive organs and the argument that they do not necessarily correspond to male and female.

You can imagine where this jumps when you’re talking about high school students.

One more dimension I should note, briefly: Parents, in the document, are clearly considered more likely to be the problem than the solution.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

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No matter how long this government shutdown lasts or how many more follow, 2020 will actually be a national security election, not an election about shutdown.

In the wake of Secretary of State Pompeo’s and National Security Advisor Bolton’s recent trips to the greater Middle East, we have to focus on the combustible situation in the region. It echoes that of the Balkans in the run-up to World War I. Of course, we also have the emergent threat from China … and, yes, there’s a new nuclear arms race.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, we’ve gone from euphoria through catastrophe into confusion, one which led President Obama into the fantastical view that he could remake the world by ignoring its truths.

We’re back where we didn’t expect to be again: Superpower competition at every level, often just under the “kinetic” phase.

2020 is going to be a national security election.

The choice: More of Trump and his policies? or back to Obama-era make-believe?

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Will pastors in the Netherlands who affirm biblical Christianity face criminal prosecution?

That may well be the case.

Back in 2017, a group of evangelical Christians concerned about the confusion of the age wrote and adopted a statement that became known as the Nashville Statement—affirming a biblical understanding of marriage and human sexuality. That statement was addressing issues that the church faces in modern America—but, of course, the situation is not merely American, it is increasingly worldwide.

That takes us to a recent headline from the Netherlands: 250 Christian leaders have signed the Nashville Statement. And--what is so ominous—the Dutch government prosecution service is deciding whether or not the very signing and publication of the Nashville Statement is actually a violation worthy of criminal prosecution.

Yes, it’s ominous: Merely publishing and signing this statement may be, as the Dutch prosecution services indicated, a criminal offense.

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To hold the Senate and White House in 2020’s upcoming battle royal, Republicans must focus on state-by-state results, not the ups and downs in national opinion polls. In 2018’s midterms, Republicans lost 40 House seats, 7 governorships and 22 of 33 U.S. Senate races.

In overwhelmingly conservative states like North Dakota, Indiana, and Missouri, Republican Senate candidates prevailed, as they did in one key swing state: Florida. But in other must-win states that Donald Trump carried last time—Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Arizona—Republican Senate challengers flopped.

They also lost in deep red West Virginia and Montana, while carrying Texas in just a squeaker. To retain power in the Senate and Electoral College, the GOP needs a more positive, pragmatic problem-solving approach to broaden the party’s base.

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“Brothers and sisters, there’s plenty of money in the world. There’s plenty of money in this city. It’s just in the wrong hands.”

Those are the words of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he was introducing his plan for single-payer, government-run health care in New York City.

de Blasio’s use of the phrase “brothers and sisters” is instructive as it is religious.  As G.K. Chesterton observed, when people lose their faith in the Almighty, they don't believe in nothing. They believe in anything. Rather than an omniscient God, more place their faith in an omnipotent state and bishops of big government like de Blasio.

Being a Socialist in the 20th century meant never having to account for the body count.

Today, it means De Blasio’s political self-interest is nobler than your economic self-interest—understanding that when he says money is in the “wrong hands,” he may well be talking about yours.

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A funny thing has happened to Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats on their way to opposing President Trump’s border wall.  They’ve forgotten their own past.

Time and again, Democrats have voted to fund border security. And, just a few weeks ago, they agreed to spend nearly $2 billion toward construction of the very physical barrier that President Trump has repeatedly called for.

But now, Pelosi calls the wall an “immorality” that is the “least effective way to protect the border.” And she, along with Schumer, have drawn a line in the sand by saying that they will oppose any funding for the wall.

But if a physical barrier at our southern border is such an immorality, do they want to tear down the hundreds of miles of border fencing that already exist along the US-Mexico border?

Don’t expect an answer to this question anytime soon.

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Democratic impeachment dreams will inevitably collide with a Constitution that makes removal of a president all but impossible. With the current Senate line-up, Democrats would need to persuade 20 Republicans to join all 47 of them for the two-thirds vote to drive Trump from office.

In 232 years of Constitutional history, no US Senator—not even one—has ever voted to remove a president of his or her own party. What happened to Richard Nixon in 1974? The Watergate crisis climaxed in the midst of a midterm election campaign; a campaign in which the GOP ultimately lost 48 House seats and 5 in the Senate.

In a desperate bid to mitigate looming disaster, Senate leaders begged Nixon to resign. For the sake of his party and his country, he did so. In Trump’s case, elections are nearly two years away and, barring unforeseen, catastrophic revelations, his resignation is inconceivabl

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It appears that the economy is slowing down and that markets are signaling even further weakening. I’ve been an economic optimist since the Trump election—especially when he made broad-based tax cuts a priority. But I did warn that the effects of the tax cuts would be short-term unless he continued to push in a pro-growth direction.

But after the cuts, the president instead pivoted towards increasing taxes on international trade. Make no mistake: tariffs are taxes. And as such, they choke growth.

And that’s exactly what has been happening.

Economic growth has gone from a sizzling summer of over 4 percent to an average fall at under 3 1/2 percent and the winter looks like it might be cooling down to under 3 percent.

If—in the president’s language—we want to make America great again—and we really want to beat China, growth is the way to do it.

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This is Michael Medved at MichaelMedved.com for Townhall.

Christian Bale won a recent Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for playing Dick Cheney in “Vice,” and on claiming his prize he said, “Thank you, Satan for giving me inspiration for playing this role.” “Vice” is an inept, incoherent dud that portrays its subject as a one-dimensional, diabolical monster, ignoring a real-life record of achievement as White House Chief of Staff, five term Congressman, Defense Secretary and two-term Vice President.

The obsession with demonizing conservatives produced this misbegotten mess, smearing a patriotic public servant who retired a decade ago, and going so far as to suggest he didn’t deserve the heart transplant he received in 2011.

By classifying this pitch-dark film as a “comedy” its producers cheerfully shrug off any sense of historical or artistic responsibility and, as Bale darkly suggests, serve Satan.

I’m Michael Medved. 

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