Guest Post by Pat Buchanan
Like the Russian army carting off German factories after World War II, the Great Arsenal of Democracy was looted by its postwar allies and adversaries alike. The weapon Trump is using to stop this looting is tariffs…
President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes hinge on two things: the state of the economy in 2020 and the identity of the Democratic nominee.
The further left the Democrats go to select their candidate, the greater the probability Trump wins a second term.
Thus Trump got good news this week.
The verbal flubs of Joe Biden reached critical mass. They are now so numerous and egregious they have begun to call into question whether Biden, who turns 77 in November, is really up to a year of campaigning, followed by four years of leading the nation in the world.
Nor is it only Trump saying this now.
The Biden staff appears to be agonizing over the endless reruns of Joe’s gaffes on cable TV. And a media that sees Biden as the best hope of bringing down Trump is showing signs of alarm.
A valid question arises, not only for Democrats:
Does the Biden we have lately seen in debate and on the stump look like a focused leader who could be confidently entrusted with the most powerful office on earth until January 2025, which would be the end of his first term?
What are the odds that, if he won the presidency, Biden could be a two-term president, until 2029, and not a visibly lame duck from Day One?
Yet, if Biden stumbles and falls before next spring, which seems more of a possibility than two months ago, it is almost certain the Democratic candidate and party platform will be outside the American mainstream.
Consider what the Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders-AOC Democrats have on offer: A Green New Deal with government jobs for all. Net-zero carbon emissions. “Medicare for All,” including migrants here illegally. Free tuition at state schools. Forgiveness of most or all of $1.5 trillion in student debt. A trillion dollars of infrastructure. A $15 minimum wage. Reparations for slavery.
All this is being promised while the nation is running a $1 trillion deficit and facing trillion-dollar deficits through the first term of the next president.
And the national debt is already larger than the GDP.
Have something to say about this column?
Visit Pat’s FaceBook page and post your comments….
But if the Democrats’ performances this summer were heartening for the president, what happened Wednesday must be causing palpitations.
The Dow Jones average plunged 800 points, capping a loss of 7% of its value in weeks. Capital is flooding out of equity markets into the shelter of bonds.
And worldwide, the news is not good.
The German economy, the world’s fourth largest, contracted in the first quarter. Factory output in China, the world’s second-largest economy, is growing at its slowest pace in 17 years.
Britain, another of the 10-largest economies, is about to crash out of the EU by Oct. 1. Hong Kong, its political crisis unresolved and the protests ongoing, is projecting zero growth.
The U.S. economy remains the strongest in the world, but U.S. growth in the second quarter was 2.1%, tepid compared to the 3.5% growth in the spring of 2018.
On top of this disquieting news on the economic front, Trump’s disapproval in the Fox News survey released Wednesday rose to 56%, a 5 percentage-point jump in his disapproval from July.
That the president laid Wednesday’s market swoon at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve suggests that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is being set up to take the fall if the economy goes south in 2020.
And going south is a distinct possibility. Bank of America Merrill Lynch puts the odds on a recession next year at 1 in 3.
From the media and political reaction to the Dow plunge, there is nothing Democrats would relish more than seeing the Trump boom, which has reduced unemployment to record lows, end in a recession, negating his greatest political argument and asset.
And if America can be talked into a recession, rely on the Beltway political and media elites to try to bring it off.
Which brings us to the China trade impasse, which involves a historic gamble by Donald Trump.
Trump seeks to throw out a free trade policy that, rooted in 19th-century ideology rather than U.S. national interests, threw open U.S. markets to the world and produced, over three decades, $12 trillion in trade deficits and a loss of 70,000 factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs.
Like the Russian army carting off German factories after World War II, the Great Arsenal of Democracy was looted by its postwar allies and adversaries alike.
The weapon Trump is using to stop this looting is tariffs, a price of admission into the U.S. market to replace the free passes foreign nations and transnational companies have had to produce abroad and sell into the USA.
Trump is using tariffs to coerce China to stop cheating on the trade rules we have established and to grant us the same access to her markets as producers in China have to the American market.
And he is betting his presidency he can pull it off.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
More puff-piece punditry from fake-conservative Buchanan.
Elections haven’t mattered in many decades, yet this paid stooge writes as if they still do.
Really, don’t matter? IOW President Hillary’s first 3 years would have produced the same results we’ve had with Trump?
Is he all everyone had pinned their hopes on? Of course not.
Tell ya what, take your political naivete(and your constant whining & bitching) and stick it up your ass.
What if Trump is the set up man for, “see, conservatism doesn’t work after all”, let’s try door #3?
Voting is the illusion of choice. Elections validate their existence.
The (D) clown car sets the stage for…..
Big Mike 2020
Political naivete is believing that somehow voting changes the country.
Looks like you fell for the myth of democracy hook, line and sinker.
Trump wasn’t voted into office.
He was installed.
I hate to pop your bubble, but Mr. Trump et al. are just the other side of the coin known as the Deep State. The only reason they’re rocking the boat is that they know what will happen to them one once the modern day Roman Imperial Collapse known as the United States occurs. The other side decided a long time ago that if they can figure out a way to kill everybody else then they won’t have to worry about immediate justice and firing squads aimed in their direction.
I wish you were wrong but don’t think so.
If voting mattered they wouldn’t let us do it.
Oh Pat.
We know the Democrat primary is a ruse with 20 candidates running.
It’s set up so Clinton doesn’t get Bernie Sanders again. With 30% of the vote for Clinton, all competitors will be forced out.
No more campaigning for Clinton. No need to cough out a lung and fall off a stage.
It’s a set up so Big Mike looks normal when hesheit announces in 2020.
I often think this. If Biden were to win the nomination, the key is whomever is nominated for vice, because JB will almost certainly not finish even a four year term. My suspicion is that it may well be HRC or Mrs. Obama. Should this prove to be the case, the USA should consider itself on notice that a tipping point has been reached.