The View from Right Field

On the Special Counsel for Donald Trump

I let out a big sigh when I read that Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate whether Donald Trump should be indicted with respect to the events of January 6 and with respect to confidential documents he took to Mar-a-Lago.  I sighed because, at least to me, the appointment means former President Trump will likely be indicted, and I can’t see that as a good thing.

I don’t know whether former President Trump broke any laws with respect to January 6 or the Mar-a-Lago documents.  I don’t know all the facts, and I don’t know the specifics of the laws.  But, ultimately, I don’t think former President Trump should be indicted because I don’t think it will help the country.  I want former President Trump gone.  And I think the best way to get him gone is to just ignore him.  Don’t talk about him.  Stop giving him the respect of attention.

When the Dog Actually Catches the Bus. Republicans on Obamacare, Roe v. Wade, and Now 2023

It’s an old joke: Dogs are always chasing buses (among other things).  But do they have any idea what they would do if they actually caught it?

Which is what happened to Republicans on both Obamacare and Roe v. Wade.¹  After Obamacare passed, the Republicans had a clear position on what they would do if they got back in power: Repeal it.  It was simple, and the House, which flipped to the Republicans in the 2010 election, voted to repeal Obamacare a number of times.  Of course, it was easy to do.  Until the 2014 election, the Democrats still controlled the Senate, so no repeal passed by the House would ever become law and it didn’t matter much about the details.

If Republicans Win on Tuesday, Will They Lose in 2024?

Pollsters and prognosticators are saying the Republicans will win the House, and maybe even the Senate, on Tuesday.  But the question is: If the Republicans do win on Tuesday, even just the House, what will they do with that victory?  Will they come up with programs to deal with our problems?  Will they pass a budget that makes sense and do it on time?  Will they actually pass legislation to try to accomplish something?¹ 

Or will they use their power to investigate Hunter Biden and his laptop?  Will they push even more investigations into Donald Trump’s constant claims about how the 2020 elections was stolen from him?²  Will they try to impeach Joe Biden? 

Democrats for Trump

Back when they had campaign buttons, you would see buttons that said “Republicans for [Democrat]” or “Democrats for [Republican].  In fact, I think we still have some “Democrats for Nixon” buttons in our basement.

If they still had campaign buttons, a lot of Democrats, at least Democratic leaders and Democratic campaign advisers, would be wearing “Democrats for Trump” buttons – or at least they would if they were honest.  Because a lot of Democrats, and a lot of Democratic money, are trying to help pro-Trump Republicans win Republican primaries.  That is what happened here in Illinois.  The Democratic Governors Association kept sending me mail, the old-fashioned kind, via the Post Office, telling me that Darren Bailey was “too conservative” and that he liked Donald Trump too much.  Both of which were true, but both of which were designed to get pro-Trump Republicans to vote for Darren Bailey in the primary, instead of one of the other candidates who might have actually had a chance to beat our Democratic governor, who is running for re-election, in November.

Voting Rights Bills: Democrats Should Be Careful What They Wish For. They Might Get It.

Joe Biden and Democrats are pushing the Senate to kill the filibuster for their voting rights bills, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, and allow the bills to be passed by a majority vote; i.e., 50 Democrats plus Vice President Kamala Harris.

But I wonder if they have thought this through.  If they abolish the filibuster and pass their bills setting up national rules for presidential elections and elections to Congress by a majority vote, what is going to stop Republicans from passing their national election rules in 2025 if Republicans win Congress and the presidency in 2024?

The High Cost of Johnson. The High Cost of Biden.

In 1966, Richard Nixon crisscrossed the country, campaigning for Republicans and attacking Lyndon Johnson on “the high cost of Johnson.”¹  While we might not see 1966’s 3.0% inflation as no big deal, in 1966, after seven years of inflation between 1.1% and 1.6%, it was a big deal – and an important campaign issue.  The Republicans picked up 47 seats in the House in 1966.

Compare 1966 with today.  The most recent inflation number today is 6.8%.  Democrats are trying to push big spending bills through Congress, bills that could keep inflation high or maybe even push it higher.  “The high cost of Biden” has the potential to be a big campaign issue for Republicans next year.  It ought to give Democrats pause and Republicans hope for 2022, and maybe even 2024. 

The Saving Grace of Donald Trump’s Presidency: Incompetence

With Donald Trump back on the campaign trail, now seems like a good time for this post.  For all the complaints about Donald Trump’s lack of competence as president, it was actually his incompetence that was the saving grace of his presidency.  Former President Trump was good at some things.  He knew how to energize those who supported him.  He identified people who had been ignored for years, if not decades, and spoke for them.  His skill at public relations and his ability to play the media in the 2016 campaign was impressive.  He didn’t need to spend as much as his opponents because he knew how to get free publicity from the media.

But, while he knew how to get elected, he didn’t know how to govern.  He was competent at getting elected president.  He was incompetent at being president.

As Donald Trump’s World Continues to Turn – Around Him

I have no idea if Donald Trump really thinks he didn’t lose the presidential election.  But then I generally have no idea what President Trump is thinking about anything.  And he will be gone in seventeen days (even if he doesn’t think so), so I don’t have to worry about him too much longer (– I hope).  What is worse (at least for me) are the Republican politicians who are continuing to lend support to President Trump’s claims that he really won the election – even after the Electoral College met on December 14.  (I would have preferred if they had done it before December 14, but continuing to deny Joe Biden’s victory after that date is appalling.  I wrote here about what a better person did 60 years ago where there was real evidence of fraud.)

It now appears that Missouri Senator Josh Hawley will support claims by several House Republicans challenging one or more state’s electoral votes when the House and Senate meet for the counting of electoral votes on January 6.  Obviously, Democrats did this to President George W. Bush in January of 2005 with respect to Ohio’s electoral votes (even though President Bush won Ohio by over 100,000 votes).   Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California supported claims by Democrats in the House.  It wound up delaying the counting of the electoral votes by a couple of hours, but that was all – other than maybe setting a bit of a precedent for what supporters of President Trump are doing today.  (John Kerry did not support the effort to overturn or reject Ohio’s electoral votes.  He was a classier guy.)