Governor Mike Pence and President-elect Donald Trump
By Larry Gordon
The U.S. intelligence agencies seem to be going with the story that has Russia’s Vladimir Putin playing a prominent role in our recent presidential election that led to the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20.
The contention here is that Putin was exercising a specific vendetta against Hillary Clinton, who said some unpleasant things about the Russian leader when she was secretary of state. It turns out that though Putin might have contributed to the anti-Clinton image that was continuously buttressed during the campaign by some media, it is very difficult to prove that this is what tipped the election in Mr. Trump’s favor.
That the American intelligence agencies that are subservient to the Obama worldview are complicit in strengthening an already existing anti-Trump sentiment is not surprising. Mr. Trump, with all his inconsistencies, still represents an idea of America that our founders envisioned—a country that is free and unencumbered by government, guided but not restricted by our elected leaders.
The transition from the Obama to the Trump way of thinking and worldview will most likely be somewhat traumatic for many. For eight years the best Obama could do was to relate to us how getting anything done was difficult and that it would just take time and would not happen overnight. And not much did happen except for a series of negative domestic as well as international “accomplishments,” if you can call them that.
The economy limped along as if injured in a sub-freezing NFL mid-December playoff game. Obamacare is finally being revealed as little more than an expansion of Medicaid, which would have covered most of the 20 million people who they claim now have coverage and did not have previously.
Just about everywhere you look there is a mess that was left by President Obama that will now have to be cleaned up by the incoming administration. Whether it is the Iran deal that might delay the ayatollahs from achieving nuclear status for a few more years in exchange for funding international terror to the tune of tens of billions of dollars or other fiascoes, this is the true Obama legacy.
And the truly odd thing is that the almost-former president and his supporters see the above items and many others in an assortment of areas as great successes previously unachieved by any other administration. It is indeed astounding, and because of the dramatic shift that will now begin to take place there will also be a great deal of resistance—as has already been demonstrated.
So here’s the thing about the so-called hacking that revealed the extreme dishonesty that plagued the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. Sure, hacking into people’s e‑mail is not a good thing but it seems that this comes with the territory when dealing with the relationships between countries and governments.
The point that stood out in all the exposure about the computer hacking and the stealing of so-called secrets is that in none of the extensive coverage on CNN or in the New York Times did anyone say that the information leaked or revealed was not true. Had the leaked information been erroneous or without any attachment to reality, someone along the chain here would certainly have said so.
So while hacking is not to be encouraged and is not a legal endeavor, it is safe to conclude that now that it has been done we can deal with the content in all those Hillary-related e‑mails and Internet correspondence.
Now just to replay reality a bit, let’s take a look at what happened. Yes, Mrs. Clinton and her staff lied straight-faced about mishandling classified information in a way that has subjected others in government to criminal prosecution. The Clintons were consistently deceptive about the connection between the multimillion-dollar contributions to the Clinton Foundation and the access afforded these governments and individuals to the secretary of state and other government officials—and who knows what else was promised in exchange for all those millions of dollars.
It is abundantly evident that January 20 and the inauguration of Mr. Trump cannot happen soon enough. It is additionally clear that the downward spiral that has been the hallmark of the Obama years would have continued had Clinton been elected.
On another, but related, matter it was announced on Monday by the Israeli government that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be attending the World Economic Forum scheduled to take place in Davos, Switzerland, January 17–21.
Of course, the Netanyahu detractors in Israel are saying that he has withdrawn from the annual forum because of the legal situation he is dealing with back home. While the situation in Israel is a little sticky at this stage, it is something that needs to be handled by the attorneys and the attorney general’s office.
Some media have suggested that the real reason for Netanyahu skipping the forum is that he is planning to attend the inauguration in Washington, DC, which would make a great statement on Bibi’s behalf. Of course, as the political parallels between Trump and Netanyahu become even clearer in the weeks and months ahead, the effort by the left in Israel to bring him down will intensify. (As we go to press, it was announced that Bibi has declined to attend the inauguration.)
The combination of Bibi and Donald does not bode well for the left—neither here in the U.S. nor in Israel. Add to that mix the presence of Jared Kushner as a senior adviser and David Friedman as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and the left will be going down on the mat for the count, at least over the short term.
All this talk about conflict of interest by members of the Trump family, and by the nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is absurd. America needs businesspeople to breathe life into the heartland, give the average citizen hope for the future, and, yes, at the same time work to make America great again.
A few days ago, Mr. Trump held a meeting in Manhattan with Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma. The discussion revolved around how to create a million new jobs for Americans here in the USA.
This is from the CNBC website reporting on the meeting: “‘We’re focused on small business,’ Ma told reporters. ‘We specifically talked about . . . supporting 1 million small businesses, especially in the Midwest of America. Small businesses on the platform selling products—agriculture products and American services—to China and Asia, because we’re pretty big in Asia.’
“Where those jobs would come from is unclear. While an Alibaba spokesperson told CNBC before the meeting that the Chinese online retail giant company would create 1 million jobs over five years, Ma’s comments focused on supporting small businesses.”
The next thing we might hear from the Trump antagonists is that the soon-to-be-president is trying to bribe Americans into supporting him by creating millions of new jobs. Perhaps we can expect the left to mount a campaign asking that, as a protest, people not accept these employment opportunities. It would be a new low and bizarre approach to the new Trump era, but do not discount the possibility.
There’s a new day dawning in America. That day cannot arrive quickly enough.
Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.