Up, Down, and Out

Now that we are headed into the 4^th quarter of the year, the Kavanaugh saga is behind us and the midterms are just ahead, let’s take stock to see who is up and who is down and who is out.

Donald Trump- Trump is definitely up.  The Trump economy is rolling.  He nudged over the 51% approval rating in the most recent Rasmussen poll.  While Trump’s mocking of Ford near the end of the process turned off several of the independent Republicans, he largely stayed out of the process. 

Michael Avenatti- Down.  Without corroboration, Ms. Ford’s only other hope of tanking Kavanaugh would have been for other women to come out of the woodwork and accuse Kavanaugh of the same thing.  What Avenatti dredged up was so unbelievable that many began to see the entire thing as a false, political ruse.  Like a contaminated piece of real estate, Julie Swetnick’s outrageous story began to leach into the whole process.   Now, even Democrats and the MSM are starting to turn on Avenatti.

Susan Collins—Major up.  Derided as a RINO by hard core conservatives, Collins delivered a reasoned, statesmanlike speech supporting her decision to support Kavanaugh.   Collins’s speech was written as carefully and thoughtfully as if it were a judicial opinion.  Most notably, she said she found Ms. Ford’s testimony to be sincere, painful, and compelling, but conspicuously omitted the word “credible.”  That told me she though about every word in her speech.   She was overtly gracious to Dianne Feinstein, and accepted Feinstein’s claim that she did not leak Ford’s letter.  We need Senators like Collins and less of them like Booker.

Pope Francis—Major down.  Francis stonewalling on the sex abuse scandal and demonizing his critics have left many of the faithful wondering whether they can even be Catholic anymore.   He speaks in the language more often used by Central and South American communists.  His deal with the Chinese that gave the Chinese government input on who can be Archbishop in that country was abhorrent.  His handpicked Cardinal Cupich in Chicago brushed off the sex abuse scandal with, “We can’t get distracted by this. We’ve got a bigger agenda.”  Francis could conceivably lead the Church into the biggest schism since Martin Luther.

Robert Mueller—Who?

Jordan Peterson—Down.  The warrior against Social Justice Warriors tweeted that Kavanaugh should withdraw, and thereby vindicate himself and preserve his reputation.  Huh?  Peterson failed to see that the attack on Kavanaugh was motivated in part by radical feminists trying to get Title IX sexual codes adopted by society writ large (burden of proof on the accused, limiting rebuttal proof, broadening the definition of “assault”).   His stance on Kavanaugh dealt him a major setback as a public intellectual.

Lindsey Graham--- Big up.  Like Collins, Graham has been derided by the right.  Mark Levin often has referred to him as “Goober” but Graham stepped up at just the right time and delivered a fiery, impromptu speech that summed up the Democratic antics and character assassination of Kavanaugh.  Graham, along with Collins, closed the deal.

David Hogg—Who?

China—Down.  Thanks in part to Trump, we are seeing what the Chinese regime is all about—theft and bullying.  Stealing intellectual property or coercing out of our companies, dumping products, hacking into government and corporate systems, manipulating their currency, spying either through our universities, or, as was disclosed last week, by planting chips in circuit boards, the Chinese regime has revealed itself.   I grew up on the religion of free trade.  But good trading partners don’t steal each others' stuff.

Nikki Haley- Out.  Her sudden departure tears a significant hole in the Trump foreign policy team.  The abruptness of it all left pro and anti-Trumpers speculating as to the real reason for her resignation.   She was one person who seemed to be able to both push Trump’s agenda and push back at him when she believed she needed to. 

MSM—Way down.  They gave Julie Swetnick and her icky lawyer plenty of airtime.   CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was discovered to have made homophobic tweets.  The New York Times hired Sarah Jeong as an editor despite her racist and anti-male tweets.  The Late Show Colbert writer Ariel Dumas tweeted out “Whatever happens, I’m just glad we ruined Brett Kavanaugh’s life.”  The New York Time did a special section on the tax schemes employed by Donald Trump’s father to shelter wealth (but did no such expose on Barack Obama’s communist parents).    It’s hard to imagine the MSM falling farther in trust and esteem, but it has.

Truth—Modestly up.  “Hands up.  Don’t shoot.” became a mantra although it NEVER HAPPENED. The Left attempted the same with Christine Blasey Ford.  Ford couldn’t corroborate anything and couldn’t establish a pattern of behavior with Kavanaugh.  Similarly in Chicago, despite a vigorous defense and a “code of silence” a jury found Jason Van Dyke guilty of 2^nd degree murder of Laquon McDonald. 

In the end, facts do matter.