Just about everyone you know is quick to verbalize an opinion. Yourself included. Following the first GOP debate, most viewers immediately decide who should be invited back and who should get the axe. And almost always, no matter what happens later, these people will never change initial impressions. Self-pride doesn’t allow second thoughts. It’s a human weakness. Once the Pharisees decided Christ was a loser, nothing He did or said would temper their condemnation. Reasons for repudiation often have little to do with substance and more to do with instinct, inclination or some type of prejudice. In 1960, JFK was Hollywood pretty; Nixon was anything but, sporting five o’clock shadow. In any event, when the dust settles on any election, when corrupt presidents like Biden leave behind a trail of devastation, supporters can walk away from culpability, unstained and innocent. Their once outspoken opinions are gone with the wind, conveniently unrecorded. By contrast, published opinions nail you to the wall. You can’t hide . . . well, unless you’re a professional mouthpiece in media. Or unless you’re Greta Thunberg who continuously conjures up the apocalypse.

In 2023, or any year for that matter, you are not qualified to predict a presidential outcome. But you do have opinions for everyone to dismember at their leisure.

Donald John Trump
During the years 2015-2023, you put it on the line. You repeatedly said Trump would never be accepted, never be allowed at the Beltway table — that The Establishment would go to any lengths necessary to nullify his political existence and even his influence. Who is this Establishment? Certain members of the Supreme Court. The Democrat Party. The Republican Party. The Deep State bureaucracy. Legacy Media. Big Tech. Big money. Wall Street. Just about everyone who covets the accrual of money and power. Just about everyone who’s on the take. Donald Trump had (and has) only one asset: 80MM (arguably)citizens who voted for him. look at the evidence (from Late Latin evidentia “proof,” in classical Latin “distinction, vivid presentation, clearness”). In 2016-2019, under the withering barrage of baseless impeachment and other attacks, DT policy led America out of its economic stupor into unprecedented vitality — at home and abroad. The future glistened. This was the beginning of a political renaissance — to deregulate further, to dismantle the bureaucracy, to “drain the swamp.” But that agenda could not and would not be tolerated. The Left Machine saw to it by outright theft, while the GOP stood by as always — detached, in front of the cameras — devious, behind them. When Americans protested Jan. 6, Trump was branded an insurrectionist, and now stands indicted on a myriad of offenses, while he campaigns to be POTUS in 2024. In America’s history, no president — in fact, no Public Enemy #1 — has been the target of a more relentless seek and destroy mission. You must humbly request — imagine the motive, please. Can you?

2024
First things first. The Trump indictments are not aimed at jail time, although many haters pray for it. The indictments have two plausible goals: 1. Eliminate the Trump candidacy; 2. Create suspicion, demoralize and persuade Trump supporters to lose heart and choose a GOP “insider.” Already, many published pundits agree with the “alleged” voter sentiment. Trump and Biden should disappear. The nation needs to heal. That’s code language, Matilda, for “we’re tired of the constant war in Washington; we think Trump’s a lightning rod. If he runs, he will lose; if by some miracle he wins, the war will never end.” That last sentence is true but not complete. The war will never end until the Left continues to control America and completes its socialist agenda. If you think that agenda is dedicated to The Constitution and to your Freedom, at least have the willingness to honestly evaluate what has happened since 2020 — which is nothing less than a bloody catastrophe. More important, don’t make the mistake of thinking that deaths, lock-downs, mandates, the cost of living, the open border and Woke-ism are owned only by Democrats. The GOP is neck deep in corruption. House money claims that Trump can’t win against a credible Democrat candidate. House money claims that Trump 2020 voters — women and independents — have abandoned ship. You have only one option — wait and see.

GOP Debate #1
It stunk. The moderators stunk. You can’t assume they didn’t take orders and work from a prepared script that stunk. Whatever. If — and it’s a big if — Desantis would truly take his Florida hegemony to Washington, he makes the cut. If Vivek curbs his enthusiasm and keeps his powder dry, he’s the true outsider America needs. He makes the cut. In his absence, Trump makes the cut. Some of the rest — Pence, Haley, Hutchinson, Christie — are GOP veterans — and fit right in with the NRC and GOP Royalty. With them, nothing changes.

A New Beginning: One Naive View
1. The Federal Government — Executive and Congress — must cede all Domestic Governance to the States, as enumerated by the U.S. Constitution.

2. The SCOTUS must conduct a thorough review of the Annotated Constitution and methodically eliminate those legal findings that conflict with #1 above.

3. Impose term limits (12 years in both House and Senate)on all elected officials.

4. Mandate a balanced annual Federal budget.

5. Eliminate Federal Agencies that do not fall under provisions of The Constitution.

Ed. Note: If the day comes — tomorrow, next month or next year, when any of these opinions prove to be misguided, you pledge to quickly acknowledge your lack of scholarship and judgment.

www.conventionofstates.com