No, I’m not branching out into literary or theater reviews. This week’s title was inspired by the Left’s reaction to the inauguration of Donald Trump as President Number 47. Les Miserables, of course, is the famous 1862 Victor Hugo novel, set during the 1830’s revolts in France. While there are parallels with the plot of the book, it was the title of the work that came to mind.
Les Miserables can be translated as “the miserable ones” or “the wretched ones.” It occurred to me that those translations aptly describe the condition of leftist Democrats, and practically the entirety of their lap dog media.
Trump, as expected, hit the ground running on January 20. The moment he took his hand off the Bible, he began issuing Executive Orders and actions. The borders were closed to illegal aliens. Deportation actions for illegals admitted by the Democrats immediately began. Restrictions on oil and gas production were lifted. The EV mandate was cancelled. All DEI programs in all federal agencies were cancelled, and all employees running them were put on leave. Worst of all, federal employees were ordered back to work, in the office, five days a week. Oh the horror!
Predictably, the reaction of the Left was shock, disgust, and vows of resistance. Senator Dick Durbin suggested that federal employees should defy the Trump order to end DEI programs. I really hope they take Durbin’s advice. If they defy a direct order of the president, then they can be fired for cause. You can always trust an elected Democrat to promote conduct that only exposes others to jeopardy.
The heifers of The Herd, or is it The View, I’m never sure about that, were so greatly triggered by Trump’s actions that they frantically began chewing their cuds. This caused resident “legal advisor” Sunny Hostin to say something that was remarkably stupid, even for her. She and the other bovines fretted that Trump’s inauguration took place on the MLK holiday. They noted that MLK wanted social and economic equality. That’s true, but he never mentioned equity, transgender politics, or Drag Queen story hour.
Hostin then declared that Trump was the real DEI hire, because he didn’t earn the job, had no political experience and no business experience. I guess she never heard of Trump Tower, and was unaware that he already was president for four years. She has a point though. You can’t compare Trump’s experience to that of Il Duce Obama, a man who never held a real job before being elected president.
The denizens of The View were joined by CNN’s Jake Tapper in decrying the fact that so many billionaire CEO’s like Zuckerberg and Tim Cook attended the inauguration. How dare they go over to the Dark Side?
The website Axios is apoplectic over Elon Musk’s repeated comments to the effect that “Now, we’re the media.” Axios had the perfect comeback. “Oh no you’re not.” The head of the site even suggested that Trump will stay in power after 2028 by running for Vice President at the age of 82. The facts that Trump can’t legally do that (See the 12th and 22d Amendments), and that it would make no sense apparently never occurred to him.
Back to CNN, that network is about to announce massive layoffs and salary cuts in response to it’s nearly nonexistent viewership. CNN just paid out a $5 million defamation settlement. The new CNN CEO just ordered whoever remains on the air to simply “report the news” without delving into invective. That would be refreshing, only not many people will see it. I recently was in airports where CNN was nowhere to be found. More people are watching Sponge Bob than CNN. They seem to have gotten the message though, as they are considering moving former CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta to a midnight time slot.
But “the miserable ones” of the Left are still among us. Indeed, being continually miserable seems to be a prerequisite for all “Progressives.” They’re miserable when they’re out of power, and they’re even more miserable when they’re in power.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow (talk about an All Ugly team) were shocked, shocked, that Trump actually intends to do the things he promised to do. Even worse, the presence of people who formerly supported them at the inauguration had them foaming at the mouth.
“How is this happening in America?” Maddow asked incredulously at the sight of Department of Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem seated beside Apple CEO Tim Cook at the inauguration ceremony. “How is this happening? Why are people with tons of money up on the dais with cabinet nominees and family members?”
MSNBC and NBC News also are facing plummeting ratings, and have announced layoffs. MSNBC is for sale. Nobody is buying the tripe that these outlets are selling. The tribe has spoken, and they are being escorted off the island. Good riddance.
Yet faced with these sobering events, the leftist media still can’t help itself. On January 20, just after Trump shut off the Biden app that permitted illegal aliens to make reservations for their invasions into the U.S., CNN tried to gin up sympathy by showing a crying illegal alien holding a cell phone. America cheered.
The media also wasted no time creating the first false meme of the Trump 47 Administration. Elon Musk made an awkward “from the heart” gesture that immediately was denounced as “a Nazi salute.” Of course, it wasn’t anything more than a clumsy gesture from a weird guy, but that didn’t stop the smear, even after the Jewish Anti-Defense League concluded that it wasn’t a Nazi salute.
It’s a parallel with the plot of Les Miserables. The leftists fancy themselves as Inspector Javert, endlessly in pursuit of would-be Fascist, Jean Valjean. The irony being that they easily could confront a Fascist just by looking in a mirror. But never mind the facts, the hunt for Nazis must go on. After all, what does the ADL know about Nazis?
The ADL never even commented on other potential Nazi salutes, like these –
Sieg Heil all you Progressive Democrat Bundists.
So take heart all you MAGA patriots. Although Les Miserables will always be among us, their day is done. Trump has returned. Give the proper salute.
Next Monday Donald Trump will be inaugurated as our 47th President. Of course, he also was our 45th President. A couple of weeks ago, I explored the significance of non-consecutive presidential terms. Grover Cleveland, also from New York, but with ties to New Jersey where he was born, was our 22nd and 24th President, having been elected in 1884 and again in 1892.
Politics in the 19th and even 20th Centuries was very different than today’s political landscape. Back then, it was easier for a candidate who had lost a presidential election to be renominated for another run. William Jennings Bryan got three chances as the Democrat nominee in 1896, 1900, and 1908. Bryan was trounced every time.
Adlai Stevenson was chosen to run against Eisenhower in 1952 and again in 1956. Both times, Stevenson was soundly beaten by Ike. The point is that second chances are rare, especially nowadays, making Trump’s return as President No. 47 all the more amazing. Of course, Trump did have a lot of help.
Democrats did absolutely everything they could to piss off the American electorate, to the point where it wanted a change so badly that it overlooked the facts that Trump was impeached twice, four times indicted, once convicted, and was being defamed 24 hours a day as an unfit, fascist, Nazi, Hitler-like, crazy, anti-Semitic, piece of garbage, who was an existential threat to democracy. They resoundingly reelected him anyway. Against that backdrop, what Democrats were offering had to be crap so pungent that even the voters who don’t pay attention couldn’t avoid the stink.
That said, Trump won and will be President 47. As I have been over the pertinent ground before, and I am on vacation this week, I thought we could have some fun with the Number 47.
Number 47 is a prime number. 47 is the atomic number of silver, and the atomic weight of titanium. So, valuable and extremely durable. That pretty much describes Trump.
The number 47 is also a Carol number and a Lucas Number, but I stunk at math so I don’t have a clue what that means.
In the field of numerology, which endeavors to connect numbers to spirituality, 47 is quite important. It is comprised of the number 4, which stands for stability, practicality, and a strong foundation; and the number 7, which denotes spirituality and inner wisdom. Not a bad combination for a president.
The number 47 is considered a sign of personal transformation and divine timing. It appears when significant events or opportunities are about to happen. Assuming those events are positive, that may bode well.
Another connection. The band, New Found Glory, has an album entitled “Not Without a Fight.” One of the songs on the album is “47.” That sure sounds like Trump.
Of course, Trump was number 45 before being 47. The number 45 is a number of leadership, being connected to CEO’s who believe they can exercise control over everything. That sure sounds like Trump 45 to me.
The number 47 appears frequently in our popular culture. The Japanese legend of the 47 Ronin is a tale of loyalty and vengeance. Once again, that sure sounds like Trump.
47 popped up frequently in Star Trek – The Next Generation. The reason most often given for the recurrences of 47 on Star Trek is that one of the writers, Joe Menosky, was a graduate of Pomona College in California.
It seems that 47 is a mystical number for Pomona alums. There were 47 graduates in the first class in 1894. There are 47 pipes in the college organ. And the college is off of exit 47 of the San Bernardino Freeway. Anyway, Pomona grads are obsessed by the number 47, which they claim as their own, even positing a theory that all numbers are equal to 47.
Once again, I stunk at math, but that one sure sounds a lot like the old Abbott and Costello sketch, where Lou proved that 7 times 13 equaled 28. Don’t take my word for it. See below Note -don’t click the “x” that pops up).
One more sweet result of Trump’s 2024 election is the angst it is causing delicate snowflake Pomona College alums. Many are scraping their “47” stickers from their car windshields, so as not to give the impression that they actually voted for Trump. One more indication of Progressive brain damage. Runaway inflation, illegal alien invasion, and the prospect of global war didn’t bother them a bit, but to be connected with Trump? That was a bridge too far.
The lesson to be learned from number 47 is that it’s namesake (Trump) is apt to be more introspective, and to exhibit personal transformation and growth. Maybe the number will usher in a change in the Donald, and prevent him from getting off topic and wasting time on needless vendettas.
A bit of personal restraint and change will do him good. As for the disloyal opposition Democrat cabal, only a slight change will be necessary. Maxine Waters will have to change “Impeach 45” to “Impeach 47. Otherwise, they’re good to go.
As this is written, the Congress has just finished certifying the presidential election results. Vice President Que Mala Harris presided over the proceeding, during which she was obliged to report that she had lost the election to Donald Trump, 312 electoral votes to 226. To her credit, Que Mala got through it.
I was glad to see that the American electorate took Que Mala’s advice in November. She ran what she called a campaign of joy, and kept exhorting voters, complete with sign language-like gesticulations, to “Turn the page.” And turn the page they did.
The voters gleefully turned the page, turning away from the senility, inflation, illegal alien invasion, violent crime in the streets, DEI, transgender travesties, lawfare, ruinous energy policies, suppression of free speech, and incompetence which was the Biden Administration.
And for the first time since 1989, Democrats did not attempt to challenge the result of a presidential election in which a Republican was victorious. I’m sure their neglect to raise a challenge wasn’t because they learned their lesson, and have finally accepted the fact that their eight year campaign to destroy Donald Trump has failed. Nor was it because they truly have accepted the result of the 2024 election. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, everything Democrat is a ploy, wrapped in a distraction, inside a trap.
The Democrat resistance hasn’t gone away. Much like the Japanese troops on Iwo Jima, they are hiding in caves, waiting for the Trump Administration to come ashore, and they will attack when they think they can do the most damage.
As for Election Certification Day, the Left contented itself with the fact that it occurred on January 6, giving them another opportunity to try to gin up their phony “insurrection” meme once again. I say “try” to gin up because CNN’s own polling this week revealed that only 5% of voters consider January 6, 2021 to be the number one memory of Trump 45. This group is comprised of mental patients, elected Democrats (that’s redundant), Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Mike Pence, and most of the population of Manhattan.
According to CNN, only 37% of voters blame Trump for the January 6th protests. This group voted for Que Mala Harris, and you saw what that got them. But regardless of its own polling, CNN commentators tried to stir the January 6th pot once more.
CNN’s Jim Acosta (remember him?) got into it with Republican strategist Brad Todd. Todd conceded that January 6th was a stain on Trump’s legacy, but dared to criticize Democrat attempts, legal and extra-legal, to defame, incarcerate, and remove Trump from election ballots, as well as the phony House January 6th Committee.
When Todd said Republicans were prohibited from choosing the Republican members of the Committee, Acosta bristled. As you may recall, Nancy Pelosi rejected the Republican appointees, unilaterally replacing them with, now former, members Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. The argument devolved into Acosta repeatedly chanting, “Liz Cheney, good Republican” “Liz Cheney, good Republican,” much as he was talking to a pet, “Good dog.” As with all Leftist ideologues, Acosta believes the only “good Republican” is a traitor.
As it turned out, the Jim Acosta January 6th reaction was rather tame. Proving that Trump Derangement Syndrome still exists, and that disorders of the mind remain rampant in the Democrat Party, we must once again consider the ravings of one of the denizens of ABC’s morning contribution to mental illness, The Herd, no wait, I think they renamed it The View.
On January 6 2025, a person who I’m sad to say is considered to be an ABC “legal analyst,” one Sunny Hostin, declared that January 6th is never to be forgotten, because it was “an atrocity,” which she compared to “World War II, the Holocaust, and chattel slavery.” She’s sure got her priorities right. After all, World War II killed some 50 million people, the Holocaust killed over 10 million, millions of Africans were enslaved for hundreds of years, and on January 6 2021, one fat lazy cop shot and killed an unarmed Air Force veteran, the only fatality in the incident.
All of which is just more proof that the gargoyles of The View are misnamed. They have a Whoopi, a Sunny and a Joy. Given their dispositions, they should be named Crazy, Dopey and Bitchy.
But January 6th aside, the expectation is building for the January 20 inauguration, and there are speculations as to Trump’s Day One agenda. Breitbart’s Nick Gilbertson suggests that Day One will feature many pardons for January 6, 2021 defendants, some of whom continue to languish in the D.C. Jail Hellhole.
Trump has indicated that he’s not anticipating blanket pardons for all defendants, which is a good thing. He should deny relief to anyone who caused damage, stole something, or put his hands on a cop. All the rest were trespassers at worst. They deserve relief.
Another Day One action will be the closing of the border, and the start of deportations. Democrats can bitch and moan all they want, but there is no excuse for failing to deport the 500,000 convicted criminals Biden stupidly admitted. Nor is there any legitimate reason to try to prevent the deportation of the 1.5 million or so supposed asylum seekers who had their court hearings and have been ordered removed by a federal judge.
Trump also has pledged that he will unleash U.S. energy production, vowing to “drill baby, drill.” He will issue Executive Orders and rescind Biden Administration actions that prevented oil and gas production. Saboteur to the very end, Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden this week invoked a 1953 law to unilaterally ban all oil production off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Trump will have to find a way around this roadblock.
Whatever happens on January 20, there is no doubt that Americans are itching to “Turn the page,” and the incoming Trump Administration is itching to get it’s chief officers confirmed so it can get to work. It turns out Que Mala was right after all. That feeling of joy can’t be denied.
As the saying goes, when everybody tells you that you’re dead, you should lie down. The recent election sent a clear message to the Left, but they haven’t received it. The election of Donald Trump to a second term as president should have convinced the loony Socialist Democrats and the denizens of the lap dog media that Democrats are on the wrong track, but it didn’t.
In one sense, the Trump victory wasn’t surprising, given the fact that Democrats went out of their way to make every aspect of life in the United States worse for working people who are struggling to get by.
Biden and company were handed a secure border. Their opposition to a border wall aside, they easily could have increased the admission of immigrants in a sane and sensible way. Instead, they simply erased the borders, and admitted millions of illegal aliens, without regard for identity, medical condition, or criminal history.
The result was an influx of needy illegals, whose numbers included 500,000 known convicted criminals, including 13,000 murderers and 16,000 sex offenders. Biden and Party supplied them with hotels, food, phones, air travel, health care and education, at your expense. And when Latin American gangs took over apartment buildings, displacing and assaulting Americans, Democrats told us it wasn’t really happening.
Biden was handed an America with energy independence, for the first time in some 70 years. He cancelled pipelines and oil and gas leases, and doubled the cost of energy. Then he promised to destroy the oil and gas industry and tried to mandate electric vehicles that nobody wants and which the power grid can’t support.
Biden then spent trillions of dollars we haven’t got, which spiked inflation to levels not seen in 50 years. As the price of food soared, they told us prices really were going down. As Americans found it difficult, if not impossible, to provide for their families, Biden poured billions into Ukraine, and spent billions on illegal aliens.
Leftist culture was just one more brick on the load. Mindless fealty to DEI, and catering to transgender politics that sanctioned biological men competing in women’s sports, drove a wedge between the Democrats and large sections of their base that may never be healed.
The first duty of government is to keep people safe on the streets and in their homes. With crime becoming rampant due to Democrat “defund the police” programs and Soros prosecutors, all Democrats had to offer a scared public was the notion that there was only “as perception” of increased crime because crime rates really were down. This was cold comfort for a public being bombarded with daily reports of murder, rape, robbery, organized looting, and subway immolation.
Simply put, the Democrats’ obsession with the “progressive” nonsense of identity politics could be called anti-utilitarian, as they pursued the greatest good for the smallest number. For instance, by prioritizing the welfare of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens, they alienated large portions of their black and Hispanic base.
Enter Donald Trump. They call him a populist. He is merely a throwback to the philosophy of the only other president who was elected to two non-consecutive terms, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland said that “public service is a public trust.” What that means is that our elected representatives should act to carry out the will of their constituents.
It’s only because the politicians ignored the public and thwarted its will that Trump could be elected in 2016. The politicians in both Parties who lament Trump’s emergence have only themselves to blame. Had they paid attention to public opinion all those years, there would be no President Trump.
The malfeasance, misfeasance, utter stupidity, and senility of Joe Biden assured Trump’s reelection. After royally screwing up everything they touched, Democrats realized that old Joe had to go, but replaced him with a worthless dolt who managed to promise only more of the same.
Que Mala Harris ran a putrid campaign. She managed to spend some $2 billion, much of it going to campaign managers and celebrities who had to be paid to endorse her. She made few appearances, and answered few questions. In what everyone understood to be a change election, she promised not to change a thing.
And here’s the funny part. After losing, in what amounts to a modern day landslide, and leaving the House and Senate in the hands of Republicans, Democrats are still convinced that their problem was “messaging.” A number of Democrat pundits keep telling us that the main thing that the Democrats need to do is to get their messaging right.
What they mean by that is that, if only Democrats had expressed themselves properly, then the American electorate would have flocked to the Democrat brand, because they would have then understood that runaway inflation is a positive thing. The influx of 12 million illegal aliens who take your jobs, displace you from your home, use up public funds that could be supporting Americans, and increase your risk of becoming a crime victim is a good thing. Having biological men ruin women’s sports is a positive. And it is possible for men to become pregnant.
In a word, Democrats are delusional. They still don’t get it, and I, for one, am hopeful that they never will get it. Their problem wasn’t their message. It was their product. They were trying to force on the American public a product that it doesn’t want and doesn’t agree with.
You may be able to fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t continually tell the public it’s stupid and expect to be rewarded. And that’s exactly what Democrats took from the last election. Democrat apologists like Don Lemon are telling the few viewers they have left that anyone who voted for Trump is just stupid. The hateful Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post says that, if the Trump voters had only read The Post, they would have understood the truth, but the problem was that Trump voters can’t read.
Democrats still haven’t figured out that demonizing the opposition doesn’t work. They have called Republican voters a basket of deplorables, fascist, Nazi, garbage, and racist. And, if anything, they should be on notice that the “racist” label is false, since Trump owes his 2024 election to black, Hispanic and Muslim voters who abandoned the Democrat Party.
As this is written, Democrats in Blue States are doubling down on stupid, vowing to resist all things Trump, including the deportation of criminal aliens, and aliens who have been ordered removed by federal courts. Let’s hope they remain true to their Woke principles, and thus easier to defeat.
FRANK ON FRIDAY – Fear Strikes Out
At his inauguration, Donald Trump labelled January 20 Liberation Day. That was an apt description. Barely a week into the Trump 47 Administration, the transformation of America from the deceit and tyranny of the Biden Administration back toward sanity and normalcy has begun. The Biden fiasco is fading into the nations’s rear view mirror.
Democrats maintained control through fear of cancellation. The Left was able to stay in command by a reign of terror. The Wuhan plague, coupled with the fallout from the death of career criminal George Floyd in police custody, set the stage for complete domination by an overbearing, corrupt government. The Chinese plague and the Floyd riots of 2020 permitted the Biden cabal to brand any dissent as dangerous, unhealthy, and racist.
Add to this the campaign of lawfare perpetrated by the Biden Justice Department and the intelligence community, which permitted the government to suppress the truth and punish anyone who stepped out of line. Government agents, and a compliant media effectively stifled free speech. This combination permitted a runaway federal system to implement and enforce policies and notions conceived by perverted elites, which were diametrically opposed to the majority of public opinion.
The result was chaos. For a time, the government was able to lie with impunity, secure in the belief that the majority was powerless to resist. Joe Biden was an empty vessel at the helm of the ship of State. Although he was a senile robot, barely able to find his way on and off a stage, his handlers were able to stand before America and assure us that he was “sharp as a tack,” and fully equipped to lead.
In reality, the Emperor had no brains. It didn’t matter. And so they assured us the border was secure, and the economy was great. When unprecedented inflation stole the ability of Americans to provide for their families, they told us not to believe our lying eyes and bank statements, because inflation was going down.
They enlisted BLM and Antifa to do their bidding. The police were handcuffed, and Soros prosecutors permitted criminals to run rampant in our cities without fear of prosecution. Theft wasn’t a crime anymore. Anyone arrested was freed without bail. The FBI spent its time pursuing trespassers, grandmothers praying at abortion clinics, and parents at school board meetings. Illegal alien offenders were protected from immigration enforcement. And ICE was prohibited from enforcing immigration laws on the books.
When millions of illegal alien invaders were admitted into the country, to overwhelm our housing, educational and health care systems, they denied their existence, and branded as xenophobic racists anyone who dared to acknowledge the obvious damage being wrought.
They admitted some 450,000 foreign criminals, previously convicted of murder, sex crimes, and drug dealing. When these malefactors inevitably began to prey on American citizens by returning to the lawless behaviors they had indulged in in the shitholes from whence they came, the Democrats told us our safety concerns were merely perceived, and not real.
When Americans were raped, robbed, and killed by these invaders, the lies kept coming. Crime was really decreasing. What are you, racist? It was the old Jedi mind trick. “These are not the illegal aliens you are seeking.” Except, this was not a science fiction movie, and the government liars were far from Jedi Knights. The harm was very real.
Terror reigned on college campuses. Dissent was shouted down and punished. Terror reigned in the workplace. Employees were subjected to nonsensical DEI training, and were indoctrinated in the insulting concept of unconscious racism.
Democrat obsession with identity politics led them to institute policies designed to favor minuscule minorities that were the Leftist flavors of the month. They tried to indoctrinate grade school students with gender dysphoria fantasies that led to genital mutilations of children, Drag Queen story hours in elementary schools, and biological men invading women’s sports. They even turned our military from a fighting force into a DEI riddled rabble.
As the 2024 presidential election approached, Democrats were unconcerned. Despite having done absolutely everything they could do to disrupt American life, economic security, national security and culture, they were sure that they would prevail, and be able to set off on another four year term of ruin and debauchery.
One man stood in their way. Donald Trump. But Democrats believed they had that problem under control too. Recognizing that Trump was destined to be the 2024 Republican candidate, they set about to destroy him, financially and personally, with lawsuits and criminal indictments. They believed they either would have Trump in prison, or so completely discredited that he never could be reelected. They miscalculated.
Their Joe Biden presidential robot malfunctioned in the June debate fiasco. He had to be replaced by a younger, albeit equally ineffective Kamala Harris. Democrats spent nearly $2 billion to discredit Trump, to no avail. Harris proved to be less popular than the senile dolt she replaced. Then Trump survived two assassination attempts, and the rest is history.
Having staked everything on the “destroy Trump” campaign, Democrats were ill equipped to respond to his election. They couldn’t even muster the ability to challenge his election or ignite violent protests, as they had in 2017.
Mass deportations of dangerous illegal aliens are underway. Trump has fired many of the people who participated in the attempts to destroy him. Pete Hegseth is in at the Defense Department. Pam Bondi is in at Justice. DEI, the Green New Scam, and restrictions on oil and gas production have been abolished.
Best of all, an eerie calm has descended over a bruised and battered America. The fear of cancellation and persecution by government thugs has dissipated. The truth is even beginning to seep out of what was a lawless federal government. This week a CIA report, hidden by Biden and company for years, finally admitted what most of us already knew. The Wuhan plague came from the lab in Wuhan, China.
Trump has reinstated thousands of military members who were fired for refusing the Covid vaccines, with back pay. The auditors of DOGE are rooting out wasteful government spending, including a plan to pay $50 million to send condoms to Gaza. We have learned that government programs, some of them long expired, are still spending some $500 billion on we know not what. Trump even has ordered all federal workers back to the office by February.
Democrats are apoplectic. Lawsuits abound. But there is a sense that the Good Guys finally may be on the winning side. The tyrants have been routed. We found the man behind the curtain who’s been pulling the corrupt levers of power, and the bloated government gravy train finally may be pulling into the station.
The Leftist ability to punish truth tellers no longer exists. The scales are off our eyes, and fear has struck out. And best of all, Trump is just getting started.