The Way Forward in a Biden Presidency

For Conservatives, it is just about the time that we may need to concede that Joseph R. Biden may actually be our next president.  This is not to say that we need now to give up on the Trump team’s efforts.  However, time is running short and the pathways are very narrow to overturn the election results.  I will not be talking about the merits of the Trump effort here.  More to the point – I will be discussing Trumps achievements and how we can carry the Trump agenda forward into this uncertain time.  One thing is for sure, if Biden does get in office, we have four years to counter the ultra liberal agenda and then vote him out.  We must keep this paramount in our minds and not fall prey to distracting arguments.

The Trump Agenda Wins:

Trump has had many HUGE wins in his short time in office.  These wins do actually show the promise of a conservative agenda for America. Mainly, lowering taxes, cutting red tape, empowering business, bringing back jobs from overseas and wielding our diplomatic power effectively.  I will discuss some of the accomplishments here.

First, Trump’s tax policy has been a resounding success.  Lowering the corporate tax rate (pre COVID) had resulted in a massive surge of economic growth, job creation and most importantly, record employment and wage numbers for the middle class.

In 2019, pre COVID, Trump and team were well on their way to creating one of the best economies we have seen. Unemployment numbers were at record lows.

• Citing a Washington Post Piece from May 3, 2019 “The U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in April, notching a record 103 straight months of job gains and signaling the current economic expansion shows little sign of stalling. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, the lowest since 1969. The official unemployment rate has been at or below 4 percent for more than a year.”  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/03/us-economy-added-jobs-april-unemployment-fell-percent-lowest-since/)

In addition, through the course of the year, the major stock market indexes had risen to all-time highs.  Even more important for Black and Hispanic Americans, per a CNBC report from 10/4/2019: “The jobless rate for Hispanics hit a record low of 3.9% in September, while African Americans maintained its lowest rate ever, 5.5%.” (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/04/black-and-hispanic-unemployment-is-at-a-record-low.html) I need not tell you that these groups are/were a key part of the Biden victory, which goes to show politics make strange bedfellows.

Cutting The Red Tape: 

No one needs to look further than the success of Operation Warp Speed to show that the Trump team cut red tape to great effect during Trump’s tenure in office. To have a vaccine created, tested and rolled out by this time (COVID vaccinations are being given as I type this) was called disinformation by most of the mainstream press.  In an NBC news article on May 15, 2020 – this was the response to Trump touting a vaccine available before the end of the year: “…experts say that the development, testing and production of a vaccine for the public is still at least 12 to 18 months off, and that anything less would be a medical miracle.”   Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a medical miracle! – Thanks to Operation Warp Speed.  It’s too bad that Pfizer sat on their vaccine announcement until one day after the general election.

Empowering Business and Brining Back Jobs:

Along with the corporate tax cuts, there are several accomplishments that the Trump team made to make business easier and to bring back jobs. First and foremost would be getting out of NAFTA and crafting the USMCA, a much better deal for American businesses and workers.  (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/01/comparison-nafta-and-usmca-trade-agreements/1487163002/)

Second would be ridding ourselves of the Paris Climate Accord, which would have placed unnecessary burdens and restrictions on an already restricted economy. Interestingly enough, on the climate change front: “According to the US Energy Information Administration, US CO2 emissions in 2019 were the lowest they have been since 1992. Per capita emissions were lower in 2019 than they’ve been at any time since at least 1950.”  This comes from a June 10, 2020 article in climatechangenews.com – not exactly a right-wing outlet. (https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/10/06/us-emissions-four-years-president-trump/) Another big win for the Trump Administration.

Wielding our Diplomatic Power Appropriately:

Despite reports to the contrary, Trump has been very tough on countries seen as Rivals or Enemies, and very friendly with nations willing to go along with a US centric agenda.

• As per a 2019 report in foreignpolicy.com: “The first trend is an unprecedented level of aggressiveness. Data compiled by the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher shows that in 2018 the United States added nearly 1,500 people, companies, and entities to Treasury Department-managed sanctions, nearly 50 percent more than in the second-highest year on record—2017, also under Trump.” (https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/05/trump-sanctions-iran-venezuela-russia-north-korea-different-obamas/)

The article goes on to note that the better part of these sanctions have gone against Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela – countries that most would consider rivals and or enemies of the US in the geopolitical sphere.  This is not to say that all of the sanctions and in particular tariffs were a success.  However, this is a huge departure from the status quo, and showed the world that a Trump administration was serious about their America First agenda.

I would be absolutely remiss if I did not mention the historic Peace Accords that have been happening in the Middle East. Countless Presidents have given lip service to creating a lasting peace in that region. However, only the Trump administration has been able to get the ball rolling toward that direction.  Clearly, we are not there yet. But if the recent direction is followed, we may have done what many have thought impossible.  With the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and now Morocco normalizing relations with Israel, perhaps we have the first steps toward peace in the Middle East.

There are other examples of Trump wins – Getting out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, Criminal Justice Reform (First Step Act), nominating three conservative leaning Supreme Court Justices and so on.  Now, let’s talk about perhaps why he lost the election and how we can live with a Biden presidency.

Why Trump Lost and Biden Won:

This may be one man’s opinion, but Trump lost the election due to the following reasons:  The cult of “character”, the media, COVID & mail in ballots.  Let me explain each of those in a bit more detail.

Cult of Character – or the “Orange Man Bad” syndrome:

For better or for worse, President Trump is a love him or hate him figure. He speaks his mind and does not hold back. President Trump’s Twitter account is a great example.  This part of his personality has fueled his critics and the media to relentlessly crucify him in the public square.  Just as an example from the Boston Herald:

• “Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center found that from March 4 (when Joe Biden had basically wrapped up the Democratic nomination) through May 31, Trump coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts was 94% negative. In May, it was 99.5% negative, an all-time low.”

For people who don’t have an interest in looking for the truth of the matter or turning to alternate information sources, this incessant media coverage fueled a negative perception of Trump. This leads people to the point of people hating a man that they don’t know, and further refuse to get to know.  Indeed, I have many friends that have fallen into this trap.  It all boils down to this… in many people’s minds, anyone was better than Trump (that anyone was Joe Biden).  And many people did vote that way, despite the outstanding results of the administration I shared above.

COVID & Mail In Ballots:

If not for COVID-19, we would now be celebrating a landslide victory for President Trump for a second term. This is just the fact of the matter.  First, no matter what Trump did during the pandemic, he was due to lose on this alone.  Trump could have locked us all in our houses for the last year, and that would not have satisfied liberals or conservatives on this issue (and guess what, people still would have died).  COVID destroyed lives and jobs, tanked the economy and torpedoed Trump’s chances for re-election.

Trump still could have won, if not for the way our election was conducted this year. The fix was in from the beginning.  Whether it was governors and legislatures mandating mail in ballots be sent out to inaccurate voter rolls, counting ballots after the election – even ballots that were postmarked after the election, claims of voter fraud, illegal aliens voting in my home state of Nevada (https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/opinion-columns/victor-joecks/its-easy-to-vote-illegally-in-nevada/), amongst other things, the fix was in on this election.  No one can convince me that a candidate like Joe Biden received the most votes in Presidential election history through a fair process.

The Way Forward in a Biden Presidency:

• Georgia is now the key. We, as conservatives, must work towards retaining the Senate.  We made great strides in the House of Representatives and now must get the Senate into Republican control.  This makes the runoff races in Georgia paramount.  If the Dems can win both of those races, the Senate would fall to Democratic Control with Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote. In short, we need to make sure that we win at least one of the races in Georgia, to keep a good check on the Biden-Harris agenda.  If not, we have a long four years ahead.

• We must not experience another election like the one we just had in 2020. Wholesale mail in ballots must come to an end.  We need to strengthen the integrity of our elections!  This must be done.  If we continue down the path of mail in voting, no ID required, lax signature verification, loosey goosey election rules by state legislatures, then we deserve what we get.  We need in-person voting with voter ID and strong signature verification.  That is the gold standard for voting and would cut out most of the fraud that has been associated with this election.  We need to hold our state and local governments accountable to this standard.  Protecting our vote is crucially important and these rules will have a definite impact on future election races, one way or the other.

• We must not fall prey to losing arguments. Example is the latest faux controversy about Dr. Jill Biden’s title/honorific.  There was an op-ed put out in the Wall Street Journal about how Dr. Jill is not a Doctor and should not use that title…. And we as conservatives took the bait, ate it up and ran with it.  This whole story is a losing argument.  Sure, Dr. Jill Biden is not a medical doctor.  Sure, the AP style guidelines reserve the Dr. title for medical professionals.  These are facts.  However, the argument is unnecessary and is a loser.  We must get to know the other side.  This is an emotional argument, one that we will not win – not an argument based on principals, logic or fact.  The left specializes in being emotional, and will defend what they perceive as a slight vigorously.  We need to focus on facts, not emotions to be able to win the debate.

• Speak up and speak out. For far too long, we as mainstream conservatives (not the punditry) have been perhaps afraid to speak out due to what others may think.  The time for this is long gone.  Everyday conservatives need to make their voices heard – Now more than ever.  That does not mean putting down people on social media, that means speaking the truth, keeping your representatives accountable, and if they are not doing what you think is right, head to the ballot box and get someone in there who will represent us.

Above all else, remember, this too shall pass. 

We will have four years and then Mr. Biden will be judged against his record.  He has not done much in his 47 years in office, so why would we expect any different?  The key will be to win the Georgia races, gain seats again in the midterms to stymie the more progressive agenda items and then vote Biden out in 2024.  Until then, I’ll be speaking up and speaking out about matters of importance.