Tag: education funding

What a V.I.P. Pass Means: The refusal of the press to understand Trump supporters

I am always grateful when someone gives me a V.I.P. pass to some event, whether its political or some sporting endeavor—or the opening of some new restaurant. When I do something, I like to get up close and personal with it, but I do not have the time to wait in lines. I am not a line kind of person largely because it’s a time management issue. I have too much going on all the time to really spend too much time on one thing. So, When I get the opportunity to be a V.I.P. at an event I take it very seriously and am always very appreciative. Usually if it’s a political event, like the Trump events always are, if I go it’s because somebody thought enough of me that they offered me a V.I.P. experience. Such a way of attending allows a person like me the time to do what I do without making it into an entire day’s event. So it was in that context that I saw the fangs of the national media at the Trump rally in Lebanon in a way I wouldn’t otherwise have, and it was obvious.

Usually at these kinds of political rallies there is a general entrance and there is a V.I.P entrance that is usually near where the media enters. In fact, the last three or four times that I had been to a Trump event, the V.I.P. entrance was in the same place as the media entered. So it was only logical as we parked in Lebanon, Ohio and came to the entrance to the Trump rally that I notice the media sign-in table, so I asked them where the V.I.P. entrance was. The girl who answered me was about a year shy of 30 and was pretty smug. She repeated what I had said like some puppet and pointed at the long line that was about a quarter-mile long that everyone else was standing in waiting to get into the event. I paused on her face because I wasn’t sure if she was challenging me to a fight or was trying to be helpful. An older man who was standing next to her and was much more reasonable pointed around a chain link fence just to the other side of their position and told me that the V.I.P. table was there.

We stepped around the fence avoiding the long line and got to the table where some really sharp young ladies were doing the check ins, so I felt that whatever that was I encountered with that bizarre lady was over. Another thing I like about V.I.P. lines is that the security is usually less intrusive. They figure that you wouldn’t have a V.I.P. pass unless you knew someone important so they treat you differently, as not a potential terrorist posing as a Trump supporter, so security is usually much smoother, and in this case, it was. Not less stringent, but more respectful for sure. Once we were through I was immediately thankful for our passes. I had brought my daughter on this particular event because out of all my family, she hadn’t yet had a chance to see the president yet, so this was going to be a treat for her. Even though we had the passes we still showed up three hours early and it was a good thing that we did because the place was already stuffed with people. Under the big roof of the main stage the entire floor was packed and there wasn’t a seat to be found. It was astonishingly crowded.

But the event organizers were very nice when they saw we had the badges and they directed us to our seats in the bleachers just behind where the president would be speaking. I was thinking about what the media lady had said as we approached, it was obvious that she thought anybody coming to a Trump rally with a V.I.P. pass was pretentious and that it was violating some unwritten rule she lived by that was very much the way Democrats view the world. Nobody was more important than anybody else so how could someone coming to a Trump rally be more important? Well, as they showed me to our seats the bigger picture was obvious. I saw people there I knew from other events and the necessity for V.I.Ps was obvious. Trump could be assured that the people directly behind him knew what to do with the cameras on them, and they were all safe people who were good for security. Mostly the people sitting around us were all either big political players or major donors, so they were invested in the safety of the president, and we were part of the show. In my own way I give a lot more to the plight of the president than people who one or two times in their life wait all night to get a seat in the arena. We all do what we do and all those things were needed for this type of show. So I didn’t feel guilty about being taken to a nice seat while the people in the pit were stuck standing for up to six hours. And they didn’t seem to resent us, we all understood the larger context. Everyone was just happy to be there.

But as the media started doing zoom checks of the crowd from their position some of the organizers caught what was going on around the media area and discussions were brewing about the bright yellow badges that the people in the V.I.P area had around their necks. And the media was talking about it in a negative way. Apparently other media types were just as appalled by the signs of a V.I.P area as that girl was that I encountered. So the event staff came by and asked us to conceal our badges and to stay in our seats. The venue was too packed to get up and move around anyway. There was no way to really go use the restroom or to get some food so the only thing we could do is stay put. That is when it really became clear to me why the media hated Trump so much, he was making even political rallies cool again by breaking down norms the press had long accepted, basic rules of practice. V.I.P. passes certainly aren’t a new thing, and Democrats have those types of things at their events as well, but the media had in their minds that Trump supporters were still a subspecies of political activism and that Trump’s people couldn’t be that organized as to have a V.I.P. base to draw from. It is a denial of their own making, but it did have an impact on the way they covered the Trump events.

It was a fascinating observation and a new level of hatred that I hadn’t seen before, but the disdain was quite clear. Perhaps at other events the thoughts were that Trump would never make it to the presidency or that if he did, Democrats would knock him out of power. So there wasn’t much consideration about different status levels of Trump support from his base. But now everything was a little more real for them, the media was getting tired of covering Trump every night and having him berate them. But they had to go because their media bosses needed the ratings of covering Trump and they were becoming very resentful. And to make matters worse were the obvious evidence of Trump’s ground game, the financiers, the provocateurs, the political support that became the members of the V.I.P. section. The media had been wanting to think that we were all playing political house, and some people still refused to believe that what they were seeing was real. But it was quite real, and even more than that—it was better than what was going on with the other side. Wherever there are V.I.P. passes that are as valuable if not more so than a back-stage pass to a rock concert, there is value that justifies them. I appreciate that value immensely. But the media obviously had a hard time accepting the obvious. They weren’t the only ones with special access, or in the case of that rally, limited access. They were able to be in the press area, but they weren’t able to get to where we were and that seemed to bother them. And that is a very subtle sign of winning that doesn’t get talked about very much. But it is one of the biggest bits of evidence of these changing times and it makes me even more proud of that little souvenir that I will never forget. It meant more to me than just being able to get a decent seat. It was the evidence of some changing times that are getting better by the day. And I’m looking forward to those continuous improvements.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

After this, Sherrod Brown Must Step Down: Jim Renacci just destroyed him in an Ohio debate–it wasn’t even close

These statewide debates are always very polite, but in that context Jim Renacci’s first debate with the three-term senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown was a disaster for one of the most liberal members of the senate. You can see the whole debate below but if you just go to the end the summation will be quite clear, Sherrod Brown walked off the stage and left the building not even giving interviews after Jim Renacci tore him to pieces. Renacci was very well prepared and stayed on issue the entire time. It was quite clear that Jim Renacci knows how to win these kinds of tough elections, which is why President Trump personally picked him to run against Brown. But it was surprising just how much on his heels Brown was during the entire debate, except for one time when Renacci brought up the domestic abuse case that had been hanging around Sherrod Brown’s neck for over thirty years. At that point Brown turned to Renacci and indicated that he should be ashamed of himself for even bringing that up because his ex-wife had forgiven him long ago. But the effect of that line left a very uncomfortable stench in the air that Renacci had successfully exposed.

As a nation we had just watched Brett Kavanaugh have to explain his high school year books when a woman from way back then accused him of rape and it was Democrats themselves who indicated that Kavanaugh just for the accusation of such a monstrosity should be removed from consideration for Supreme Court. Yet Sherrod Brown had the audacity to look at Jim Renacci and say that his challenger should be ashamed of himself for considering specific factual evidence of domestic abuse coming from the Brown household. It really didn’t matter if the ex-wife forgave him, what did matter as established by Democrats is that it happened at all. In the Kavanaugh case it was his word against hers, in this case there is evidence and court documents. If Sherrod Brown had abused women 30 years ago, he was still prone to do so according to logic. So why wouldn’t Brown be knocked out of contention for the senate race in Ohio just by the modern definitions of the #METOO movement? That’s what we’ve all been told by Democrats is supposed to happen.

The reason Brown’s statement to Renacci about the domestic abuse had such an ominous appeal to it that left the room gasping for air because it put on full display a truth we all know, but don’t often see in the light of day. We know there is a double standard in the media between Democrats and Republicans and how the media applies rules of conduct for each. Obviously, the media leans heavily to the political left and they won’t jeopardize a liberal senate seat in Ohio, they are more than willing to give Brown a free pass. And they planned to help Sherrod Brown out with his #METOO problem. His ex-wife was certainly willing to help out but we have seen out of the political left intense hypocrisy applied to President Trump and many others over much less than what Sherrod Brown did. Even at the worst-case scenario if President Trump did have a fling with Stormy Daniels and some other women and it was all consensual, we were told that those events made him not fit for the presidency. But with Brown we were supposed to buy into his sincerity when he looked hurt that Renacci even brought it up. Up until that moment I hadn’t been thinking too much about Sherrod Brown’s domestic violence problems from the past, but by the way he looked at Renacci and expected a different set of rules, it was quite clear that there is a lot more to the story than the media was willing to adhere to.

On every topic Brown was on the back of his feet, it was clear that he didn’t come prepared for the debate. And when Renacci pushed Brown on the lack of work that Brown actually did for Ohio Brown gave a fine example of his behavior right after the debate when Renacci worked the press completely alone. Brown didn’t stay for any questions. Likely he didn’t feel he needed to with a big lead in the Real Clear Politics poll, but as we know, that’s not very reliable. More than that, I think Renacci hit him too hard on the domestic violence issue and it cause trouble at home, and Brown had to fix that rather than talk to the press. Whatever the situation, Renacci showed that he was a much more stable person, and a much harder worker interested in the job. Renacci won the night in both deed and action, it was a brilliant performance.

The choice between Brown and Renacci is very simple. Brown demonstrated that as a guy who had been in Washington for over 30 years that he still hasn’t a clue as to what makes an economy work. Workers don’t have any jobs if not for corporations, so by making big business an enemy, how can anybody expect to create jobs? I mean anybody with basic economic understanding knows that progressive talking points like “global warming,” “tax the rich.” and “being friends with Wall Street” are stupid and idealistic, not rooted in any kind of reality. If workers don’t have jobs because all the employers have been taxed to hell and back and pushed out of the United States, then what good are they? Even for a polished politician Sherrod Brown sounded like a kid in the 1st grade trying to explain economics, he didn’t seem to understand even the basics. But Renacci was an accountant by trade and he knows numbers. He made Brown look like a complete idiot in all economic discussions.

Yet the zinger of the evening was the domestic violence problem for Sherrod Brown. His own party has set the stage for his voluntary removal from office. They established the criteria he must live up to. It reminds me of the Bill O’Reilly situation when liberals were so happy that they used allegations of sexual misconduct to get the long time and popular newsman knocked off the air at Fox News. Then Democrats realized that they had people in their party doing much worse, like big time fundraiser Harvey Weinstein. After Democrat men started dropping like flies the #METOO movement cooled off a lot. Conservatives live pretty good lives, they can throw rocks in glass houses a lot better than Democrats and liberals had to realize that they had opened a can of worms they couldn’t endure themselves. But they reopened that can with the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and now one of their precious senators in Sherrod Brown was guilty of much, much worse—and the facts were there to prove it. That leaves Democrats with no choice really, one way or another they are going to lose that liberal Ohio senate seat because under the modern terms of #METOO, Sherrod Brown must step down. He is not fit to serve—otherwise liberals can never use such an allegation ever again. Just think if Donald Trump looked at his accusers and said what Brown did, that they should be ashamed of themselves for even bringing up something from his past for political reasons? Liberals can’t have it both ways, and Renacci hit the center of the issue during the debate because he dared to ask the question—a question that Democrats cannot answer without giving everything else up. Is one seat worth all that to them? I don’t think so.

If Renacci pushes this issue Democrats will have to abandon Brown, and that little revelation is what emerged from that first debate in Ohio between Renacci and Brown. Brown is vulnerable emotionally on the issue and that sets the stage for a very interesting upcoming three weeks.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

The Trump Strategy: Changing the way politics is conducted forever

It was different this last time, when President Trump visited the Warren County Fairgrounds to deliver a speech in favor of several GOP candidates that were on the ballot for November 2018’s midterms. I’ve seen Trump in person a few times since he had been elected president in 2016 but this campaign rally at the very unusual building on the fairgrounds site provided an almost cinematic appeal as if some Hollywood production designer had brought all these strange elements together for the benefit of the story than just happenstance. It was a Friday night in the historic town of Lebanon, Ohio and it was lightly raining, with a snow mix falling with the raindrops and President Trump was stoking the minds of thousands of people who had packed into every available spot to listen to him give essentially the same speech over and over again. But nobody cared, they were happy to be there and didn’t seem to ever want the event to end. For this particular venue I had a really fantastic seat, one just outside the television cameras and on a high perch so I could see everything that was going on. I could even see the president arrive and leave from behind the show’s façade and for me it was perfect because it facilitated my high thoughts on the matter with great conductivity.

In the short run the threat was real, Republican voters needed to hit the voting booths and support the candidates that Trump was speaking for. But from my perspective a lot had changed since the last rally I attended at U.S. Bank Arena in October of 2016 and this one in Lebanon in October of 2018. For the first time in my lifetime Republicans had a good, positive brand and they had a President who could sell it. Trump has actually changed the way campaigns work—he has changed the rules of the game itself into something that Democrats will not be able to follow. They don’t have the energy or the message leaving Trump in command of the political process for what will turn out to be the first half of the 21st Century.

I think it’s quite amazing that Donald Trump is willing to attend so many rallies across the country in order to build a team that he can work with in 2019 on the legislative side. He’s almost acting like a college coach recruiting star athletes for a football team. The tireless work he has been willing to put into the effort is truly stunning for anybody. And that effort showed in the event organization and even the crowd. There was a lot to complain about. During the speech some people actually passed out and needed medical help. But the show went on as the medical staff gathered up the sick and took them away to be cared for. And nobody complained. The Secret Service didn’t overact. The crowd wasn’t overly dramatic, and Trump never even paused. The show just went on and everyone was focused on the success of the evening.

There is no way for the two sides of politics, the liberal view and the conservative view to work out differences between each other for a sustainable republic. The two sides are not equal, they do not have shared values to build a foundation of friendship from. In the Republican Party that has been the problem from the beginning, if there were any compromises that had to be made it was always from the Republicans because they were always the only side functioning from value to barter with. Liberals were all for the abandonment of values, so they never gave anything up and that left Republican supporters always feeling shortchanged. But now there some wins under Trump’s belt and there was more to this rally because the foundations of success were there to talk about, as opposed to just a bunch of theories from two years prior. Now there was a track record and the obvious view of many more things that could be accomplished. And the Democrats had nothing to offer but complaints and emotional desires to be considered equally important. Trump’s Republican Party was willing to stick its head up out of the ground and to actually emerge into the light of day unafraid and be pace setters and that is something you don’t see every day.

Yet the show itself was very slick, the volunteers were enthusiastic and the base of support was willing to do their part and show up at each of these rallies a whole day before just to get a good place in line. While people waited volunteers handed out swag to the audience all of it well-managed and constructed. The sheer logistics to pull off one of these shows by the support staff is quite staggering. What was involved for just the Lebanon event was enough to impress, but the very next night Trump was in Richmond, Kentucky doing nearly the same thing with a lightly modified speech. Trump had done several rallies during that week in different parts of the country all of them just as complex and with similar people willing to brave the elements and waiting times to attend. In the case of Lebanon, I noticed later that the local media markets were very happy with the Trump visit, they gave him great coverage for at least two days before and after. Trump’s changes to campaigning gave local media the two things they always wanted, so the coverage turned out to be fair and positive. First were the traffic shutdowns, the news loves to talk about traffic jams and the President’s motorcade shut down traffic during rush hour all the way from downtown Cincinnati to Lebanon, Ohio over 30 miles to the north. Then the second things were the feel-good stories about how the positive rallies made people feel to be near a sitting president. I could see a brilliance in Trump’s strategy that was always there for anybody to attempt, but now Trump has made it a Republican method.

And that brought the whole thing to a kind of grand fortissimo, the difference between Republicans and Democrats fundamentally. Democrats were essentially seeking to ride the Vico cycle into the future, the endless cycle of human endeavor going from theocracy, to aristocracy, to democracy then to anarchy only to return over and over again to the beginning. Republicans however are the opposite, they are about human pro-growth and continued expansion into the future. Democrats are the hippies of Woodstock while the Republicans are the scientists trying to expand mankind’s reach to the moon. The vision from each party is not conducive and are at odds with each other and a choice has to be made. We can’t have it both ways. For me personally, I’ve always been a pro-growth guy. It makes me very sad to think that all the work we’ve done through art, literature and engineering would be tossed away only to dig at the ground like a pathetic primitive and not understand the complexities of the universe. But until Trump, Republicans didn’t know how to sell a pro-growth agenda, so the plight of the primitives dominated politics leaving Republicans to chase after. But now those roles have been reversed and it looks like a great opportunity is unfolding in front of us, and at the center of it is the remarkable Manhattan builder himself who has a pro-growth message that people can finally relate to. And the effect is obvious, and lasting. It’s a very exciting time indeed.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

What Makes President Trump So Special: A magic night in Lebanon, Ohio

There were some deeply touching moments in the Trump rally in Lebanon, Ohio which I partially expected. But we’re talking about a sitting president stumping for some midterm candidates here, politics is not supposed to be this exciting and people normally don’t show up five, six and seven hours early to stand in the cold and in the rain to watch a 72-year-old man talk. This is a human phenomenon that is unsurpassed in the history of the world, I don’t even think the great Winston Churchill could have brought out the crowd that greeted President Trump at the Warren County Fair Grounds on Friday October 12, 2018. I was just a little stunned by the event. I had a feeling that there would be a large crowd, but the sheer magnitude of it was just jaw dropping. There was a collision of Americana present that was obvious and inspiring and I thought John London from Channel 5 News in Cincinnati put his finger on it perfectly in his summation of the night.

There is a lot to unpack from this event and it will certainly take more than one article to cover it all but for the sake of brevity here I have to thank the people who gave my daughter and I the opportunity to witness this spectacle from the comfort of the V.I.P. section. Yes it was freezing cold and we got rained on and we did stand most of the time. But at least we had a seat and a good vantage point to watch this unusual moment in history.

I always feel sorry for people who don’t have that kind of access to these big Trump events, but as I looked at people’s faces on the floor, many who had been standing under the roof for more than four hours—before President Trump even arrived—they were happy people just willing to be near the star of the show if even for a moment. People were packed everywhere that people could put themselves for as far as the eye could see and it was quite something to witness. It was inspiring to say the least. If these people were willing to show up in the cold and rain of an October in Ohio, they would surely show up to vote for Republicans Trump endorsed in the upcoming election.

This was my oldest daughter’s first time to go to one of these events with me and she was very touched by it. She is a professional photographer and shares with me a tendency to like to view the world through big picture vantage points. The event organizers couldn’t have put us in a better spot for that particular venue, we had the top row of the bleachers just behind the president. I’ve watched President Trump speak many times so it was good to be behind him because my interest was mostly the crowd. The media never does justice to what the crowds look like from Trump’s point of view and we were fortunate to see the whole thing more from the president’s perspective even watching the motorcade role in to drop him off, and turn around all the vehicles to take him back to Lunken afterwards. President Trump does many very subtle things that only a polished pro like him can do on such large operations with many moving parts coming together seamlessly. He is super smart, from where I was standing I could see him staging up his entry onto the stage to match perfectly the various cable news top of the hour broadcasts, and he ended everything right on time like such a seasoned performer. But he’s of course juggling much more than that just in the complexities of his job. Yet while Steve Chabot was talking the President could get a sense that the crowd was drifting. People not under the roof of that magnificent structure on the fairgrounds were getting soaked, including my daughter and I. People next to us were starting to head for the exit. Trump was watching and he ever so subtly tapped Steve in the middle of the back to change things up a bit. Chabot took the cue and sped up his speech and Trump seamlessly changed gears and held the audience to his next twenty minutes of oration. Most people might not even see the value in such a thing, but that is one of the very raw distinctions that Trump has over everyone else in the world. He is literally a master communicator and he knows exactly what he is doing all the time. I continue to be impressed by President Trump every time I see him live, I don’t think I’d ever get sick of it.

After the event was over and people headed out to the parking lot, which used to be the old horse racing track that was moved to Miami Valley gaming several miles to the west my daughter and I lingered around watching the press. I literally stood next to an AP writer and watched her write the news feed of the event, which she mostly got all wrong. But she was shivering and tapping her feet viciously trying to stay warm. For people who haven’t been to these types of things before the media are always given a spot near the back of a rally to photograph from, and behind that raised camera platform is usually rows of tables so that writers can get their stories out. Mostly these reporters are like anybody else, they just want to get their jobs done and get home. Once the Trump supporters had left for their cars the reporters could relax a bit and get their stories out to their employers to meet their deadlines. Most of those reporters didn’t go to the trouble that John London did at Channel 5. They see hundreds of these types of rallies so there is no magic in them that they can see, they only care about the surface stuff. But one thing that everyone missed from a reporter’s standpoint that was very clear to me was how Trump handled the weather.

Remember when Obama had to have a military official hold an umbrella over him while he gave a speech in the Rose Garden? Well in these times of high insurance rates and overly cautious appraisals of everything I didn’t think Trump’s people would let him take the stage because it had been raining so long. The stage was soaked. Part of the stage entry was raised and ran outside of the roof that most of the rally was under, so it was exposed to the weather. Rain had clearly soaked it after many hours. But Trump did the right thing when he arrived. Some of his security wiped off the platform with towels and Trump walked out across it without any concern for his safety which these days was highly unusual. Lesser people would have called the whole thing off, but not this president.

Trump shows up to talk to his supporters under any condition, and that is part of his appeal. But when he left the rain had been coming down even harder. The safe thing would have been for Trump to take the steps down into the pit and stay under the roof, but no, he went back out the way he came in and the ramp wasn’t dried off at all. Trump walked across it like a seasoned pro not even worrying about slipping and falling. Trump isn’t afraid of little things like that and that is part of what distinguishes him from everyone else. It’s a subtle little thing, but those add up and they make Trump and all those he endorses that much more appealing.

Trump has made the Republican Party much, much better. I’ve always identified myself as a Republican, but I have never been prouder to be affiliated with it. Trump is a superstar, he was before he ever ran for president, yet he’s not so pretentious that he’s afraid of rain, or hard work. And nobody works harder than President Trump.

These rallies may cost a fortune to put on, and may be traffic nightmares, but one thing that comes out of them is that Trump talks directly to people who support him. He doesn’t hide out in the White House enjoying the luxury of the office. He works, and he works hard—and he’s willing to endure the cold and the rain if his supporters are. And that is what makes Donald J. Trump special, and why the Republican Party has a new life because of him. The Democrats don’t have anybody even close and they likely never will.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

The Power Behind the Trump Name: Democrats are in real trouble

Just for perspective when news coverage of something like President Trump’s visit to Lebanon, Ohio occurs network news always feels they have to cover equally the Democratic response. I suppose they think it avoids the optics of appearing to lean to one side instead of the other. But with something like Trump coming to a Northern Cincinnati suburb of great historic value, so many people showed up that it essentially shut down the city as people poured into the fairgrounds of Warren County just a few miles north of the famous Golden Lamb profusely. In fact dear reader, as you are reading this, I am at that event and as far as you can see its Trump Republicans who have swarmed in from all over the countryside. Yet the news coverage of this massive rally featured a kind of Democrat response, a rally of their own called “We Deserve Better” which had about four people and a cat show up. I didn’t think there were any Democrats in Warren County, but a few showed up, and their rally looked pretty pathetic in comparison. Not even on the same level of politics which I thought said a lot about the reality of the upcoming midterms.

As I’ve said from the beginning of this latest political season, it’s going to come down to voter turnout of course. Democrats are energized, but honestly, I think we are seeing what’s left of their party on the news every night. They are fluffing themselves up to look relevant, but in all actuality, they aren’t. Just as the Channel 9 people in Cincinnati felt they had to cover the Democrat response to the Republican rally–truthfully there aren’t enough people in the Cincinnati market who even care anymore to justify the airtime. That is why Trump is able to draw these huge crowds who are more than a little enthusiastic to show up on a chilly October night in Ohio to watch a president two years into office give a stump speech for fellow Republicans. There isn’t anybody like that in the Democrat Party now or in the foreseeable future and that has further coalesced Republicans around Trump. I think it’s quite clear that the amount of people who showed up to see Trump exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, the Democrats were trying to fluff up their feathers to appear as an equal party offering alternatives to the Republican proposals, but people know now what they are really about, it’s socialism and now that they cat is out of the bag, most Americans just aren’t comfortable supporting such a concept on American soil. And it shows with the support of the Democratic Party.

Yes, you can tell a lot about enthusiasm from the population by the size of their rallies. For instance, when I wrote about this very topic two years ago as Trump was looking to be knocked out of the presidential race by the Access Hollywood tapes I was at the rally at U.S. Bank Arena which filled up to the luxury boxes. Hillary had come the week before and had a hard time filling up the little space just a few blocs down the road in downtown Cincinnati between the Ohio River and the Banks development. There is a little park there and Hillary gave a speech and they had to push everyone in tight to make the crowd look bigger on television. I could see then that nobody cared about the Access Hollywood tapes. Trump was different and he was re-writing the rules of politics, rules that the Democrats had controlled for nearly 100 years. Trump had changed them all for the better in just a few months on the campaign trail as president.

I’d like to say that you can believe polls, but here’s the problem with them, pollsters have to call many thousands of people in order to get a statistical sampling of a few hundred, because most people they call don’t want to participate. Of that percentage it is well-known that Republicans don’t answer their phone whereas Democrats are more prone to do so. Democrats are very social creatures, that’s why they lean toward collectivism and political socialism. Conservatives are self-reliant and are often busy with something productive, so they don’t take calls from phone numbers they don’t recognize. Pollsters under pressure to get constant results to the networks that buy them have to produce the results they can get rather than wait for a proper number of Republicans to answer the phone, and that’s how all these polls get screwed up. I don’t think most of the races around the country are as close as they try to make them sound. Networks do with all the races just as they did with the Trump rally, they try to make Democrats look like a viable competitor. But in all actuality the Democrats aren’t even a blip on the map.

I continue to be impressed with Donald Trump, he knows his stuff and nobody outworks him, that’s for sure. This past week he did a rally almost every day and on Thursday before this event in Lebanon he had Kenya West at the White House which really gave some positive media coverage.  It is good marketing to show access to this president, and it was very smart of event organizers to have the wherewithal to string these events together in this way. But Trump gets the credit for having the stamina to pull it all off. The guy just never stops working and it shows. The desperation that the Democrats are now showing is that they don’t have a way to match that energy and they are getting frustrated.

Granted the Lebanon Trump rally is in very conservative country, I’m not sure there are any Democrats who live in the surrounding area. But Trump has shown time and time again that he can pull the same kind of numbers in inner cities and in places where Democrats are running things. In this case, Trump was stumping for so many politicians it made sense to have a rally in the middle of all their districts to accommodate everyone. But to even make a decision like that you have to have the power behind the name to most utilize the President’s presence. Lebanon was a perfect place to have a rally, and it’s a good thing too, because they needed the room for all the people who showed up. Seeing the crowd up close and the energy that was coming from them it is very obvious that things aren’t nearly as close as the media would like to make things appear. That doesn’t mean that Republicans can afford to stay home on election night, but that if they show up Democrats won’t be winning anything. They are a tired party selling an old message of socialism that isn’t very exciting and they are getting torched politically by Donald J. Trump. Even with everything Trump has been through over the last couple of years, he has endured the worst of it and the storm clouds are finally starting to break and his supporters are still there, which was quite obvious in Lebanon, Ohio on October 12, 2018. It looks to me after this next election that Democrats won’t be looking for a president to run against Trump. They will be looking for candidates just to run for local positions, and they won’t be able to find them, because the party itself is about to become extinct. The media won’t say that because they want the ratings of a perceived race between them and Republicans. But I’ll say it.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

Eric Holder and Michael Avenatti want to Fight: I say, great–just tell me when and where, sounds fun!

So Michael Avenatti wants to fight does he? He has challenged Donald Trump Jr. to an MMA match of three rounds in the octagon. If Trump doesn’t want to do it, I’d be happy to take his place. It would be really fun to smash Avenatti’s face into a bleeding husk of disorganized flesh. Anytime Michael, anytime you New York softy. And Eric Holder is talking tough too, he said that when we “Republicans” go low, that they “Democrats” will kick us. Sounds like a threat to me. Hey, it’s not Republicans who are shooting up baseball games, or blocking off roads in protest, or are scratching at the doors to the Supreme Court throwing fits like a baby because they didn’t get what they wanted. Basically, all I have to say to these advocates of violence is that they don’t want to go there. There is nothing to be afraid of from some stringy haired leftist. If the political left thinks they are going to win anything with violence, they have already lost everything. I can say that I’m not going to put up with it. If one of these losers gets in my face, that will be the end of them. Generally, Republicans have been good about not provoking violence, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. Republicans still believe in the rule of law, so they leave those kinds of acts to the authorities. But if you take away that option, I wouldn’t put any bets on Democrats to be the more aggressive. If they want to fight, I personally would welcome that approach. I’d much rather fight than talk.  They are incorrect when they say the way to earn Republican respect is to get “tough.”  From my perspective, it just pisses me off, and if they think that challenging conservatives to a fight is smart, they need a forceful education it would seem.

Violence and the threat of it is one of the most primal emotions for human beings and it is the way that collectivist-oriented people mean to enforce their solidarity. Without the threat of violence, the political left really has nothing to negotiate with. It’s interesting that they have now revealed these strategies openly. But they were always there, violence and bullying is what Democrats have always done to advance their cause. Without their ability to evoke fear in people, they have no way to get people to accept their goofy philosophies. However, that doesn’t work so well in real life. Its one thing to talk tough within your own circles of influence, it’s quite another to challenge people who are actually tough and are not inclined to being pushed around.

As a Republican I’m a bit old fashion, if someone hits me in the face or insults me in some way, I have no problem dishing it back out to them. I don’t go around looking for fights, but if someone brings one to me, I do enjoy fighting. I don’t think Avenatti, Eric Holder or Hillary Clinton understand what the real people who make up the flyover states are all about. Empty threats lose their luster really fast. It’s one thing to threaten violence to a bunch of millennial latte sippers at Starbucks, it’s quite another to step up to a shooting range in Ohio and start rattling off their mouths. This is essentially why Democrats are for gun control, they understand that for their way of governing to work, people can’t have the ability to defend themselves. But in my own case, I would never turn to the gun first with those people. Fists and stamina would be all that would be required.

The best thing when it comes to conflict is to be able to have discussions, and to be able to articulate your position. You should never have to turn to violence, because if you do, you have already started to lose. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy fighting. Personally, I love fighting. I have some conflict with someone somewhere every few weeks. These days they don’t end up being physical altercations where fists are thrown. When I was younger and untested that kind of thing happened a lot more, but these days the fights are usually verbal, and they get intense—and nobody beats me. I have what many would call a “vicious” temper. And I don’t stop once I get going. Some punk like Michael Avenatti wouldn’t stand a chance. The loser Eric Holder wouldn’t even break a sweat. I could turn him into a screaming girl within a minute. If these people want a fight, I would love to give it to them. We aren’t the ones asking for it, but we sure as hell can finish it.

I think such a system of settling issues is good, there are worse things in life than fighting. By not fighting it allows wimpy people like Avenatti and Holder to believe themselves to be tough, because nobody calls their bluff. But one way to have a more honest society is to be able to distinguish between illusion and reality. When someone challenges you to a fight, there is almost a moral responsibility to call them out on it in the name of honesty, otherwise the aggressor is allowed to advocate a falsehood of threatening content for the aims of evil. We aren’t so civilized in life that we have outgrown the need for fighting. These people in the Democratic Party are the mainstream and they are calling for fights, so we have an obligation to set the record straight. Eric Holder won’t be kicking me let me make that clear, nor will anybody else. It will never happen.

I’ve managed most of my life to live with a good, moral disposition. Sometimes challenges come along, and you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes fights are fast, sometimes they last decades, but it is always my focus to win every one of them. There is nothing wrong with having a never surrender attitude, it can help in all aspects of life. But when challenged like these leftist insurgents are prone to do these days, we have to let them know that such threats are not permissible. It doesn’t matter obviously to them that physical threats of violence toward others is illegal. So is drug possession, and many other things that liberals do. But they truly believe that the rules do not apply to them and that they can run around our streets harassing good people with threats of violence. Protestors do not have a right to shut down roadways, they put themselves at risk of being run over. They do not have a right to punch Trump supporters in the back of the head without being destroyed in retaliation. If they aren’t going to live by the laws of our land, then why should we?

There is no higher path–taking the “high” road when it comes to conflict–it is not the best option. What is, is to crush your enemies with verbal and or physical violence. It is best to avoid such circumstances, but if the former attorney general of the United States wants to evoke violence, then he can deal with the mess. But compliance is not an option. Yielding to a bully isn’t either. Threats against us cannot go uncontested and speaking for myself, I really do hope one of these losers tries their aggression with me. It would be fun to deal with it—kind of a free pass legally to decimate them completely, because they started it. So I say to them, bring it on.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

The Most Beautiful Woman in Africa: Setting the bar high for those too lazy to reach for it

In any other year in any other administration Melania Trump’s trip to Africa climaxing at the pyramids of Egypt would have been a world stopping event of high praise and elegance. Just the pageantry of one of the world’s most beautiful women going on safari in Kenya or standing boldly in front of the Great Sphinx would have filled every magazine cover in the fashion industry with her grace. And as physically stunning in her beauty as Melania is she’s smart and gracious as well representing America in the best way possible in every category. There isn’t much to criticize about her, and there is a whole lot to like. But back home with the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, and an unemployment number that was historic all on its own, her husband’s big news overshadowed what was one of the most spectacular trips a First Lady ever conducted in America to foreign soil and it’s a shame that most people missed it. But astonishingly the attention Melania did get was roundly negative because some of the outfits she chose to wear were just too good for average people in the media to withstand.

What’s important about the reaction that most reporters, and liberal internet trolls had about Melania’s visit to some of Africa’s great places was that it revealed the essential hate that has fueled the Democratic Party for years. Part of that hate you can find in any junior high school when the first girl of a sixth or seventh grade class starts showing breast development or other signs of a blooming flower that will start to attract he attention of boys. Personally speaking, I’ve always felt that wearing hats were stylish and were respectful to the society for which you represented, and I’ve done it all my life. I used to wear a cowboy hat everywhere when I was in grade school from fifth grade all the way up to and past my graduation and people would say the meanest things. The more they did it, the more I wore the hats and more often. Essentially anytime individuals show themselves to be apart from the herd either through personal beauty or chosen attire, the mob mentality that is part of our animal makeup wants to beat it down into submission to let everyone know that standing out is not a desired trait.

The hatred that comes from people toward those of exception and independence comes from not wanting any individual to raise a bar that others might feel the pressure to live up to. The true meaning behind the name calling and social banter is to make those exceptional people feel the pressure to come back down to earth with the rest of the world and not to raise the level of performance expectation too high. You can actually see this behavior at work in just about every industry on planet earth. Average performance will get you a seat at the table with the cool people. Society calls people cool who are the pace setters for everyone else, and all people are supposed to stay under the bars that they set. Today the “cool people” are marijuana smoking hip hop artists like Snoop Dogg or tattooed freaks and body pierced losers like those seen in typical pop music bands. The not so subtle message to their followers is to revert toward tribalism and collective unity through shared pain and personal mutilation. From the cool people of establishment society these days it is good to mutilate your individual bodies and to seek redemption in collective associations. Melania’s message to the world while touring Africa was the opposite, and that is what set the criticism of her afire.

In America many in the media and in entertainment industries have tried to lower the outward image of the average American into something that low intelligence, lottery buying, gambling addicts would feel comfortable with. Forget about Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, instead show the world Jack Black farting on stage. People have an easier time living up to the low standard as opposed to aspiring to the high one so over time the expectation has drifted into recess with the losers of the world becoming the cool people—and the cool people are always the trend setters. Only Melania Trump was one of those trend setters who built a career well before she met Donald Trump as a top fashion model in the industry selling images which people were fine with so long as it stayed in the realm of sex. But now that she is a First Lady with policy influence, it was a real threat to the status quo to have her running around Africa looking like she strolled off the pages of GQ inspiring people to greatness. But for Melania she was promoting her “Be Best” campaign and how best to achieve that but by looking and acting exceptional.

The hatred from the left essentially comes from any reference to exceptionalism where people are expected to behave at a level of excellence. After all the political left has attempted to remove all examples of goodness from our society by stripping away any level of expectation. The result is what we are now seeing among millennials who are suddenly mystified why people don’t just love them because they stepped into a room. Liberals did everything they could to push fathers out of the home and to marry the mothers of children who suddenly looked to government as the home care provider. A scheme that was more than just a little obvious, because instead of loving a father the children would grow up loving government and would keep politicians in power who were all to happy to be that parental role in their lives all their lives.

But Melania broke more than a few rules when she dressed to match her enthusiasm for a unique country and all its ancient mysteries instead of being sensitive to the lazy and lackluster with less than a sensational presentation of herself. She was supposed to be sensitive to the needs of the weak and those not as gifted physically as she was. She was expected to cut her hair short and to put on a few pounds to make average people not feel inferior. She was expected to stuff her breasts up tight against her body and not wear pants that showed the curves of her fuselage. Most of left leaning people wanted to see a Mrs. Potato head, not a fashion model working from the White House. These kinds of trips were supposed to be reserved to people like Taylor Swift and Angelina Jolie from the Hollywood crowd, not a sitting First Lady. How could anybody in the future ever compete with Melania Trump?

Yet that was the point of the trip, the “Be Best” tour of Africa, to inspire the world to be better. And Melania did that. In retaliation the media reluctantly covered the trip with a kind of stubbornness that a child refusing to eat might display. But nobody could say she didn’t represent America well. From the perspective of liberals, she did too good. Yet that’s exactly what we want from a representative to the White House that we elected to conduct our business. We want the people of Africa to be successful and to be inspired. If they want to learn from our economic system, we are happy to teach them. But Melania didn’t go there to put on a tribal headdress and bow to some tribal king who still thinks the moon is going to help his crops grow. She went there to show them that prosperity was there for all to partake in and if they wanted to look like her and act like her then America could show them the way. Pandering to the cultures of the past is fine but humans should never limit themselves to such restrictions. And Melania Trump showed the world that the way to escape those limits is to “be Best” and that all starts by the way we conduct ourselves in public. And in that regard Melania Trump was “The Best” and most beautiful that Africa had ever seen. True, beauty is only skin deep, but what Melania showed was even deeper than that. She was the whole package and she represented America wonderfully.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

This is What Winning Looks Like: Now we need more of it on Election Day

What an astonishing display that was. When it was clear that the senate had the votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the way that the political left acted really all during the hearings, but especially right after was astonishing. That is what a minority that has been fluffing their feathers like a peacock to appear much larger looks like when their bluff is called. I would advise all Republicans in the future to do what Judge Kavanaugh had to do in those hearing, and that was to get a little mad and nasty, because it is the only language the other side understands, which is why they keep saying that he shouldn’t have done it. “Judicial temperament” my ass, they want a punching bag in Republicans that they can easily beat, which is what they have had all this time.

It allowed them as a minority party to appear to be an equal contender. But God bless Donald J. Trump for calling them out on it and for bringing to politics an honesty that has never been there before. If not for Donald J. Trump leading the charge in support for Brett Kavanaugh, we still wouldn’t have a judge on the Supreme Court. When the political left, or anybody for that matter, tries to convince us that Brett Kavanaugh should have sat there and taken the unsanctioned role that was trying to be placed upon him—that he was a sexual predator—what you are hearing are villains attempting a hostile take over of our country and their screams of anguish once they have failed.

I would point out several revelations that were made over the last month by Democrats, which I have been saying and the evidence is just now catching up—they are losing as a party. They are on the verge of complete collapse. It’s not enough to say that they are morally and financially bankrupt, they are losing their support everywhere. They have no ideas, they have no smart candidates, and they have no appeal. All they have are these protests where they threaten violence if nobody listens to them, or in cornering senators in elevators in an attempt to push them with force into an altered way of thinking. Talk about bullies, the Democrats are everything the proclaim to protect us from. They are the ultimate mob boss that charges you for protection—protection from them. But when people stop fearing them they have no way to understand what to do because everything about them is in their ability to control the message by threatening fear to impose their will, and that just isn’t how our “republic” was designed to function.

Essentially what we are seeing are a bunch of uneducated people in Democrats who think that America is a democracy ruled by majorities of protestors as opposed to the reason of representatives who vote on behalf of their constituents. That’s why they attacked Susan Collins in the hallway and into the elevator, to terrify her by force into voting in ways that her constituents back home would find repulsive. Then when it didn’t work they threw a fit like a bunch of spoiled brat kids. This behavior to Democrats is how policy is made, it is how they think a country should be run, and it has never been exposed in a rawer way than during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

I think I said it on a radio show before Donald Trump was elected that the Democratic Party was on their last leg, which sounded outrageous in 2016 as Trump was climbing toward the Republican nomination. But his way of attacking them whenever attacked has worked, and it has led the Republican Party to a place now that it has never been since before Teddy Roosevelt was in office at the turn of the last century. Most Americans are conservative leaning people but they let Democrats protest and insult their way into power, but that power was always on wet paper and could easily be destroyed. But it took a personality like Donald Trump to finally win the White House and show other Republicans how to conduct themselves defensively. Brett Kavanaugh is very much a product of the Trump era, nobody in their right mind would expect him to sit there and take what the Democrats were giving him. If he did take it then he would have sanctioned an evil that the Democrats were trying to place on him, that he was a sexual predator. Yet Democrats have been the party of sexual predators. This same trick they have tried to apply to conservatives, that they are racists, or that they have some relationship to Hitler—when all along it was they who were both. For so many years conservatives have been lulled into believing they should turn the other cheek and that was when Democrats just cut off their heads, metaphorically speaking. And that blood sport has fueled funding and election wins for Democrats because it appeared to be a winning strategy.

But nobody has won like Trump has, with everything they have thrown at him the economy is doing very well, unemployment is at a record low, there is nothing to the multiple investigations into his life that anybody has been able to exploit and even after sticking his name next to Brett Kavanaugh during the worst of the hearings Trump’s approval rating shot up to 51%. In every conceivable way the Democrats and liberalism in general has failed miserably. So yeah, it felt very good to see Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was one of the most exciting days that I’ve ever watched in politics. It was wildly fulfilling, in similar ways that it felt good to watch Trump win the presidency on that famous night.

But I’d say dear reader that the upcoming election has the potential to feel even better. Imagine the day after the election where Democrats had to look down the long barrel of future history and see that they had no place in it. When it would be obvious to everyone that they didn’t even have a role in American politics because what they stood for were not ideas that are conducive to Americans? Democrats are moving as they have for a long time, toward socialism and outright Chinese communism. That was their plan from the beginning and what they wanted in America, even up until yesterday before the vote of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was a 1949 revolution like what happened in China. Only to have that they would have to shame Republicans into the corners of their offices hiding from the world as they were called all types of nasty names such as “Nazis” or “sexual predators” and that white males were supposed to shut up and get out-of-the-way of women who were going to take over all politics and businesses because someone looked at their boobies.

https://twitter.com/overmanwarrior/status/1048755730461937664

As conservatives we were supposed to accept this bizarre reality and sanction their power grab through guilt that was not our own. Yet we held together and Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court anyway, just as Trump has held strong and continued to get wins for America that would not be possible by any other kind of president. Yes, this is what it looks like to be winning. But it’s not over yet, Republicans must vote on election day and show up in force to speak their mind. It’s about time that Democrats realize that they can’t scream and shame their way into power. They have to win elections the right way, and that is what is getting ready to really hit them in the face. But it’s up to us to make that happen and to have the resolve to put the dagger through their hearts. It’s time.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

Another Great Jobs Report: The horse race of economics doesn’t tell the whole story

It was another good jobs report, 134,000 jobs were created in the month of September with the unemployment rate trickling down to 3.7 percent, the lowest in 49 years! All that with a major hurricane hitting the mainland of America, which is pretty amazing. The Trump economy is ticking along nicely, and we are all feeling it these days, if it weren’t for the distracting Kavanaugh hearings, the fictitious Mueller investigation and the general poo pooing that comes out of the media every minute of every day, Americans could be said to be having the time of their lives. It is a time of great prosperity that has surpassed expectations in almost every fiscal way possible. Another consecutive month of positive reporting’s that have continued to increase since the tax cuts at the end of 2017.

Stocks did take a bit of a hit; home markets are down as the Fed has increased interest rates yet again. The Federal Reserve and other market analysts still do not seem to understand what is happening, to them they disbelieve that the market can be this bullish without a downturn as the tend to believe in cyclical tides of cash flow. But these kinds of positive indexes are not created by moving money around and social controls such as interest rate evaluations, they are born from real optimism and creative intellectual growth which comes from a culture that “makes wealth” not one who simply manages it.

Wealth creation is specifically a human trait. No other animal in the universe that we know of presently can do it. It is an act of imagination, the concept of product development for the use of other lifeforms is specifically confined to the roll of imagination which only humans possess to any degree of usability. Many scientists like to profess that dolphins and whales are very intelligent creatures, but when was the last time you saw a dolphin design a car? Being intelligent isn’t the only ingredient needed for wealth creation, it is important to have a vast imagination as a culture because what comes forth from it is the creation of new ideas. Wealth creation is simply a measure of that creativity.

On the same day that the jobs report came out for September it was reported that China was putting spy chips into Apple products and those sold by Amazon. That pushed stocks down for those companies, and the $15 minimum wage at Amazon certainly didn’t help. But this brings to mind the simple question about why China feels they must spy on Americans and attempt to sabotage American companies. Well, it comes back to the basic problem that all Chinese have in their culture, they lack an imagination. The nature of their communist culture has suppressed individual thought, their school systems collective obedience has not taught them how to think, only how to conform, not individual development, and that has destroyed their intellectual capacity as a nation. You can see the trend as China used their leveraged capitol gained in the pre-Trump years to purchase many studios in Hollywood and shifted the house movie picks more toward collectivist enterprises, the net result has been a decaying Hollywood product. The lack of imagination is obvious as sitcoms are reaching back into the 80s to resurrect comedies that worked, like Rosanne, and Murphy Brown. New content is hard to come by in a collectivist culture.

But due to the enterprising spirit of the Trump administration assisted by tax cuts many in America who still possess imaginations are creating products and delivering them to markets expanding the economy. Of those 134,000 jobs reported those are mostly private sector jobs where someone is making new flashlights, car batteries, and golf clubs. Not centrally planned state sponsored government jobs administratively focused. When jobs like that are created there is of course an overflow effect that grows into the following month as more jobs trickle down into every demographic group. When leftists attempt to suggest that there is no such thing as “trickle down economics” they are doing so with the same vigor that attempted to associate Brett Kavanaugh to gang rape. These are just not concepts rooted in reality.

I haven’t talked about Star Wars in a while, but I couldn’t help but think of all these concepts while watching the Blue Ray of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which I thought was one of the best Star Wars films I’ve seen since the 80s. But in going through the bonus content of the release it was obvious that the filmmakers were a long way away from the kind of filmmaker George Lucas was back then. Everyone was just going through the motions and trying to copy what the original filmmakers had created. There was nothing really original in that movie which is partly why Star Wars is losing its magic. In a lot of ways the left leaning politics of the modern employees at Lucasfilm and Disney are suffering from the same ailments as the country of China—a lack of imagination. In the case of Lucasfilm, they have so many tools to work with, yet they just can’t seem to get the job done because they are lacking intellectual imagination. Even though George Lucas admittingly copied off old television shows like Flash Gordon, there was a lot of imagination to provide fresh perspective to the old material. That is not the case now, all we get from Lucasfilm and Disney is an homage to our childhoods. Modern kids don’t care about our childhoods, they have so many other things to occupy their minds, especially video games. So what ends up on a movie screen is a copy of a copy of a copy made by people who are truly underdeveloped intellectually, and it shows in the product.

But Hollywood is the old world, the Trump economy is empowering many new companies that will replace the old models well into the future and that is truly exciting. With the kinds of jobs growth that we are seeing consistently now for many months it is easy to project where all this will end up. We’re not talking about a typical Bull Market, but a long sustainable growth market that will add trillions of dollars of new wealth that will be sustainable well into the future. That is exciting news, but you might not hear it presented that way on the mainstream news—and the reason would be due to the lack of a crises in the information. If you ever listen to a horse race announcer, you would have to understand that their job is not so different from a typical news reporter from the mainstream press. They have to talk up the downsides, such as stocks that dipped because of interest rate hikes, or tariff talk—but if you plot out the results from turn 4, usually the clear winner is easy for all to see and this jobs report is no different. With the creation of new jobs, it means that the imagination of America is being stirred again and those side effects will show up in all aspects of our culture, from our music to our movies—to even our clothing choices. There is a lot to be excited about, but the means of communicating that to mass audiences is missing, because it doesn’t tend to keep people tuned in to the horse race. But in essence, this September jobs reports says that our bets are safe and that the horse we have been rooting for is winning by a mile.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.

Jim Renacci is a Really Great Guy: If 2nd Amendment supporters voted for him, he’d beat Sherrod Brown easily

Every time I have met Jim Renacci I have grown to like him more and more. Usually it’s the opposite effect, the more you get to know someone, the more you find that their little flaws start depreciating your opinion of them. But not Jim Renacci. He has grown on me in a very positive way and I find that when he leaves back to wherever he needs to go next that I actually want to spend more time around him. Even saying all that nice stuff I was very impressed that he came up to me at a fire pit where we were having some fabulous hamburgers fresh off the grill at Premier Shooting and Training Center to shake my hand and talk to me a bit. It was a casual event with only a few hundred people around, most of them were running for office of some kind, but because the event was a 2nd Amendment celebration Jim Renacci flew all the way out from Washington D.C. to attend. At the end of the night he flew back, so he was only around for a few hours, and part of that he came over and stood around the fire with my family enjoying a brief moment of correspondence. Just hours before he was all over Fox Business talking about the Kavanaugh hearings and he was still wearing the same suit, not having time to change. After talking to my family and a few other people he gave the short speech seen below, then went back to the airport.

I’ve known a lot of politicians and it has only been recently where I have found that I like some of them personally. The reason is that we have all emerged into this current circumstance together but doing different things to help restore our republic, so we have that in common to build relationships off of. Ten to fifteen years ago I was not into the group of politicians that were around back then. I was not a John Boehner guy or a supporter of most of the trustees and commissioners. But that has changed quite a lot over the last decade as the Tea Party movement forced an evaluation at the Central Committee level that was hard-fought and heavily debated. Then Donald Trump was elected, and that certainly created a philosophic shift that made the event at Premier Shooting uniquely special. It has also cleared the decks for Jim Renacci to run for some of these big seats as a genuinely good man as opposed to just another political hack. That is why I enjoyed talking so much to Jim Renacci. He’s just a good person.

But as Jim said about his fight with Sherrod Brown, even though Sherrod Brown has been working the state of Ohio for decades as an elected representative and is favored to win his senate seat back that Jim Renacci is challenging him for, Brown could easily lose if only the 2nd Amendment supporters of Ohio came out and voted for Renacci. You can forget about the union vote, you can forget about all the radical Democrat protestors, you can forget about all the supporters of Sherrod Brown—if just the 2nd Amendment people showed up on election day to vote for Jim Renacci he would win easily. So why not make that happen?

Jim Renacci could have easily have said of the Premier Shooting event that he had been too busy to attend. He wasn’t even in town. He had every reason in the world not to come really, but because he respects the 2nd Amendment so much, he took time out of his very busy day to fly back to Ohio and spend some time with a small crowd at a gun range. It occurred to me as he came by to see me personally that if he was willing to go through all that trouble, why in the hell wouldn’t 2nd Amendment enthusiasts be willing to go to the polls and vote on election night? Its not asking too much. If they did, Jim Renacci would easily beat Sherrod Brown and Donald Trump would have one more senator to work with on the Hill. Ironically, the same held true in every district where the races between Republicans and Democrats were tight. The difference maker could really be gun supporters who pushed candidates over the top for Trump.

In the great book on strategy, The Art of War, the basic premise is that most conflicts are won before anybody ever takes the battlefield. In many ways the only reason Sherrod Brown has won all these many times is because voter turnout is low. People are often busy with other things, so they aren’t interested in voting. But when it comes to values, Jim Renacci represents far more people in Ohio than Sherrod Brown. Democrats learned a long time ago that they best way to leverage conditions as a minority in their direction is to frustrate voters into believing that no matter what they do, elections will keep solutions out of the reach of everyday people. The focus then becomes an us versus them on every issue, such as the 2nd Amendment where we are always afraid that the liberals are going to come after our guns, so we put our defenses in the places where they desire, not where they would serve us best. But really, all we need to do as gun supporters is to put our efforts behind a candidate like Jim Renacci and the gun grabbing from the political left would be over. It really is that simple. Too simple for people to believe, but that is the situation.

As I said, Jim Renacci is just a good person, I have enjoyed getting to know him a bit and if there is any justice in this world, he will beat Sherrod Brown in the upcoming election. But given the amount of gun owners and supporters that there is in Ohio there really isn’t any reason that there should be an “if.” We have the power to make Jim Renacci’s election a “when,” with an easy win against Sherrod Brown. Gun owners and 2nd Amendment supporters far outnumber all other activist groups. The biggest weakness is that conservatives and gun enthusiasts tend to be very individually based, they don’t march in herds like Democrats do, so that makes them harder to organize for voting purposes. But if they could only do that one little thing and show up to vote for Jim Renacci and all the other Republicans on their ticket they would not only preserve their gun rights from the radicalism of the gun grabbing left, but they could advance those rights in productive ways. And all they need to do for that to happen would be to realize that they easily outnumber their opposition, and to just take care of business at the ballot box. There is no reason to worry about gun grabbers going from door to door to take our guns when the conflict can be ended right here and now with a simple—bloodless election. The only thing holding 2nd Amendment supporters back is the knowledge that the power to win all these elections is truly in their hands. All they have to do is use it.

Rich Hoffman

Sign up for Second Call Defense here: http://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707 Use my name to get added benefits.