February 19 2023
I hope you are having a great Presidents' Day Weekend with the ones you love.
President Trump continues to tower over the Republican field. Several polls this week show Trump with a double-digit lead over the field.
President Trump’s continued dominance over the field is because Republicans recognize that there is no “Trumpism without Trump.” Gavin Wax Mario explains this in a piece in Townhall this weekend that I recommend you read.
“The personal, emotional relationship between Trump and his base cannot be understated. Without Trump as the candidate in 2024, at least a million of his supporters will stay home and refuse to vote Republican. They hate the system, know how they are being screwed, and rightly believe that most politicians in both major parties should be given the boot. They only trust one candidate: Trump,” Gavin writes.
“These voters are the forgotten men and women of this country; they put Trump in office in 2016, and losing them will assure losses in any election moving forward. If Trumpism disappears, the Republican Party will fall back into the Bush-era neoconservatism of old.”
We’re already seeing an attempt to revert to the failed Bush-era policies with the candidacy of Nikki Haley. While Haley claims to represent a “new generation,” the reality is she's just another career politician who is only in it for herself. She should listen to her own comments from the 2020 Republican convention, “Donald Trump has always put America first, and he has earned four more years as president.”
Taylor Budowich
Head of MAGA Inc.
As President Trump demonstrates true crisis leadership with his visit to East Palestine, OH, the Biden administration faces intense criticism for its mishandling of the situation:
- In stark comparison to the Biden administration’s failure to provide information, testing, and support following the February 2nd train derailment and subsequent toxic chemical fire, President Trump announced that he would be visiting East Palestine: “The people of East Palestine need help. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
- After President Trump announced he would be visiting East Palestine, and two weeks after the initial derailment and fire, the Biden administration reversed its decision and decided they would, in fact, provide FEMA support to the impacted community.
- Residents of East Palestine are voicing their frustration with the Biden administration’s weeks-delayed response and complete lack of communication.
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg didn’t even publicly address the disaster until ten days after the train derailed and caught fire, releasing hazardous and toxic chemicals like vinyl chloride into the soil, air, and water.
- Federal officials continue to claim that testing “has not detected any levels of health concern in the community,” even as residents complain of headaches, throat irritation, and skin rashes. EPA Administrator Michael Regan insists the “water is safe.” He should take Senator JD Vance’s advice and drink it.
- Peter DeCarlo, Associate Professor of Environmental Health at Johns Hopkins University, told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s This Week that “we just don’t have the information we need to understand what chemicals may be present. The monitoring equipment that [the EPA is] using to determine things that are safe doesn’t give us chemical specificity, it doesn’t tell us what chemicals are present, it just says they’re below some level.”
- “There’s plenty of chemicals,” DeCarlo continued, “that can be created from that fire that can be toxic at much lower levels.”
Americans continue to suffer under the Biden economy
- Household debt hits a record high.
- CNN: “Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth quarter, an increase of $394 billion, or 2.4%, from the prior three-month period, according to the Fed’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit… Credit card balances increased nearly 6.6% to $986 billion during the quarter, the highest quarterly growth on record, according to New York Fed data that goes back to 1999. Year over year, credit card balances grew 15.2%.”
- Americans are falling behind on their car payments.
- WSJ: “Some 9.3% of auto loans extended to people with low credit scores were 30 or more days behind on payments at the end of last year, the highest share since 2010, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics.”