Politics – The Daily Signal

The Greatest Scandal in Modern American History That No One Cares About

A little over eight weeks ago, President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, despite being the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee and only true primary vote recipient.

He was forced out by the party elite, who watched his debate with former President Donald Trump and saw what most of America already knew: that Biden is senile. Biden was promptly replaced by Kamala Harris, his vice president, who has since solidified Democratic turnout and is running neck-and-neck with Trump.

But something strange has happened since Biden’s ouster: The country went back to ignoring Biden’s senility.

Photographs and footage of Biden asleep at the beach in Delaware have filled X feeds for weeks since he dropped out of the race. Just last week, Biden turned over a full Cabinet meeting to his wife, Jill, who sat herself at the head of the table and proceeded to lecture constitutional appointees on women’s health issues. Within 48 hours, Biden completely forgot the world leader he was supposed to introduce at a Quad summit, snarling at his aides, “Thank you all for being here and now, uhh, who am I introducing next? Who’s next?” The leader, as it turns out, was Narendra Modi, prime minister of the most populous country on earth, India.

So, why isn’t it something of an issue that the most powerful seat on the planet—the presidency of the United States—is being currently held as a sort of emeritus position by a doddering old fool? Why has an office once held by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln been treated as a sort of throwaway gift to a career corrupt politician, like a gold-plated watch or a set of steak knives handed to a past-his-prime salesman at a Motel 6 retirement reception?

The answer is simple: The person tasked with invoking the 25th Amendment so as to protect the presidency is Kamala Harris. And Harris cannot oust Biden. Were she to do so, that would lead to a pitched battle with Biden himself—and Biden is already fighting mad, during his waking hours, at his defenestration at her hands.

But more importantly, Harris cannot oust Biden because were she to do so, she would make explicit that which has remained implicit: She is the sitting vice president of the United States and thus responsible for the actions of the Biden-Harris administration.

The entire Democratic Party gambit—its sleight-of-hand shell game—relies on Biden as the red herring. Were the American people to tie Harris to Biden’s record, she would lose the presidency. She has been, instead, proclaiming that she “isn’t Joe Biden” while at the same time dissociating from zero of his policies. It’s quite the trick. And it could only work with a compliant media and with Biden still retaining the title of acting president. The minute she takes over, she becomes responsible for all of it. And Biden’s record is the shoddiest of any president of our lifetimes.

And so the presidency will be sacrificed in order to advance the ambitions of Harris and the Democratic Party. The world will continue to spiral into chaos thanks to the leadership vacuum at the helm of the United States. And the Democrat-media human centipede will continue to ignore the absolute scandal that takes place every day at the White House, where a clearly befuddled octogenarian staggers from his living quarters to make unintelligible sounds before the cameras as the world burns.

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Politics – The Daily Signal

Another Month, Another Trump Assassination Attempt

This week, a would-be assassin aimed a rifle at Donald Trump through the fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. A Secret Service agent saw the man and shot at him; he was later arrested.

The alleged shooter has a long record of clear-cut, left-wing hatred: He has opined that Trump ought to be killed by Iran, he has donated only to Democrats since 2019, and his truck sports a Biden/Harris bumper sticker.

This makes the second assassination attempt on Trump in two months. Trump has now been subjected to as many near-shootings during that period as Kamala Harris has solo interviews.

Why?

The answer is obvious: America is a large country, with a large number of unstable people. Overheated rhetoric generally appeals to the unhinged; the unhinged may take seriously that rhetoric and attempt violence as a consequence.

That doesn’t mean that those who spout such rhetoric are criminally responsible for the actions of the violent. It does mean that when the temperature is raised on the political stove, it becomes more predictable for the pot to boil over.

We have now been subjected to a full decade of talk about how Donald Trump is a full-scale threat to the American republic. President Joe Biden has given speeches labeling Trump a danger to the soul of democracy. Harris, his vice president, has said that the very fabric of our country is at stake.

Trump has been compared to Adolf Hitler more often than any public figure of our lifetime. Is it an enormous shock that someone with mental issues might think that taking a shot at Trump would be justified—heroic, even?

It’s certainly true that overheated rhetoric exists on all sides of the political aisle these days. In understanding just why Trump has been subjected to two separate assassination attempts in eight weeks, it isn’t enough just to blame violent rhetoric, though.

Opponents of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris generally disdain them; they understand that neither Biden nor Harris are historic figures, indispensable to the movements they supposedly lead. In fact, there is a baseline understanding that the Democratic Party could easily switch Biden or Harris for a dozen others and that their preferred issue set would maintain apace.

The same is not true for Trump. The media and Democratic Party have determined that Trump is a singularly indispensable figure—a sort of bizarre cult leader, who has mesmerized millions into submission. They believe, in fact, that absent Trump, the Americans who vote for him would revert to becoming good little Democrats—reasonable people.

That lie springs from a deeper lie: the lie that human beings are inherently good (by which they mean liberal) and that they think differently only if they are bamboozled by a strongman. Dispense with the strongman, and all will be well.

The problem here is larger than hatred for Trump. It is a perverse view that those who dissent from Democratic Party politics are themselves zombies in thrall to a madman, rather than fellow Americans who disagree on key issues for good reasons of their own.

And so the assassination attempts will likely continue. Trump has dodged a bullet once and avoided a shooting a second time. Americans ought never be asked to experience a third attempt.

If, God forbid, something does happen to Trump, the results for the country will be catastrophic.

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Politics – The Daily Signal

The Cipher and Her Praetorian Guard 

In the lead-up to this week’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the polls showed a dead heat, both nationally and in seven swing states. The 2024 race is, by all measures, the closest presidential race we have seen in our lifetimes. But the usual presidential math applies: The person upon whom the race becomes a referendum loses. 

For Trump, then, the task of the debate was threefold: to hammer the point that Vice President Kamala Harris is responsible for the failed policies of the Biden-Harris White House, and that he is the agent of change—a proposition with which the majority of Americans tend to agree; to drive home that Harris is actually dangerously far left, and that she is lying about her current policy positions in order to protect them from scrutiny; and that she is incompetent, having blown every single task she has ever been handed.

In short, Harris is a cipher, and it is Trump’s job to clarify just who she is. 

For Harris, the task was more complicated: She had to avoid all of these points, and she had to somehow go further by providing an effective counter. It wasn’t enough to merely dodge punches; she had to establish that she is different from Joe Biden in some marked way; that she is a moderate who has experienced a change of heart; and that she isn’t the cackler who regularly enjoys a heaping helping of word salad. 

And for the moderators, the task was to help Harris achieve all of these things. 

They certainly did their best. David Muir and Linsey Davis turned in the most discreditable job of moderation in presidential history. They repeatedly (and wrongly) fact-checked Trump four times, without ever calling Harris on a single one of her lies. They asked Trump follow-ups and demanded clarification while allowing Harris to skate on her bumper-sticker platitudes. They structured their questions to elicit prepared responses from Harris, while demanding that Trump forgo obvious responses to Harris’ lies. 

It worked. It threw Trump off his game. Distracted by the 3-on-1 pile-on, eager to defend himself from every charge and to engage in fisticuffs over his remarks and record, Trump forgot his reason for being there: to target Harris. Instead, he talked about Jan. 6 and the election of 2020 and his record on COVID-19 and his proposals on tariffs and his negotiations with the Taliban. 

Harris, meanwhile, appeared relatively cool and collected. She dodged nearly every question, with the help of her Praetorian Guard. 

But there’s a problem: Because both Harris and the media were so intent on dragging Trump down, they forgot that Harris needs to do more than label Trump; she needs to redefine herself. She didn’t do that at all during the debate.

Perhaps some Americans came away from the debate more quiescent about her incoherence. But none will come away satisfied that she represents a change in the direction of the country. None will be assuaged that she is a moderate unifier. That’s because she isn’t. Yes, she did better than Trump did, with the help of her loyal apparatchiks. But she didn’t close the deal. 

Perhaps that’s because she can’t close the deal. The lies are just too big for Americans to swallow. In the end, she is only the nominee because she is Joe Biden’s vice president. She has never won a single primary vote as a candidate. In the end, she is only on the debate stage because of the Biden-Harris administration, in which she claims a critical role. In the end, it is Harris who ran as a Bernie Sanders socialist in 2019, and it is Harris who says that her values haven’t changed. 

Americans aren’t stupid. And they still have more questions about Harris than about Trump. Trump still has two months to remind Americans to ask those questions. 

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NB Blog Feed

The Cipher and Her Praetorian Guard

In the lead-up to this week’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the polls showed a dead heat, both nationally and in seven swing states. The 2024 race is, by all measures, the closest presidential race we have seen in our lifetimes. But the usual presidential math applies The person upon whom the race becomes a referendum loses. For Trump, then, the task of the debate was threefold: to hammer the point that Kamala Harris is responsible for the failed policies of the Biden-Harris White House and that he is the agent of change -- a proposition with which the majority of Americans tend to agree; to drive home that Harris is actually dangerously far-left, and that she is lying about her current policy positions to protect them from scrutiny; and that she is incompetent, having blown every single task she has ever been handed. In short, Harris is a cipher; it is Trump’s job to clarify who she is. For Harris, the task was more complicated: she had to avoid all of these points, and she had to somehow go further by providing an effective counter. It wasn’t enough to merely dodge punches; she had to establish that she is different than Joe Biden in some marked way, that she is a moderate who has experienced a change of heart, and that she isn’t the cackler who regularly enjoys a heaping helping of word salad. And for the moderators, the task was to help Kamala Harris achieve all of these things. They certainly did their best. David Muir and Linsey Davis turned in the most discreditable job of moderation in presidential history. They repeatedly (and wrongly) fact-checked Trump four times, without ever calling Harris on a single one of her lies. They asked Trump follow-ups and demanded clarification while allowing Harris to skate on her bumper sticker platitudes. They structured their questions to elicit prepared responses from Harris, while demanding that Trump forgo obvious responses to Harris’ lies. It worked. It threw Trump off of his game. Distracted by the three-on-one pile-on, eager to defend himself from every charge and to engage in fisticuffs over his remarks and record, Trump forgot his reason for being there: to target Harris. Instead, he talked about Jan. 6 and the election of 2020 and his record on COVID and his proposals on tariffs and his negotiations with the Taliban. Harris, meanwhile, appeared relatively cool and collected; she dodged nearly every question, with the help of her Praetorian Guard. But there’s a problem: Because both Harris and the media were so intent on dragging Trump down, they forgot that Harris needs to do more than label Trump; she needs to redefine herself. She didn’t do that at all during the debate. Perhaps some Americans came away from the debate more quiescent about her incoherence. But none will come away satisfied that she represents a change in the direction of the country. None will be assuaged that she is a moderate unifier. That’s because she isn’t. Yes, she did better than Trump did, with the help of her loyal apparatchiks. But she didn’t close the deal. Perhaps that’s because she can’t close the deal. The lies are just too big for Americans to swallow. In the end, she is only the nominee because she is Joe Biden’s vice president; she has never won a single primary vote as a candidate. In the end, she is only on the debate stage because of the Biden-Harris administration, in which she claims a critical role. In the end, it is Harris who ran as a Bernie Sanders socialist in 2019, and it is Harris who says that her values haven’t changed. Americans aren’t stupid. And they still have more questions about Harris than about Trump. Trump still has two months to remind Americans to ask those questions.

NB Blog Feed

The Evil of Cowardice in Gaza

On Saturday night, the Israeli military made a macabre and horrifying discovery: the slain bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin. All six hostages had been shot point-blank in the head some 48-72 hours prior, presumably upon the approach of IDF soldiers; Hamas terrorists chose to murder the hostages they had held in terror tunnels for over 300 days rather than risk their liberation. The discovery sent the entire nation of Israel into mourning. On Oct. 7, Israelis were forced to remember that the enemy they face is not merely violent, but purely evil. In subsequent months, with the extraordinary progress of the IDF in Gaza over the protestations of the Biden administration, Hamas’ evils were relegated once more to the realm of military conflict. But the very thought of these victims — Goldberg-Polin, 23; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lobanov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; and Almog Sarusi, 27 — suffering without sunlight, food or water for nearly a year, all to be shot to death within hours of their possible freedom, reopened all the wounds of Oct. 7. It turned out that all the diplomatic overtures made by America — overtures largely accepted by the supposedly intransigent administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — meant nothing. As Netanyahu pointed out, “whoever murders hostages does not want a deal.” That was predictable enough, given the fact that Hamas’ chief goal is its own survival — a goal directly at odds with Israel’s necessary goal of extirpating Hamas. That is why Hamas has consistently declared for months that there would be no hostage release without a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, along with the discharge of hundreds of convicted terrorists and murderers. Anything less than survival for Hamas is a loss. Dead Palestinians help Hamas achieve its goal of pressuring Israel; dead hostages help Hamas achieve its goal of pressuring Israel. And yet the immediate response of America and Great Britain has been to push Israel into more concessions. Asked whether Netanyahu had done enough to secure the hostage release, President Joe Biden — fresh from the beach in Delaware — said “no.” That is obviously political madness; if the murder of hostages wins indulgences, surely Hamas has the incentive to murder more hostages. But it is, far more importantly, moral madness; handing a victory to the very monsters who currently hold toddlers and threaten to shoot them in the head is the essence of cowardice. It’s worse: it’s complicity in evil. The only possible moral frame in which Israel can be blamed for Hamas’ monstrousness is a relativistic one, in which barbaric evil can be projected onto the “root cause” of the West. There is a reason so much of the left views America’s loss of the Vietnam War as a victory, or sees the Afghanistan pullout as a triumph, ignoring the viciousness of the Viet Cong and the Taliban. In this view, the cruelty of the West’s enemies is merely a response to the West’s own cruelty — and the evidence of that proposition is the existence of our enemies. Were we kind, generous and tolerant, we would have no enemies, goes the logic — thus the presence of our enemies demonstrates how fatally flawed we are. This perverse philosophy gives ammunition to the world’s worst human beings. Depriving evil actors of agency means leaving them free to pursue their worse designs, secure in the knowledge that the more savagely they act, the more they will be excused for their cruelty. The West, in this view, can never triumph but through surrender. This philosophy will destroy the West from within as well as from without. Cowardice is the greatest aid to evil; in fact, it is its own form of evil, for without it, evil could never win. A West incapable of distinguishing between those who kidnap and murder hostages in pursuit of Islamist theocracy and those who seek to free those hostages is a West that simply cannot survive. Ben Shapiro’s new collection, “Facts and Furious: The Facts About America and Why They Make Leftists Furious,” is available now. Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Politics – The Daily Signal

Harris’ Strategy? Avoid Serious Scrutiny as Long as Possible. Will It Work?

To call the past eight weeks in presidential politics unprecedented would be a wild understatement.

It was just over two months ago when President Joe Biden—a man deemed highly successful and mentally sharp by our legacy media—took to the stage to debate his predecessor, Donald Trump, and promptly expired.

It took another month for Biden to drop out of the race, prompted by the backstabbing Democratic cadre of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and, most importantly, former President Barack Obama, all of whom wheedled donors and cudgeled Biden into submission.

It then took promptly one day to solidify Vice President Kamala Harris in Biden’s stead.

It has been more than a month since Biden was defenestrated in favor of Harris. Since then, Harris has answered precisely zero difficult questions from the media. She has spent the intervening weeks being “brat”—that is, social media-friendly and utterly vacuous.

We know that she likes Doritos, that she enjoys cooking, that she supposedly makes a mean brisket, that she wears Chuck Taylors. When asked outside Air Force Two what she will do next this week, she answered, “We’re going to walk up those stairs.”

Deep stuff.

And yet there are less than 70 days to the election. Republics are predicated on the idea that the voters deserve to know something about the candidates for whom they vote.

Voters already know everything there is to know about Trump. He’s the most overexposed political figure in history, and we’ve already seen what his presidency looks like. But voters have been shielded from Harris.

According to the legacy media, her 2019 presidential campaign policy positions are completely irrelevant: She’s now sent out surrogates to disown her own position on decriminalizing border crossings (she was in favor), electric vehicle mandates (she was in favor), private health insurance (she was against), “reimagining public safety” or defunding the police (she was in favor), and fracking (she was against), among others.

All of that in the last month alone. Yet the media apparently have zero questions.

Meanwhile, we’ve been told that she’s not even tied to the administration in which she is currently the vice president. This week, Politico headlined, “Vance tries to tether Harris to Biden during Michigan rally.” Tries to? She’s the sitting vice president! Her boss—the same person she shivved to steal his nomination—is currently still the president.

Sam Stein of The Bulwark and MSNBC headlined, “Dems spent four days in Chicago castigating, belittling, and demonizing Donald Trump. And then they did something even more vicious: They turned him into the incumbent.” Trump the incumbent? She’s the sitting vice president of the United States!

All of this is why Harris must avoid scrutiny. She’s obviously squirrelly on debating Trump: First, she tried to bully Trump into accepting the same debate rules he’d accepted against Biden. Then she denied him extra debates. Then she tried to switch the rules.

Her campaign has gone through Talmudic discussions internally to determine if and when she ought to be interviewed. Their verdict: OK, fine, but only if pretaped while joined by happy but cloddish sitcom dad running mate Tim Walz.

This entire charade smacks of disdain for the American people. Rig the nomination process in favor of Biden; throw Biden off a cliff in favor of Harris; hide Harris behind an Instagram filter while she dances and calls herself “Momala” for the duration of the campaign.

At no point do Democrats want Americans to understand just what Harris will do as president, or to connect her to what she’s already done as vice president.

Perhaps it will work. If so, Americans will only have proved H.L. Mencken’s cynical theory: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

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