potus

Perot, Trump, Ackman, and Einstein

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In 1992, a non-politician named H. Ross Perot, a very accomplished businessman, decided to run for President of the US as an Independent. Perot focused his campaign on his plan to balance the federal budget and further US economic nationalism.

In 2016, a non-politician named Donald J. Trump, a very accomplished businessman, ran for President of the US as a Republican.  Trump wanted to further US economic nationalism, too.  He called it then and now MAGA- Make America Great Again.

Perot led George Bush and Bill Clinton in the polls for a time.   Trump won.

Perot’s critics called him a hand grenade with a bad haircut.  Trump’s critics called him far worse and suggested he should find a good barber, or at least a barber.

One night Perot was on Larry King’s show and asked rhetorically, “Do you hear that giant sucking sound?  That’s all of our jobs getting moved down to Mexico because of NAFTA.”

Trump threatened tariffs in his first term for similar reasons.

They have many similarities.  The differences are twofold.  Trump got elected.  Trump acted on his threat on “Liberation Day,” imposing reciprocal tariffs on nations around the globe.

This morning that “giant sucking sound” you hear is your 401k swirling the drain.

Tariffs are taxes applied to imported goods.  The prices of those goods will go up for US consumers to offset the cost to the foreign businesses shipping them here.

Or, are they still just bargaining chips to get other countries to reduce their tariffs on our exports?  Another wealthy businessman, Bill Ackman, thinks so.  “The countries that make the first deals with Trump will get the best deals.  The countries that wait or retaliate will regret that they were not a part of the early deals, or worse,” he tweeted this AM.

The stock market is picky.  It doesn’t digest uncertainty, inflation, or potential economic slowdowns well.

Maybe “one big beautiful bill” from Congress will provide numerous and generous tax cuts to John Q Citizen to offset some of the pain.  Maybe not.

Add a dose of DOGE to attack government waste, fraud, and excess.

What do you have?  You have an equation that reads: tariffs increase revenue, tax cuts reduce revenue, and a DOGE-driven smaller gov’t reduces cost.  Got that?

The goal?  Bring production home, become less dependent on other countries for critical needs, provide domestic jobs, and increase the corporate tax base.

And the ultimate goal?  Get America back on a path to fiscal sanity.

Our 1992 debt was four trillion dollars when Perot was concerned.  Clinton won, and blue dresses aside, even had a government fiscal surplus one year.  When he left in 2000, the bill was a manageable six trillion.

Today it’s nearly 37 trillion.

And, shame on the left in Congress (and Mitch McConnell, the poster child now great grandfather for term limits) who are against anything and everything that Trump proposes.  Congress put us here to begin with.

Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.”

We may have a new definition of insanity.  We’ll know pretty soon.

Trump’s presidency and the midterms hang in the balance.

 

Landman

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

There are a few not subtle differences between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0.

The main one is that 1.0 listened to others due to his inexperience in government and the swamp known as D.C.  Now, 2.0 is doing it, like Frank Sinatra, his way.

Forty-seven hired his crew and didn’t settle for any leftovers or legacies.  He’s got his own from plumbers to project managers.  Send Musk in to clean out the waste, fraud, fat, and those ghosting the payroll like Tony Soprano’s boys.

The real estate developer extraordinaire is flexing his menacing mogul muscles.  He has his eye on quite a few properties.

Unless the land is raw, you tear down.  The Gaza Strip and Ukraine demolitions were already well on their way.

Gaza is waterfront, so let’s envision an enterprise district complete with resorts on the waterfront.

Ukraine needs money to defend and rebuild.  We’ll take some precious minerals in a fair exchange.  When the buyer changes his mind, you loudly walk from the deal. The bet is he’ll be back.

But, but, but what about nasty Putin?   How can you allow him to be the bully on the earth’s block?  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.  The Art of the Deal has many layers.

We’ll need a generous amount of everything for our home remodel to go smoothly.  Maybe Greenland can help ships safe passage or at least be a refueling station in the Northern Hemisphere.  Let’s offer to buy it on the cheap.

In the Southern Hemisphere we can saber rattle about reclaiming the Panama Canal.  That’ll at least open their eyes to our needs, keep the price of the journey low, and the odds of safe passage high.

Down in the basement, our southern neighbor won’t honor what the wall we started building in 2017 was meant for.  We need illegals kept out and fentanyl too.  Pay attention to that, or we’ll slap tariffs on your imports.

Up in the attic, Canada might want to be our 51st state.  That’s unlikely at best but it gives its occupants a feeling of unrest.  Tariffs for you too unless you reduce yours.  And, fentanyl from China needs the full attention of your Canadian Mounties.

You can’t pick your neighbors, but you can pick your nose.  We digress.

Most of all, this is designed to bring America back to the top in producing its own needs.  It’s hard to Make America Great Again unless you make a lot of stuff at home again.

Oh!  How about a new front door welcome mat?  Let’s throw away the Gulf of Mexico one and replace it with the Gulf of America.

Yes, the wrecking ball is in full swing.  As mentioned before, to build up you must tear down first.

You don’t build so many “bigly” and “very beautiful” buildings in the toughest city in America without a lot of dust and a few verbal fistfights.

Billy Bob Thornton is the Landman on Paramount Plus.

Donald Trump is the Landman on planet Earth.

He lives rent free in the White House and in way too many people’s heads.

 

 

 

 

All D, No O

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As 1980 turned to 1981, Carter was on his way out and Reagan was on his way in.

Jimmy’s welcoming gifts to Ronald were the mess that Iran was, a hostage crisis, an energy crisis, inflation, and a newly created Department of Education.

As 2024 turned to 2025, Biden was out and Trump was back in.

Joe’s welcoming gifts to Donald are the mess that Iran is, a hostage crisis, restrictions and bans on oil production, inflation, and a 44-year-old Department of Education.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

After 1980 it took the Democratic Party 12 years to recapture the White House.  And, it was helped greatly to get there by George H.W. Bush in year 10 saying loudly “Read my lips, no new taxes.”  Then he raised taxes.

Will it take the Democratic Party 12 years to recapture the White House this time?  Will they need a goof-up the size of Bush’s, a new identity, or both?

Why is a new identity needed?

The reasons are numerous.  The origin is debatable.

But it says here that it started in 2018 when the first four members of the squad were elected to Congress.  Young, eager, and diverse the four had grown to eight strong by 2022.

They came in loud and proud.  Nancy Pelosi tried to put them in their place in the Party but they’d have little to none of that.

By 2020 Joe Biden sold his soul to the far left to help get him elected.  He promised a female VP.  He promised a black female Supreme Court Justice.  He promised diversity, equity, and inclusion in his cabinet and administration.

Meritocracy was out.  Skin color and race-baiting were in.

He opened the border near and far.  He forgave student debt.  He brokered the Green New Deal.  He supported men in women’s sports.  He supported men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.

In short, he catered to the far left.  He was run by the far left.  He was beholden to the far left.  He even told us “They want me to leave the stage now and not answer your questions.”

And, out of that was born the party of common sense.  Imagine thinking that DJT would be looked at as the leader of the Common Sense Party.

Who’s leading the Dems these days? Maxine Waters screams daily into a bullhorn.  Take Chuck Schumer, please.  Nancy’s still leaning left, but is now supported by a HurriCane.

What’s the message?  Is anyone listening?

If you’re yelling you’re losing.  And, they are yelling “bigly” as 47 might say.

The current strategy is to tie Trump’s executive orders up in court and scream “Constitutional Crisis!”

But that’s defense.  Where is and what is the offense?

Meanwhile, Trump is about to put Iran and her proxies in place.  He’s gotten some and is about to get more hostages home be it the USA or Israel.  Drill Baby Drill!  And, DOGE is descending on the Department of Education.

Somehow it feels like 1980 all over again.

It’s not over for the Dems, not at all.

It’s always the darkest before dawn.

But, it sure is dark for now.

 

 

 

 

Doing the People’s Business

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In early November the voters spoke.   Joe Biden listened from the outside of the ropes.

With two weeks left in his presidency, Scrappy Joe from Scranton is punching back with fists tightly closed save for his two middle fingers extended dead straight at America’s voted-on desires.

The man who said he would not pardon his son Hunter did.  He even included unknown crimes that he may have committed prior and in the future.  Perhaps he should do the same for himself.

The only time Soros ever leaned right
The only time Soros ever leaned right.

He didn’t stop at Hunter though.  He commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal inmates sitting on death row to a life of confinement.  Joe played God.  Either you’re against the death penalty or you’re not.  Why not the other three?  Why any at all after multiple courts of law imposed the sentences?

How about a Congressional Medal of Honor for anyone who supported him or his party’s cause?  How about 19?  Included was George Soros.  George hates America but has a big wallet.  He funded “woke” judgeship races near and far.  He financed a great deal of the illegal immigration that got the Dems tossed out of office.

Fashion is a Biden passion.  Who knew?  Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, who hosted political fundraisers for the Biden campaign, got one.

Ralph Lauren, a design industry titan, was among the honorees.  Lauren’s clothing has long been a favorite of the Biden family, including first lady Jill Biden.  Has Ralph lost a few miles per hour off his fashion fastball with the wallpaper dresses Jill sports?

Fashionista Pants Suit Hillary got hers.  Biden got a Clinton Foundation humanitarian award back in September.  Maybe dropping out of the race was humane.  If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

Yesterday news broke that Smoking Joe is banning offshore oil exploration in 645 million acres along the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf Coast.  It’ll take months of court wrangling to reverse that one effectively poking a stick in the eye of Donald Trump’s vision to “drill baby, drill.”   Somehow the west side of the Gulf Coast was spared.  Texas and Louisiana don’t need environmental protection it seems.

Last week Biden approved governmental work from home through 2029 covering the Trump four years.  This will help the people who serve the people to dodge DOGE.  Take that Elon!  How this helps Americans who want a leaner and more productive government is anyone’s guess.

With the clock ticking how else can career public servant Biden help?  Surely there are more greenbacks in the government coffers to spread around.  Maybe another Green New Deal giveaway?  Is Ukraine running low on American cash again?  What about a Delaware Beach Enhancement Project?

Will Donald J Trump drill Biden in person during his inaugural speech?  Or will he stay above it?

Drill baby, drill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nine Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Inflation has hit BBR as well.  We contemplated a price increase but decided instead to cut the product back and maintain the price.

The quality is still here, but the quantity is one less.  Your beltline wins too!

  1.  Things aren’t all bad on the inflation front though.  The average price for a gallon of gas fell almost three cents in the last week.  That leaves it only 49% higher than a year ago, down from 50%.  The Biden team took a victory lap around the White House over the news.  Transitory we were once told.
  2.  A week before Jolly Old Saint Nick fires up the sleigh curmudgeon old Joe Biden had a sobering message for the unvaccinated: “We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death if you’re unvaccinated,” Biden said.  For themselves, their family, and the hospital they’ll soon overwhelm.”
  3. President James “Jimmy” Carter asked us to turn up our thermostats in the winter of the gas shortage of 1977.  Depressing.  That was a few years before his botched Iranian hostage rescue attempt went down in flames. Depressing.  The sky wasn’t falling then and it isn’t now in spite of Joe’s dire message.
  4. Speaking of speaking, botched, and Biden, yesterday’s presentation to Medal of Honor recipient Alwyn Cashe went wrong during a White House ceremony on Thursday.  For starters, Biden was 37 minutes late to the ceremony.  He then mispronounced Cashe’s name twice despite having a teleprompter in front of him.   Other than that Mrs. Cashe (who accepted the honor for her late husband) how was the rest of the play/ceremony?
  5. Biden’s verbal flub was not the only mistake in the ceremony.  As the narrator read Biden’s citation, he announced the Medal of Honor was being awarded to Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee as well, but “posthumously,” even though he was standing right next to the president.  Mark Twain chimed in and said, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
  6. The Twitter war between Elon Musk and Senator Elizabeth Warren was a doozie.  Elon landed several written jabs, but the haymaker was calling her Senator Karen.  You know it was great when MSNBC’s (no) Joy Reid had to throw in the towel.  She said that the “Karen” jab at Warren was “misappropriating black vernacular,” whatever the hell that means.  Reid is on the way out at MSNBC.  You can feel it.  We wonder how Karen would translate into Cherokee.
  7. Cops investigating the shooting death on the set of Rust got a search warrant for Alec Baldwin’s cell phone.  Baldwin appeared on ABC News George Stephanopoulos a couple of weeks back to explain that he didn’t shoot the gun that he was holding killing Halyna Hutchins.  Does that sound like the media coverage of the driver of the SUV  that didn’t run down and kill the Waukesha parade-goers, the SUV did.  One was very likely an accident, the other on purpose.  But still, let’s not kid ourselves.  Someone pulled a trigger.
  8. Dr. Peter McCullough, whose video we highly recommended last week, appeared on a Joe Rogan podcast this week.  It’s gone internet viral faster than the Omicron variant spread after Biden tightened the tests before international flights could come into America.  The good doctor said to Rogan,” There is no bigger public health crisis than the censorship in Covid -19.”
  9. Dr. Fauci says that we should require our holiday guests to show proof of vaccination before entering our homes.  Meanwhile, college and pro football stadiums are packed to capacity weekly since September.  Fauci reminds us of the Chevy Chase character in Vegas Vacation.  Ole Clark Griswold couldn’t win a bet in the casino guessing which hand, odd or even, nor heads or tails.
  10. Ok, ok, ok, we couldn’t help ourselves.   You’ll get ten after all.  Fired former Chris Cuomo producer John Griffin had all of his electronic devices seized by law enforcement 17 months ago.  This is CNN.  The FBI didn’t arrest him in the child trafficking heinous mess until 6 days ago.  They stormed Jeffery Epstein’s island quicker than that.  Barely.  This is the FBI.