By Daniel Bobinski
Does anyone remember hundreds of thousands of protesters flooding the streets of Hong Kong? Only a few months ago, demonstrators were waving American flags, singing America’s national anthem, and asking the United States to help them deal with China’s oppressive policies.
Videos traveling at the speed of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube showed Chinese police firing tear gas to disperse crowds – and sometimes actual bullets. It was a political nightmare for China with no apparent way to save face.
Or so it appeared.
Trump’s successes and the rise of populism
Let’s also remember the waves of populism and liberty weren’t hitting only the shores of Hong Kong. Pro-nationalist and pro-populist movements were popping up all over the world, and it seemed like Leftists were losing their grip. It felt like Trump had blazed a trail, emboldening the world’s population to say “no” to socialism and Leftist control.
Whereas Barack Obama became famous for his apology tours, Trump was getting famous for his patriotic rallies. He had America eating out of his hand as he touted his record economic successes:
- More than 7 million jobs added to the economy
- Lowest unemployment in half a century
- Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma at record lows
- Median household income the highest level on record
- Middle-class and low-income workers are enjoying faster wage growth than high-earners
- 4 million Americans lifted out of poverty
- Small business optimism at a historical high
- The Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all reaching record highs
That’s just the highlights. The list of Trump’s accomplishments was quite long.
Embarrassment for the Left
Since before Trump was inaugurated, the Left has been trying to get rid of him. First, we had the Russian collusion story, which turned out to be an embarrassing hoax. The hoopla about Justice Kavanaugh turned out to be a hoax. And despite Adam Schiff’s and Nancy Pelosi’s best efforts, the public saw through their impeachment theatrics and the proceedings led to an increase in Trump’s approval rating.
No matter how much mud the Deep State threw at Donald Trump, nothing was sticking. In fact, it was backfiring.
The Left has also been embarrassed by their own political rallies. Tens of thousands would stand in line at stadiums to see Trump speak. And if they couldn’t get in, they’d gladly stand out in the cold and watch on a jumbotron. By contrast, Biden still has difficulty filling a high school gymnasium.
Suffice it to say the globalist/Leftist crowd is not happy with the idea of Biden leading the Democrat’s ticket. Even the Left’s journalists have been writing articles with titles like, “The Democratic Party’s Campaign to Re-Elect President Trump.”
In all of this, we need to remember something. Just before the 2018 midterm elections, Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time,” offered an idea for getting rid of President Trump. Newsweek reported that, “[Maher] hopes the American economy will crash so that President Donald Trump will be voted out of office.”
In a video linked in the Newsweek article, Maher says,
"I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point, and by the way, I'm hoping for it, because I think one way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy. So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people but it's either root for a recession, or you lose your democracy."
Damage the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of American lives just so Democrats can get their way? Hang on to that thought.
Enter “the virus”
On January 6, of 2020, authorities in Hong Kong were given the right to quarantine patients, but it wasn’t until January 25 that an emergency was declared. It’s curious that the virus, emerging from China’s Wuhan province, was allowed to spread, even though their government knew about it. But I’m sure the Chinese government didn’t complain when the protests evaporated almost overnight and the streets of Hong Kong were empty.
Less than a week later, on January 31, seven cases of the virus had been identified in the United States, so the Trump administration banned most travel from China. But people coming from China may visit other countries before coming to the United States, so not every person who was carrying the virus was going to be stopped and quarantined. And not every country was banning flights from China.
Said another way, the genie was out of the bottle, and the virus spread.
The Left finally found traction
There’s still much to be learned about how the COVID-19 virus started, but we can examine that topic in future columns. What I want to highlight today is that after so much effort by the Left to take down Trump using twisted pretzel logic and concocted stories, they finally found a way to gain traction in their effort to smear the man.
The Left is leaning heavily on a quote used by Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff and former Chicago mayor, Rahm Emmanuel: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
One would hope our whole government (both the Left and the Right) would be working together as a team to manage the COVID-19 situation in the best way for the American people. Instead, the Left’s propaganda machine is working overtime, attacking Trump at every turn, attempting to inflict maximum damage and erase his list of successes.
Why? Because the Left is in a war for political survival. Nothing else has worked and time is short, so they’re choosing scorched-earth tactics. They try hard to sound like they care about American lives, but they love nothing more than seeing Trump’s s successes erased, and they are taking every opportunity to blame him for what’s happening.
I remind you of Bill Maher’s statement: “Please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people." And Rahm Emmanuel’s statement: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
The Left doesn’t care about your pain
We keep hearing the phrase, “Flatten the curve!” Interestingly, a science teacher (who wished to remain unnamed) informed me this is an incorrect term. “You can’t flatten it,” she said, “You can only elongate it.” She said the purpose of social distancing, “isn’t to prevent people from being exposed, it’s just to help keep the health care system from being overwhelmed.”
This was reiterated by Larry Brilliant, the epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox. In a March 22 article at Wired.com, Brilliant said, “By slowing it down or flattening it, we're not going to decrease the total number of cases, we're going to postpone many cases.”
The current effort to elongate the curve means a stretched-out period in which business doors are shut. That means people out of work. At the time of this writing, an estimated 3 million people are expected to apply for unemployment, and the jobless rate is expected to soar to 30 percent.
Just like the protests in Hong Kong, almost overnight, Trump’s bragging rights have evaporated.
With Bill Maher’s statement in mind, we must ask ourselves: “Is it possible Leftists will do whatever they can – in a passive-aggressive fashion, of course – to amplify Americans’ pain to extend this crisis?” They desperately want to win the White House in November, and if Trump is allowed to enact policies that bring back the economy, they will be embarrassed again.
As of this writing, the Left has twice voted down a bi-partisan bill to fight COVID-19 and help the economy. Not surprisingly, Pelosi introduced her own plan, which was full of unnecessary pork. When it’s rejected, it’s an easy bet that the Left will smugly say Trump and his party are obstacles to the recovery. (Remember the phrase, “passive-aggressive”?) In fact, the New York Times is already accusing Republicans of stalling economic relief, even before Pelosi’s plan is considered.
Past proves future?
As proof that the Left isn’t ashamed to inflict unnecessary pain on innocent Americans just so they can get their way, let me call your attention to the government shut down in 2013. There’s an open-air World War II memorial in Washington DC that was built by private funds and maintained by private funds held in trust. There are no doors or gates. Anyone can just stroll up 24/7 and visit the memorial.
But during the October, 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration exempted seven workers from their furloughs to set up barricades, blocking people’s access to the memorial. More specifically, the Left spent money the government didn’t have to block off a memorial that wasn’t theirs to block, all for the sole purpose of inconveniencing Americans to make Republicans look bad.
Thankfully, when a large group of WWII veterans, who had previously organized a trip to the memorial, arrived at the barricades, they said, “To hell with this,” and they broke though.
Don’t be fooled – the media is complicit
As I’ve previously written, legacy media is essentially the propaganda department of the socialist / Marxist / Democrat party. Thus, they are right in line with making Trump look as bad as possible.
The New York Times wrote, “With another fall on Friday, the Dow Jones average is now lower than it was when President Trump took office. Before he was sworn in as president, Donald J. Trump made clear that he would treat the stock market as a crucial yardstick of his success in office.”
Implication? The market is now worse than when Trump took office – so by his own yardstick, he’s not a success. (No mention that the market experienced sizable gains since Trump’s inauguration and was at record highs a month ago.)
The Independent tells us, “[I]f President Trump continues to stumble in his handling of the situation, it may well affect his chances of re-election. Joe Biden in particular has identified Covid-19 as a weakness for Trump, promising “steady, reassuring” leadership during America’s hour of need.”
Emotional imprint: Trump is stumbling, Biden will be steady and reassuring. (No mention that even the New York Times says Biden is rarely steady.)
Hundreds of similar articles exist, and TV journalists are lock step with them. The fact that they can’t even be neutral when reporting on Trump washed afresh over me this past week when I saw a friend’s post on Facebook:
“Trying to watch the news, which we almost never watch. NBC News for SHAME! You used to be a reliable source of balanced perspective. How can anyone trust you when you turn even GOOD news into political drama? They're turning the news into a complete brainwash of political crap. They should be ashamed. No wonder people are panicking. No wonder folks are hoarding.”
She went on to say:
“They basically apologized for Trump's speech, saying he didn’t talk about anything anyone wanted to hear, and then went on to criticize him instead of reporting what was actually said. I wish they would actually do their job and report the NEWS.”
Know the truth
Every virus that ever devastated a population and its economy eventually went away. The same will be true of COVID-19. Protesters in Hong Kong know this. The Hong Kong Free Press is reporting that, in a best-case scenario, COVID-19 could be brought under control by April or May. Protesters there are saying that when that happens, their protests against the Chinese government will resume.
What Americans must remember is that our economy will eventually resume, too. We must also remember the Left will do whatever they believe necessary to make us forget that. They are beyond desperate to win the White House, and since they’ve had nothing but embarrassment for three years, this present crisis is the only thing giving them traction. They don’t want to give that up.
So expect to see scorched-earth tactics. And expect those tactics to be disguised with lots of American flags, or passive-aggressively tucked into speeches about “the vulnerable among us.” Just remember that once the curve is behind us, the same Trump policies that brought America so much winning will take us back there once again.
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Daniel Bobinski, M.Ed. is a certified behavioral analyst, best-selling author, columnist, corporate trainer, and keynote speaker. He’s also a veteran and a self-described Christian Libertarian who believes in the principles of free market capitalism – while standing firmly against crony capitalism. Daniel writes on both workplace issues and political issues for multiple publications, but in his ideal world he’d be a speechwriter for President Trump.
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