What Donald Trump's Wall Says to the World (VIDEO)

From Patrick Buchanan, at Real Clear Politics, "What Trump's Wall Says to the World":

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote poet Robert Frost in the opening line of "Mending Walls."

And on the American left there is something like revulsion at the idea of the "beautiful wall" President Trump intends to build along the 1,900-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico.

The opposition's arguments are usually rooted in economics or practicality. The wall is unnecessary. It will not stop people from coming illegally. It costs too much.

Yet something deeper is afoot here. The idea of a permanent barrier between our countries goes to the heart of the divide between our two Americas on the most fundamental of questions.

Who are we? What is a nation? What does America stand for?

Those desperate to see the wall built, illegal immigration halted, and those here illegally deported, see the country they grew up in as dying, disappearing, with something strange and foreign taking its place.

It is not only that illegal migrants take jobs from Americans, that they commit crimes, or that so many require subsidized food, welfare, housing, education and health care. It is that they are changing our country. They are changing who we are...

Keep reading.

The National Elite Nervous Breakdown

From JPod, at Commentary:

The National Elite Nervous Breakdown - by @jpodhoretz https://t.co/oytEkuaWcL pic.twitter.com/sxjdhmkzxI

— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) January 26, 2017

It cannot go on like this. It’s been five days since the inaugural and the adrenalized, hypercaffeinated, speed-freak affect of the entire chattering class is beginning to seem like we’re living through Bob Woodward’s classic depiction in his book Wired of John Belushi’s final overcharged sleepless days before dying from a cocaine speedball overdose in 1981.

If every word out of Donald Trump’s mouth is greeted with shrieks of horror and rage and anger and despair and hysteria by his opponents, they are going to find it impossible to serve as any kind of effective opposition to him. If media spends their hours celebrating each other for the most creative or the most direct way in which to call Trump a liar, they are going to take their (our) taste for self-referential solipsism to a new level at which their capacity to communicate with their own readers and viewers will be fatally compromised. And just at the moment when they could find new audiences and new credibility in serving as an authoritative source of information in a sea of White House spin and outright disinformation.

This is where the follow-through on Saturday’s “women’s marches” will tell the tale. It would be a terrible mistake for conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters to pooh-pooh this mass event, which happened simultaneously in several cities and towns, with a gross turnout dwarfing any mass protest in American history. Dismissing three million people taking to the streets nationwide would be an act of willful blindness, and ascribing the march’s success to Soros money would be foolish.

Similarly, it would be wrong to assume those crowds even heard a single word of Madonna’s curses or cared one whit about the fight between the “check your privilege” activists and the offended/cowed Brooklynite feminists over whose march it was. It was no one’s march. It was everyone’s march. And it worked, I believe, for one reason: It had a simple message. That message: We don’t like Trump and his behavior toward women...

Actually, I'm totally impressed.

But it's still almost four years until the country votes again for the presidency. A lot can happen in that time, but if the left keeps up with mass protests, they could have a big effect on public opinion, especially with a hate-addled, Democrat-compliant mass media.

But keep reading.

America's Second Civil War

From Dennis Prager (I love Dennis Prager), at RealClearPolitics (via Stephen Green, at Instapundit):

It is time for our society to acknowledge a sad truth: America is currently fighting its second Civil War.

In fact, with the obvious and enormous exception of attitudes toward slavery, Americans are more divided morally, ideologically and politically today than they were during the Civil War. For that reason, just as the Great War came to be known as World War I once there was World War II, the Civil War will become known as the First Civil War when more Americans come to regard the current battle as the Second Civil War.

This Second Civil War, fortunately, differs in another critically important way: It has thus far been largely nonviolent. But given increasing left-wing violence, such as riots, the taking over of college presidents' offices and the illegal occupation of state capitols, nonviolence is not guaranteed to be a permanent characteristic of the Second Civil War.

There are those on both the left and right who call for American unity. But these calls are either naive or disingenuous. Unity was possible between the right and liberals, but not between the right and the left.

Liberalism -- which was anti-left, pro-American and deeply committed to the Judeo-Christian foundations of America; and which regarded the melting pot as the American ideal, fought for free speech for its opponents, regarded Western civilization as the greatest moral and artistic human achievement and viewed the celebration of racial identity as racism -- is now affirmed almost exclusively on the right and among a handful of people who don't call themselves conservative.

The left, however, is opposed to every one of those core principles of liberalism.

Like the left in every other country, the left in America essentially sees America as a racist, xenophobic, colonialist, imperialist, warmongering, money-worshipping, moronically religious nation.

Just as in Western Europe, the left in America seeks to erase America's Judeo-Christian foundations. The melting pot is regarded as nothing more than an anti-black, anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic meme. The left suppresses free speech wherever possible for those who oppose it, labeling all non-left speech "hate speech." To cite only one example, if you think Shakespeare is the greatest playwright or Bach is the greatest composer, you are a proponent of dead white European males and therefore racist.

Without any important value held in common, how can there be unity between left and non-left? Obviously, there cannot...

Keep reading.

It's TNAC, "The New American Civil War," which I've been arguing for a while now.

President Trump's Executive Actions Bring Progressives Back to Earth

This is great.

At Roll Call:

Unless progressives can turn mass Trump outrage into real pressure and power, they're in for a long 4 years https://t.co/epaJk4hrVe pic.twitter.com/lx8uLNwtqO

— Roll Call (@rollcall) January 24, 2017

President Donald Trump’s opponents spent inauguration weekend invigorated by their show of strength in Washington and around the country, but Trump brought them back down to earth Monday and Tuesday with a couple flicks of his pen on executive actions that struck against much of what they hold dear.

Trump signed executive actions Tuesday forcing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to go forward. Years of progressive organizing against Keystone on the grounds of environmental and climate concerns succeeded in getting former President Barack Obama to cancel it in 2015.

A ferocious direct action campaign by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe attempted to physically block the pipeline from being built on their land. In addition to concerns about the climate and the use of fossil fuels generally, activists aimed to prevent their water from being made unusable by oil spills. The Army Corps of Engineers refused permission to extend the pipeline in December, giving activists hope that the fight was won.

Now those victories appear to have been temporary...

White House Press Room Seating Chart

The Associated Press always gets front and center, although this year the organization was dissed on getting the first question, a first.

At Politico, "The White House press room seating chart."

As far as I can tell, this WH briefing room seating chart still stands for those wondering who is being called on https://t.co/PD8uZxNFy4

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) January 24, 2017

#PresidentTrump Expected to Sign Order Banning Migrants from the Middle East

Well, it's a limited, temporary order.

But's it's exactly what he said he'd do during the campaign. Word is he'll sign an order to start building the wall with Mexico tomorrow as well.

Red meat, baby. Red meat.

All those protests, and the progressive marchers will be seething this week, as their most cherished policy priorities get smashed like a cheap piece of pottery.

#PresidentTrump to 'ban migrants from Syria; sign order on border wall tomorrow. #MAGA #TRUMP https://t.co/d75GwfWcvv

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 25, 2017

Unhinged Anti-Trump Protester Screams 'NO!' as Donald Trump Inaugurated as President (VIDEO)

Seriously, these people are nuts.

At Twitchy, "‘Can’t get enough’! WATCH: This anti-Trump protester’s meltdown is one for the ages."

The left's collective reaction to #PresidentTrump's #Inauguration lol. https://t.co/dOMYSRffA7

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 20, 2017

HAHAHAHAH #MAGA #Inauguration #ProtestTheInauguration pic.twitter.com/r8Hd0jHJlr

— ≠The Frog God≠ (@FrogGod14) January 20, 2017

WATCH: Inaugural Address of President Donald J. Trump (VIDEO)

At the Washington Post, via Memeorandum, "Donald Trump's inaugural address: Full text as prepared for delivery."

Leftist heads are exploding at this address. I love it!

Leftist heads are exploding across the land. #Inauguration #DonaldTrump #MAGA

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 20, 2017

#Inauguration Day

The photo's from November 9th at the West Wing.

For some reason, it's just now going viral. But my god, look at those smug sum-bitchs, lol.

Click on the tweet to see the hilarious responses. I swear if Donald Trump's even a one-term president the schadenfreude's going to last a lifetime.

Photo of the Decade, right here pic.twitter.com/yC7EqDf9zy

— The H2 (@TheH2) January 20, 2017

'Don of a New Day'

An unusual symmetry among the New York tabloids.

It's going to be a great day, like a national holiday.

Now this is rare. They match. pic.twitter.com/AKqiYouMWC

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) January 20, 2017

Ivanka Trump Arrives in Washington

What a day.

I don't think I can stay up all night, heh.

I'm at my mom's house. She's going to wake me up just in case. Festivities begin early for those of us on the West Coast.

Arriving in Washington DC with my family. A very special moment! #MAGA #Inauguration2017 pic.twitter.com/whZxJdFiQ3

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 19, 2017

Democrats in the Wilderness

Big Fur Hat is pleased as punch with this piece, at Politco, "Inside a decimated party’s not-so-certain revival strategy":

Democrats in the Wilderness https://t.co/EH0W3PkpDl via @IsaacDovere in @POLITICOMag pic.twitter.com/EPv1UbFra4

— POLITICO (@politico) January 19, 2017

Standing with some 30,000 people in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia the night before the election watching Hillary Clinton speak, exhausted aides were already worrying about what would come next. They expected her to win, of course, but they knew President Clinton was going to get thrashed in the 2018 midterms—the races were tilted in Republicans’ favor, and that’s when they thought the backlash would really hit. Many assumed she’d be a one-term president. They figured she’d get a primary challenge. Some of them had already started gaming out names for who it would be.

“Last night I stood at your doorstep / Trying to figure out what went wrong,” Bruce Springsteen sang quietly to the crowd in what he called “a prayer for post-election.” “It’s gonna be a long walk home.”

What happened the next night shocked even the most pessimistic Democrats. But in another sense, it was the reckoning the party had been expecting for years. They were counting on a Clinton win to paper over a deeper rot they’ve been worrying about—and to buy them some time to start coming up with answers. In other words, it wasn’t just Donald Trump. Or the Russians. Or James Comey. Or all the problems with how Clinton and her aides ran the campaign. Win or lose, Democrats were facing an existential crisis in the years ahead—the result of years of complacency, ignoring the withering of the grass roots and the state parties, sitting by as Republicans racked up local win after local win.

“The patient,” says Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, “was clearly already sick.”

As Trump takes over the GOP and starts remaking its new identity as a nationalist, populist party, creating a new political pole in American politics for the first time in generations, all eyes are on the Democrats.

How will they confront a suddenly awakened, and galvanized, white majority? What’s to stop Trump from doing whatever he wants? Who’s going to pull a coherent new vision together? Worried liberals are watching with trepidation, fearful that Trump is just the beginning of worse to come, desperate for a comeback strategy that can work.

What’s clear from interviews with several dozen top Democratic politicians and operatives at all levels, however, is that there is no comeback strategy—just a collection of half-formed ideas, all of them challenged by reality. And for whatever scheme they come up with, Democrats don’t even have a flag-carrier. Barack Obama? He doesn’t want the job. Hillary Clinton? Too damaged. Bernie Sanders? Too socialist. Joe Biden? Too tied to Obama. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? Too Washington. Elizabeth Warren? Maybe. And all of them old, old, old.

The Democrats’ desolation is staggering. But part of the problem is that it’s easy to point to signs that maybe things aren’t so bad. After all, Clinton did beat Trump by 2.8 million votes, Obama’s approval rating is nearly 60 percent, polls show Democrats way ahead of the GOP on many issues and demographics suggest that gap will only grow. But they are stuck in the minority in Congress with no end in sight, have only 16 governors left and face 32 state legislatures fully under GOP control. Their top leaders in the House are all over 70. Their top leaders in the Senate are all over 60. Under Obama, Democrats have lost 1,034 seats at the state and federal level—there’s no bench, no bench for a bench, virtually no one able to speak for the party as a whole.

“The fact that our job should be easier just shows how poorly we’re doing the job,” says Massachusetts Representative Seth Moulton, an Iraq War veteran seen as one of the party’s rising stars.There are now fewer than 700 days until Election Day 2018, as internal memos circulating among Democratic strategists point out with alarm. They differ in their prescriptions, but all boil down to the same inconvenient truth: If Republicans dominate the 2018 midterms, they will control the Senate (and with it, the Supreme Court) for years, and they will draw district lines in states that will lock in majorities in the House and across state capitals, killing the next generation of Democrats in the crib, setting up the GOP for an even more dominant 2020 and beyond.

Most doubt Democrats have the stamina or the stomach for the kind of cohesive resistance that Republicans perfected over the years. In their guts, they want to say yes to government doing things, and they’re already getting drawn in by promises to work with Trump and the Republican majorities. They’re heading into the next elections with their brains scrambled by Trump’s win, side-eyeing one another over who’s going to sell out the rest, nervous the incoming president will keep outmaneuvering them in the media and throw up more targets than they could ever hope to shoot at—and all of this from an election that was supposed to cement their claim on the future.

Some thinking has started to take shape. Obama is quickly reformatting his post-presidency to have a more political bent than he had planned. Vice President Joe Biden is beginning to structure his own thoughts on mentoring and guiding rising Democrats. (No one seems to be waiting to hear from Clinton.) At the law office of former Attorney General Eric Holder, which is serving as the base for the redistricting reform project he is heading for Obama, they’re getting swarmed with interest and checks. At the Democratic Governors Association, all of a sudden looking like the headquarters of the resistance, they’re sorting through a spike in interested candidates. And everyone from Obama on down is talking about going local, focusing on the kinds of small races and party-building activities Republicans have been dominating for cycle after cycle.

But all that took decades, and Democrats have no time. What are they going to do next? There hasn’t been an American political party in worse shape in living memory. And there may never have been a party less ready to confront it.

“We’re at a space shuttle moment,” says Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who is widely expected to run statewide soon in Georgia.

“The most vulnerable time for the space shuttle is when it re-enters the environment, so that when it comes back into the environment it doesn’t blow up. The tiles need to be tight. I’m concerned about the tightness of the tiles on the space shuttle right now. We have to get through this heat.”

Still more.

Leftists Call for Donald Trump's Assassination on Twitter

This lady's already been reported to law enforcement, and I guess she's wearing her threats (which won't be prosecuted) as a badge of honor.

As of this entry goes live, she's been retweeted 200 times:

With the amount of people who are disgusted by him, what makes him qualified to be our president? SOMEBODY ASSASSINATE HIM BEFORE TOMORROW!!

— Tracy (@tracypickerill) January 19, 2017

PREVIOUSLY: "Assassinating Trump Could Keep Obama in Power (VIDEO)."

ADDED: Scrolling through this woman's feed, she's wished death on Donald Trump before: "I hope he chokes on his chicken."

UPDATE: As you can see, the woman deleted that tweet, but the internet is forever:

HEy @DenverPolice maybe you should have a word with @tracypickerill . pic.twitter.com/Z07Unyc542

— JP Brown (@JPB209) January 19, 2017

Assassinating Trump Could Keep Obama in Power (VIDEO)

I don't like all this talk, and no, "assassinating Trump" wouldn't keep Obama in power. Mike Pence would become president if something happened to him, but why the speculation anyway? It makes me sick.

At Breitbart, "CNN: Assassinating Trump Could Keep Obama Administration in Power."

I seriously don't think we need news reports about designated survivors at this moment. Jeez.

BEYOND EVIL! #CNN assassinating Trump could keep Obama in power! https://t.co/w5fQGHUKi9 #Trump45 @realDonaldTrump @LouDobbs @seanhannity

— Lori Hendry (@Lrihendry) January 19, 2017

'Trump Is an American Hitler'

He's not, but these "refuse fascism" cadres are dead set on the idea.

I am literally praying my ass off tonight. I've been fearing something untoward happening tomorrow.

I watched the inaugural concert moments ago, and President-Elect Trump and his family were behind bullet proof glass. But then he got up to speak to the crowd! I'm like, he's out in the open! He's vulnerable!

I imagine there's more security in D.C. right now than there's even been in American history, even more on hand than there was for all of Barack Hussein's festivities. Will Trump get out of the presidential limo tomorrow and walk down Pennsylvania Avenue?

I imagine he will. I guess I just need to have confidence that the security is rock solid.

I blogged about the "Refuse Fascism" group earlier. Robert Stacy McCain posts a clear incitation to violence, which I can't see how that's protected speech, but whatever: "Come to D.C. Take to the streets. Do not leave with fascists in office."

Trump is an American Hitler. Ppl in the streets 2nite are standing on the right side of history. #TruthTeller #heroes #NoFascistUSA #FloodDC pic.twitter.com/IXauEo0kQL

— #NoFascistUSA (@RefuseFascism) January 18, 2017

Transfer of Twitter Presidential Accounts

Following-up from yesterday, "Donald Trump Establishes Twitter as Means of Communication for Future Presidents (VIDEO)."

From Hadas Gold, at Politico:

Another transfer of power happening tomorrow? The Twitter accounts. here’s a peak into how it’s happening via @MorningTech pic.twitter.com/eb836boGPZ

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) January 19, 2017

Hey Lefitsts, a Little Something for Your Butt-Hurt?

Heh.

Seen on Twitter.

Maybe everyone that is never Trump will find this helpful. pic.twitter.com/FomzdYzhgO

— Russian Hotties (@hottiesfortrump) January 17, 2017

Donald Trump Establishes Twitter as Means of Communication for Future Presidents (VIDEO)

Donald Trump will continue to use his personal Twitter feed after taking office.

See Lifezette, "Trump Will Keep Using His Personal Twitter Account."

Now, the ladies on this morning's "Outnumbered" argued that Trump has (concomitantly) changed expectations for presidential communications in future administrations. Of course, this remains to be seen, especially since it's not clear that Twitter boasts a sustainable business model. Maybe'll the platform'll go out of business before too long.

We'll see, but those arguing that Trump should get off Twitter and "grow up" haven't grasped the fundamental transformation of politics in 2016 (into 2017 and beyond). Trump broke the normative expectations for how to win in modern politics. He not only goes over the heads of traditional media outlets (dead-tree dinosaurs), but he fights back when attacked, or when he's appalled at the terribly biased coverage. Leftists can't stand it. They still haven't grasped how badly they screwed up (and how badly they underestimated Trump's uncanny ability to tap into popular anxieties).

In any case, via Fox News, "How Trump Has Changed Twitter for Future Presidents."

Writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to Friday. #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/S701FdTCQu

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2017

Populism Isn't a Threat to Democracy, But a Vibrant Manifestation of It

Following-up, "Fascism vs. Right-Wing Populism."

I don't believe so-called "right-wing populism" is a threat to democracy. What it is is a threat to the morally bankrupt, far-left globalist agenda, and radical progressives across the institutional spectrum, from Hollywood-types, the leftist media, far-left academe, and the radical left's NGO network, working hand-in-hand to delegitimize the grassroots popular surge against the political class, seen in Brexit to Trump and beyond.

The latest case in point is Kenneth Roth, and his piece up at Foreign Policy, "Dark Days: The Global Rise of Populism is a Dangerous Threat to Democracy and Human Rights":

Today the greatest long-term threat to rights is the rise of populism in the West. I describe this worrying trend: https://t.co/n9vXGpIItq

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) January 12, 2017

The global rise of populists poses a dangerous threat to human rights — which exist to protect people from governments. Yet today, a new generation of populists is reversing that role. Claiming to speak for “the people,” they treat rights as an impediment to their conception of the majority will, a needless obstacle to defending the nation from perceived threats and evils. Instead of accepting that rights protect everyone, they encourage people to adopt the dangerous belief that they will never need their rights against an overreaching government claiming to act in their name.

The appeal of the populists has grown with mounting public discontent over the status quo. In the West, many people feel left behind by technological change, the global economy, and growing inequality. Terrorism sows apprehension and fear. Some are uneasy with societies that have become more ethnically, religiously, and racially diverse. There is an increasing sense that governments and the elite ignore public concerns.

In this cauldron of discontent, a certain breed of politician is flourishing by portraying rights as protecting only the terrorist suspect or the asylum-seeker at the expense of the safety, economic welfare, and cultural preferences of the presumed majority. They scapegoat refugees, immigrant communities, and minorities. Truth is a frequent casualty. Nativism, xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, and misogyny are on the rise.

But if these voices of intolerance prevail, the world risks entering a dark era. We should never underestimate the tendency of demagogues who sacrifice the rights of others in our name today to jettison our rights tomorrow when their real priority — retaining power — is in jeopardy.

And you know what's coming: When leftists start going off on nativism, xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and blah, blah, the dreaded "F" word is just around the corner.

See, more from Roth:

We see a similar scapegoating of asylum-seekers, immigrant communities, and Muslims in Europe. Leading the charge have been Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, but there are echoes of these arguments of intolerance in the Brexit campaign, the rhetoric of Viktor Orban in Hungary and Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Poland, and far-right parties from Germany to Greece. Throughout the European continent, officials and politicians hark back to distant, even fanciful, times of perceived national ethnic purity, despite established immigrant communities whose integration as productive members of society is undermined by this hostility.

We forget at our peril the demagogues of yesteryear — the fascists, communists, and their ilk who claimed privileged insight into the majority’s interest but ended up crushing the individual. When populists treat rights as an obstacle to their vision of the majority will, it is only a matter of time before they turn on those who disagree with their agenda. Such claims of unfettered majoritarianism, and the attacks on the checks and balances that constrain governmental power, are perhaps the greatest danger today to the future of democracy in the West. They threaten to reverse the accomplishments of the modern human rights movement...

Voices like Roth's are the voices you need to ignore.

Democracy's not under threat. There is no wave of "xenophobia" and "racism." And the so-called "nativist" tide is a righteous populist revolt against the out-of-touch elites in both the U.S. and Europe, who've brought on an unprecedented crisis of jihad terror and political correctness. It's these scourges, and the neo-communist economic policies that go with them --- that threaten world order and the survival of democracy.

Spread the word. Keep fighting for freedom. Make America Great Again!

George Soros Bet Against Donald Trump, and Lost Big

This story makes my day!

Soros Lost Nearly $1 Billion In Weeks Following U.S. Election After Betting Big Against Trump… https://t.co/zrlhZPTMNQ

— Weasel Zippers (@weaselzippers) January 12, 2017

Well dang. Serves him right too lol. https://t.co/qEQxehsiwB

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 12, 2017

Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros has lost nearly $1 billion in the Trump rally https://t.co/3ccEEpCq2A

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 12, 2017