Cheat fatigue and the Republican soul.

A long time ago (2008), in a state far, far away (Minnesota), Al Fraken was able to steal an election.   Long before that, Democrats tried to steal a presidency. More than once. Now they are trying to steal the governorship in Florida.  They just got away with it in Arizona too.

Wait, go back - wasn't that the same scandal-ridden Broward county election official in 2000 who is trying to steal a win for a socialist Democrat today?  Yep.

The cheating is ridiculous, and Democrats count on a number of things to happen to get away with this sort of crap. (1) people won't notice - it's a week out from the election, the top level winners are set, so these less-national races might get overlooked (2) they have a compliant media to spin the "every vote count" narrative, which usually means - count the votes with the extra ballots we've been stuffing in since we realized we lost (and don't exclude the ballots we stuffed in before that either). (3) fatigue.

That last one is important.  Democrats are relentless in their pursuit of power and they hope that those who want to drain the swamp just run out of their willingness to fight back in the face of absolute corruption - cheat fatigue.

I get that, I'm exhausted at this point trying to combat Democrat malfeasance.  It's an endless deluge of toxic filth and those of us who fight back feel like we are trying to fight a tsunami.  It cannot be done alone, and Republicans, Tea Party groups and various conservative Think Tanks are at best only marginally aligned on message, and effort.

The Republican soul is one of liberty and individuality, not massive organized collaborative efforts.  There is strength and weakness in that, and it may be time to make a change in how we organize and fight the anarchy and bedlam of massive progressive efforts designed to wear us down like individuals rocks in an ocean tide.

Bad news fatigue

Honestly, I don't know how the Left do it - the constant barrage of spin and phony stories and attacks on conservatives and the president never lets up.  I have some suspicion as to how they manage it, and certainly as to why.  There are so many liberals in key media points (be it television or print, or social media) and the education system and in government that they can disperse the workload among millions of operatives so it's not like the right who have to rely on a few bastions who deserve our thanks for relentlessly standing up to it.  And of course the 'why' is simple - the Left cannot win on facts, so they rely on cacophony and volume rather than content in their messaging.

As a conservative blogger there are times I feel burnt out.  There are times I feel like everything I do doesn't matter at all.  Mind you, I can't let it stop me from trying.  That's what the Left wants.  It's exactly what those who control the megaphones - the social media platforms etc. - want. But despite my unwillingness (along with countless other small time bloggers) to knuckle under, the sheer volume of Leftist propaganda that oozes forth daily does from time to time result in bad news fatigue.  For example even Drudge today headlines this link, and this one.  

Either that's bad news fatigue setting in on conservative outposts like Drudge and Fox or else it's a reaction to the Left shouting from the rooftops that it's over for Republican's in 2018 (i.e. it's an attempt to scare the conservative base into turning out).  If it's the latter, I understand.  The Left believe in the fierce urgency of now.  The right do not hold that as a universal truth; we must win now, we must win next time, and we must win the time after that.  But even if that's the reason behind the messaging coming from the right, there are potential unintended consequences such as those on the right finally giving up.  It's always a risk; instead of the "We're going to crush the midterms so why do I need to show up?" mentality they might be fostering a "the situation is hopeless so why should I bother showing up" mentality.  Complacency or despair are our two choices?  How about a "this is going to be close and my voice matters" mentality as a third option?

Digging down into that Fox News story above about Democratic turnout in Texas, it's just the 15 biggest counties.  What about the rest of them?  What if it's a bunch of youth who are highly unlikely to turn out to vote in the midterms?  If this makes the Texas map more blue than before, that's a problem, but does anyone expect a massive Texas blowout for Democrats?  Really?

On the right we cannot be like the Left, we have to be honest with ourselves about the situation, and we have to find ways to strike a balance between bad news and good news and to keep ourselves engaged.  Bad news fatigue is not the answer; we expect that from the Left trying to discourage conservative voters - we don't need the surface level the sky is falling views from sources on the right as well.  Just saying.

Anti-Trump fatigue

This might be a bit ironic given my reminder-to-self yesterday, but I'm feeling a bit politically fatigued having to wade through so much anti-Trump vitriol from both the left and right to try and find something positive about this election cycle. I'm not about to panic and freak out, but I'm definitely feeling discouraged and prone to bouts of Olympics-watching instead of political coverage. I'm sure it will pass but it would definitely be helped along by some changes from Trump himself.

A little background.  I understand from a conservative perspective that Trump is not the ideal candidate for Republicans, conservatives or libertarians.  I get it.  I feel it too.  But I am 100% behind Trump right now for four reasons.

(1) The Supreme Court could see Clinton appoint 1,2 or even 4 Justices. The last Clinton to make appointments resulted in Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer - both reliable progressive liberal votes.  The court stands in the crux of becoming potentially reliably liberal for decades.  This would render the Constitution meaningless since liberals tend to view the document as always malleable to their current notions.  That alone should send shivers down the spine of those opposed to an American fiefdom of uber-connected and indentured servitude of the remainder of the population. And if you worry about the second amendment, Trump is right - 20 years from now that could be treated in a remarkably different way.

(2) The economy.  I'm willing to cast aside offhanded Trump statements about things like the minimum wage because I don't think he believes them.  I think like a liberal that he's been surrounded by for much of his life, he says something to placate those currently listening and he doesn't really believe it.  That's just like Hillary Clinton.  But at a more fundamental level, Trump's reason for running is that America is no longer great.  At his core he believes that taxes, cronyism and trade deals have been focused on helping the few at the expense of the many and/or have been so ill-conceived as to require re-work.  He wants jobs, he wants American exceptionalism and he wants energy independence.  He also wants legal immigration. None of that is wrong.  There's enough positivity in what Trump wants to outweigh the off-the-cuff sarcasm and rally-tally speechifying that is getting stale and provides unnecessary fodder for progressive, slanted journalists. 

(3) The future. Should Clinton win, there will be an entire generation who have never seen Republican leadership and their only instinct as to how conservatives would govern will come from a truly anti-conservative biased media. Do I need to spell out where that will lead America?  Millennials need to see conservatives in action be it populist nationalists like Trump or others within his team (see below) otherwise America will end up with a generation that sees the world as does Bernie Sanders rather than with a Reaganesque view of American exceptionalism.

The sum of those two arguments is basically this: the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. But there's a third reason.

(4) Pence.  Should Donald Trump succeed he's setting up Mike Pence as the next logical GOP nominee.  That would be a truly solid follow up should a Trump presidency prove rocky or erratic. Pence and other advisory roles within team Trump not only could steady his administration, they could become the next cadre of conservative leadership and that is not a bad thing the #NeverTrump crowd seems to be willfully overlooking.  

So that puts us where I stand on why Trump as being an imperfect vessel for a near-perfect conviction (conservatism, American exceptionalism, liberty and economic empowerment and strength).

Which leads me to the fatigue.  Media outlets have done their level best to abrogate any whiff of Clinton shortcomings and nefariously fabricate Trump deficits. They will continue to do so. Trump being Trump will continue to forge ahead as Trump and provide them with material to twist and then overplay as heinous traits.  Obama and Hillary have both telegraphed that intention to the media to run with.

Trying to overcome that as a blogger is like throwing snowballs at a mountain in hopes of knocking it down.  That leads to fatigue even though the alternative is to do nothing and succumb to Hillary's inevitability. Trump needs to overcome something - perhaps not his own style (which will not change) but the media.  Ronald Reagan was able to bypass the media and connect with people.  I'm sure Trump feels he's doing the same.  But he's not Reagan. He needs to allay a lot of fears in order to have any chance to resonate with those fed a steady diet of anti-Trump media rhetoric. He's got to sound wise.  He's got to sound steady and presidential (which REagan did exceptionally well) and he's got to sound credible.  That last one is key.  

Be it at the debates or from speech to speech, he has to start sounding like his agenda will make sense.  Until that time he cannot change the current media narrative and the attacks will continue.  Make no mistake, the media will change the narrative about Trump negativity on a dime if it has to do so, but that still has to happen. One narrative from now to election day will not enable Trump to catch up in the polls.  And the anti-Trump fatigue will likely continue and grow.  I'm not talking about myself here - I'm talking overall.  And as people off-board the Trump train, it will only get harder, so Trump has to do something soon.

Thursday Hillary Bash - Fatigue

I haven't commented about Hillary Clinton's declaration that she's running for president.  It's not because it was a foregone conclusion and therefore a non-event. And it was not because I haven't  had as much time to blog this year compared to years past.  Both of those points are true to some extent but they are not the reason for a dearth of Hillary bashing from me.  The real reason, is that after years of Thursday Hillary Bashes, I'm bored of her.  Call it Hillary fatigue. Should she become the next president there will be a wealth of problematic issues about which to blog. I'm not sure I'll be able to muster the desire to do so, though nevertheless, I will.  But my desire is not to continue to chronicle ineptitude in the White House, but rather to remove it, and take part in the discussion about a real, worthwhile way forward.

All that aside, there is a political consideration worth mentioning concerning Hillary Clinton and fatigue.  If I were a GOP strategist, I would harp on the notion of Hillary fatigue.  She's old. Remember the Democrats harping on the age of  Ronald Reagan?  Sure, they were unsuccessful, but the electorate today is younger in large part.  Obama youth can be turned off of Hillary Clinton. That's important from an electoral viewpoint.  And it's arguably different from turning them off of voting and civics. She does not equate to that.

Hillary Clinton will show flashes of energy and vibrancy in her candidacy.  But she will also show signs of fatigue.  That should be highlighted.

More importantly than her age, is the fatigue associated with her ideas.  They are stale.  They are tried and failed. They offer no way forward, only more of the same as from Obama.  Then there's scandal fatigue. That too should be a major theme.  

Strategy aside, I have to wonder if others might feel the same about her. Particularly in the media.  They abandon her surprisingly quickly in 2007/2008.  While they may be back on board for now, I bet a challenge of any strength from another Democrat with any sort of interest factor for them would have the same result.

Hillary Clinton fatigue might just save the nation.