Trump's endorsements won big in last night's primary elections in Arizona, Missouri, Kansas and Michigan! He is the most powerful kingmaker in politics today!
Or, depending on what/who you read:
Trump failed to carry the day in all the races in which he endorsed a candidate! His star is on the wane!
Celebrations, recriminations, admonitions. De facto First Daughter of Arizona Meghan McCain bemoaned conservative candidate Kari Lake's victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary. McCain tweeted, "Congratulations to my home state for full making the transition to full blown MAGA/conspiracy theory/fraudster. The voters have spoken -- be careful what you wish for ..."
That anyone would use the term "conspiracy theory" without a sense of irony at this point is high camp. Remember these jewels?
-- The FBI spied on Trump.
-- Hillary Clinton's campaign funded "opposition research" that was completely fabricated.
-- Trump never "colluded" with Russia and the FBI knew it.
-- The FBI lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get a warrant.
-- COVID-19 originated in a lab.
-- The U.S. government was funding "gain-of-function" research.
-- mRNA vaccines don't prevent infection or transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
-- A laptop belonging to Hunter Biden contained emails suggesting that his family has long been engaged in "pay-to-play" political scandals, as well as photos and videos of Biden taking drugs and engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes.
All of the above were proclaimed to be "conspiracy theories" (or the less inflammatory version, "misinformation"). All were subsequently proven to be true.
And as for the November 2020 election? The last chapter of that particular story has yet to be written. Even as its defenders continue to insist that it was "the most secure election in history," evidence continues to be unearthed demonstrating that there was misconduct that affected the outcome across multiple battleground states, including massive private contributions to public election offices in Democrat strongholds, illegal ballot harvesting and illegal drop boxes. It is even more damning that Democrats oppose every effort to ensure election integrity, including and especially voter identification and ballot verification. There is no reason to oppose those safeguards except for the ease of cheating without them.
If the last five years have proved anything, it's that "conspiracy theory" is a label the establishment slaps onto anything they don't want the public to know the truth about. If McCain can't connect those dots, she's disconnected from reality.
And speaking of labels, conservative radio host and author Mark Levin invited Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to be a guest on his radio show. Cheney, like McCain, is aghast at the rise of the "America First" movement. Unlike McCain, Cheney is an elected official whose opposition to all things Trump now puts her at odds with her constituents. Cheney's political fortunes are in the toilet; her support among Republicans in Wyoming (including the state leaders of her own party) has cratered; she is now courting Democrat voters to salvage her congressional seat. Levin is popular; he has millions of listeners every night and seven of his books have been No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Cheney nevertheless declined Levin's invitation, telling Levin that she'd reconsider when he "return(s) to be a principled conservative."
Apparently, for the RINO wing of the Grand Old Party, "principled" means capitulating to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by participating in sham congressional hearings without evidentiary rules, procedural protections or defense representation for the accused, or cross-examination of key witnesses, but with preprinted "testimony" and a predetermined conclusion that Trump is guilty of something -- anything -- related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol.
What McCain and Cheney do have in common, they also share with millions of politicians and pundits around the country who see Americans rising up against statism, socialism and globalism and want to blame Trump for it.
I don't know how many times this needs to be said before the politterati will get it: Trump didn't create the "red wave," he rode it. There are plenty of reasons why Democrat voters are fleeing the party their families belonged to for generations, and why Republican voters are tossing out candidates who run to the right but abandon the promises they made once they get to Washington, D.C.
Americans are tired of being lied to. They are tired of a government that puts them last. They are fed up with high taxes and bailouts of multinational corporations while family businesses struggle. They are gobsmacked by a government that sends hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars abroad, while crippling our own energy production. They are furious at skyrocketing gas prices created by this administration's policies and the resulting inflation that is sending the prices of household needs through the roof. They are angry that millions of illegal immigrants are permitted to enter the country in violation of our laws and then bused or flown all over the country under cover of night. They are sick of the theft and violence created by lax attitudes toward crime and criminals. They do not want pornographic materials or curricula about gender identity in their children's grade schools.
More than anything else, Americans have no intention of being governed by a shadow cabal of globalists whose pie-in-the-sky ideologies promise utopia while they destroy our standard of living, our liberty and our national sovereignty, while making those few (and their minions) staggeringly wealthy.
It's not that Americans listen to Trump; it's that he listens to them. The elites in this country (and elsewhere) may be venal and condescending, but they're not stupid; they already know this. They just don't want to admit it because mischaracterizing the MAGA movement means never having to admit that they're wrong about everything else.
To find out more about Laura Hollis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.