Yesterday Congressman Comer and Senator Grassley released a document, noting the Joe and Hunter Biden asked for a bribe from the Ukrainian company, Burisma. Biden, I do not believe will be on the ballot in November, 2024.
The crime is not Trump—or Biden—the crime is Washington and the special interests and the elite corporations and money people.
CRIME AND MONEY
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 7/20/23 www.capoliticalreview.com
If the Republican Party –- in California at elsewhere -– wants to win more elections, the party needs to address two major issues.
The first issue is crime.
The second issue is the perceived decline in the American standard of living.
If a third issue is needed, it is the nation’s lack of control over illegal immigration.
Nationally, Republicans have not done well in recent years. In 2016, a Republican candidate, Donald Trump, won the presidency. However, he won only the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote.
In 2018, the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives.
Two years later, in 2020, the Republicans lost control of the White House and the Senate while keeping control of the House.
In 2022, despite projections of big Republican gains in the mid-term elections, the Republicans gained control of the House by four votes. The Democrats held onto the Senate.
So what might happen in 2024?
Currently, according to polls, Donald Trump, leads the field of Republican presidential contenders. But can Trump win the presidency again?
Trump has many factors that could easily hurt him. So far, in 2023, he has been indicted on two occasions. More indictments are likely to come.
With a different candidate, the Republicans should be able to beat President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old and has produced a mediocre record as president. Examples of Biden’s incompetence are high inflation over the last two years, many mass killings inside the nation, a bungled evacuation from the war in Afghanistan, and uncontrolled illegal immigration from Latin America.
Biden, in theory, should be beatable in 2024.
But as The Wall Street Journal’s columnist, Karl Rove, indicated on July 6, 2023 (print edition), the 2024 presidential election could feature two “grumpy old men.” As Rove wrote on July 6, “Neither the octogenarian Democratic incumbent not the near-octogenarian Republican front runner is popular.” Rove was a campaign adviser to former president George W. Bush.
Republicans -– and Democrats -– need new presidential leadership.
Focusing on the Donald Trump, he is now 77 years old and would be 78 if re-elected. He has insulted many other people, especially other Republicans and has not given an indication of what he would do if elected in 2024.
During his one presidential term (2017 to 2021), Trump was ambiguous about America’s commitment to its European and Asian allies. These allies have questioned the reliability of America if war breaks out. Moreover, Trump has not announced support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
In his single term as president, Trump appointed three new justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. These three justices, along with three incumbent justices, voted, on June 24, 2022, to overturn the Roe v.Wade, which made abortion legal in the United States. While many hard-core Republican voters have applauded Trump’s court appointments, the overturning of Roe has angered many woman voters, probably making Trump’s 2024 re-election difficult, if not impossible.
What should the Republicans do?
Importantly, Republicans should abandon Trump. And they should not support the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, whose campaign platform is similar to Trump’s. DeSantis can be seen as a younger version of Trump.
Both Trump and DeSantis have campaigned on the basis of punishing people. DeSantis, like Trump, is an opponent of abortion. Most Americans support a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. Women who have abortions or their physicians should not have to face fines and prison terms for terminating a pregnancy –- at least during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
In the area of foreign policy, Trump and DeSantis have been ambiguous about supporting democracies like Ukraine. As for Trump, in November 2022, he hosted a dinner for two avowed anti-Semites, Kanye West and Nick Fuentes.
The Republicans need presidential candidates like Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, both of whom were able to attract voters who have centrist or moderate leanings.
The Republican Party has produced, in addition to Eisenhower and Reagan, some very formidable presidents like Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
There is no reason that one of America’s great political parties should be confined to extreme right-wingers -– candidates who are likely to lose to Biden.
What applies nationally should also apply to California, where the Republican Party is a skeleton of its former self.
The time has come for less Republican extremism and more moderation.
Let’s see if Republicans can utilize Americans’ frustration over crime, a perceived decline in the standard of living, and a loss of control over its borders.
