Christmas is a season of gift-giving as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. While Christmas has become very commercialized, it remains a special time of the year. I like to go gift shopping, normally by myself as I stroll through malls and stores. These days I think about small and useful things to pass on to loved ones. I’m not much of a toy-buyer for our grandkids. Fun practical things are my preference. But occasionally I like to do something really nice for the special people in my life. I’ll be careful here not to tip them off. Some of them actually read what I write in this space.
This Christmas there is also much political gift-giving. And some of it is very much unintended by the givers who think they are doing one thing but in actuality are doing quite another. So, let’s review some of the presents that are being teed up this season that simply put, money can’t buy.
The Biden-nomics Present
Some months ago, President Biden orchestrated a bill disingenuously titled “The Inflation Reduction Act. It didn’t and was no more than a gargantuan spending bill. This boondoggle may turn out to be a spectacular swindle perpetrated on taxpayers. Democrats in Congress used accounting gimmicks to claim the partisan law would curtail deficit spending. However, Goldman Sachs analysis projects a huge amount of so-called “green subsidies” alone will cost $1.2 trillion. That’s triple what the act’s sideshow barkers claimed it would cost. Despite the reality that the law is backfiring badly as people see with their own eyes how inflation persists in groceries and interest rates, the President’s team remarkably labeled the plan “Biden-nomics.” In essence, they tattooed Biden with this failure. What a political present to those who did not vote for it, namely most Republicans.
Consider this. Even young people—who supported Biden in large numbers in 2020—are complaining about food prices. Going grocery shopping these days is an exercise in stress management. And for seniors stopping by the pharmacy, they are finding drug costs are going up, not down. Indeed, this week, my blood pressure medicine went up 44 percent! After several weeks of boasting about the results of Biden-nomics—the rate of inflation has actually begun to decrease—the President’s team has backed away from using the term given persistent high prices across the economy. And what better time for shoppers to see those high prices than during Christmas. Yep, a present indeed, a political one that’s a constant reminder of how the Inflation Reduction Act is not only a scam, but an albatross draped around the President’s neck as he contemplates reelection.
The South of the Border Present
The border crisis is anything but a gift to the American people. Indeed, the situation reveals the complete and utter neglect by the President and members of Congress who have failed—completely—to secure our borders. It’s an invasion for sure, one by people from almost every nation in the world. And while immigration is a good thing, illegal immigration is a travesty that must be stopped. But the negative impact that occurs from it will last well into November of 2024. Another gift to Republicans.
The Trump Turbulence Present
It’s no secret that the Democrats despise Donald Trump. His potential reelection nauseates them. Yet, failed Democrat policies in America—domestically and internationally—are a persistent reminder to people that the Trump policies were beneficial to many. I’m reminded of the question President Reagan asked in his race against President Jimmy Carter in 1980, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The answer then was a resounding “No!” The question echoes now.
But that is a small present for those who oppose Biden compared to the relentless pursuit of Trump in the courts of justice across the land. Beyond two political-inspired impeachments, Democrat prosecutors are hounding Trump like wounded prey. And it’s creating a begrudging sympathy for him—a gift—that I’m sure was unintended by his distractors. Nevertheless, these foolhardy bestowals pale in comparison to the one the Colorado Supreme Court placed at Trump’s lap this week. They have ruled that his name cannot appear on the Colorado ballot for 2024 because he engaged in an insurrection on January 6th, 2021. Specifically, that he violated the 14th Amendment that was designed to prevent former Confederates from holding Federal office. Never mind Trump hasn’t been convicted or even charged for such. Colorado’s ruling will be reviewed and struck down by the US Supreme Court. But Colorado’s sugar plumb has supercharged Trump sympathy vote and fundraising.
If the Centennial States’s liberal judicial wise men—following their bright star of resentment—had plotted all night to deliver a political gift at Trump’s threshold, they couldn’t have topped this one.
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