Author: The Chief

I know, I know I’m whacking poor Speaker Kevin again, but I want to illustrate a point I failed to make in yesterday’s blog.  One thing that irritated the establishment GOP and the Left is Trump’s negotiation skills.  While many likely went out and bought Art of the Deal, you could have saved your money and just watched. 

Trump is a master at negotiating because he knows exactly what he needs and has his finger on what the other side wants.  He knows he can give the other side some while getting all of what he wants.  A perfect example is the stimulus checks, he insisted they have his name and signature on them.  The Democrats got a check, the GOP was fine with it (the bloggers here were not) but Trump got what he wanted.  Also look at the judges Trump got onto the court, he tried to negotiate, knew it was pointless and told Mitch McConnell via the media to “go nuclear.”  Suddenly Mitch turned conservative on Trump’s judges.  Bottom line, Trump knew how to negotiate and when to let someone else (media) do it for him.  Case in point, Lindsey Graham.  Either his balls finally dropped, or he realized getting called out in the media was going to burn him badly, suddenly he became a fire breathing conservative.

Contrast that to Kevin McCarthy, our new Speaker.  McCarthy strikes me as the awkward kid no one liked growing up, then he realized if he gained power folks would like him, and if they didn’t, he could wield his power and change their mind.  His negotiating skills bear that out.  During his time in the Assembly in Sacramento, and in Congress he always seemed to negotiate from behind.  This is the opposite of Trump.  McCarthy would start at zero and try to get to 50/50.  He would call that a win, to be fair Ryan, and Boehner before him operated the same way.  Boehner was known for chain smoking and crying, Ryan was known for being a policy wonk and speaking in robotic terms about GOP talking points.  It is because of these 3 “conservatives” that people like those on this blog have given up on the party.

In fairness to the 3 aforementioned leaders of the party, I will say again, what does the GOP actually stand for?  I heard my entire adult life, get us elected and we will; cut taxes, reduce spending, yada, yada, yada.  It never happens like that.  I’ve watched for 20 years the GOP giving the other side at least half of every deal, likely more, even when we had sizable majorities in the House and Senate. 

Even the Trump tax cuts had to be bulldozed through by the Trumpster himself, and even then, they are temporary.

I will go back to my point on McCarthy and my perception of his upbringing again.  McCarthy and other folks who negotiate like him are always trying to “buy friends” or in their case “buy votes.”  They do not want to be the mean guy who upsets anyone, so as a result I’ll give you what your side wants if you don’t say mean things about me.  Remember the chief goal of a politician is not making good on campaign promises, slogans, or other sayings, it’s about getting re-elected.  In the case of McCarthy, it’s about keeping a majority as to guarantee him the speakership.

Congrats to the Democrats on getting at least half of what they want.

The Chief

Happy New Year. To those of us in California, I hope you are weathering the storm.  It has been a crazy first couple of weeks for the national GOP.  Speaker McCarthy has already been a trash fire.  Here is my take on things.

First off, remember back to when Donald Trump was elected President.  First thing he said to Congress was “Let’s get a plan to repeal and replace the health law.”  Predictably they did nothing.  The law stands in place today.  I see this current Congress playing out the same way.

First, the Speaker vote was embarrassing on every level.  How does it take 15 votes to elevate the Minority Leader to Speaker when no one else even ran against him?  How can one be so tone deaf?  McCarthy had to have known the hard right, aka the real conservatives, were tired of the status quo. Why didn’t he reach out to this group and negotiate behind the scenes with them? He only had two months to work out a deal, but it seems he did nothing until after he started losing votes.

Did McCarthy think being a smug prick was wise toward this group?  They embarrassed him!  The items the Group of 20 or so asked for aren’t out of line at all.  A motion to dismiss the chair is never out of order, unless Madam Pelosi is Speaker, but McCarthy didn’t want to lose power.  The members of that Group of 20 who lost committee assignments wanting them back, this isn’t out of line either.  Term limits goes back to the old Contract with America circa 1994.  I’m not seeing much out of order here.  Put it up for a vote, when it goes nowhere…. say sorry, I tried but we must move on.

However somehow McCarthy was not the biggest clown in the circus these past couple weeks, that award goes to Sean Hannity of Fox News fame.  Full disclosure, I do not have cable. I watch bits and pieces while I work-out daily, about 20 minutes max then I turn something else on.  Hannity spent each night on his show trying to go to bat for McCarthy for reasons I do not understand. Hannity kept saying its “his turn.” 

(Editor’s Note: this is the same logic that gave us such great political luminaries as Bob Dole and John Kerry as frontrunners for President. It was their turn. Yuck. Also, this was actually McCarthy’s second turn to try for Speaker, but he dropped out last time after it went public that he was poking interns on the side. Somehow, I missed the apology tour where he got the wife to “stand by her man” as he faked contrition for getting caught.)

Hannity’s argument was that the Speaker’s job is reserved for only the powerful elite.  Hannity rolled out Newt Gingrich and a whole host of GOP establishment types to bully the Group of 20 to “just relent.”  He even went as far while interviewing Lauren Boebert, one of the Group of 20, to tell her “You and your colleagues should stop your circus.”  Little did Sean understand, no one else wanted the job of Speaker, they just wanted concessions on a couple of things.

Sean and Kevin got their way, but at a major price.  McCarthy is wounded. First why hold a vote when you will not win, then decide to hold a “vote-a-rama” whilst watching your vote totals keep dropping?  What is the definition of insanity? This shows an alarming lack of leadership. McCarty had to have known this would happen.  Then he, just like Hannity, chose to sit back and insult and make fun of that group.  This creates hurt that can backfire big time. Little does Hannity understand that Group of 20 is not a rubber stamp for McCarthy.  Worse yet, if they vote in blocks against it, his “agenda” goes nowhere.

Speaking of which, what is the GOP agenda?  I never heard a plan, let alone ideas.  Seems to me the plan is just block Biden and investigate Democrats. While that is admirable, fixing the issues plaguing this country would be a better start.  McCarthy and Hannity do not understand that voters want solutions not more inaction.  I am seeing nothing out of either.

In closing I will say this Hannity looks and comes off as a total clown.  I think he views himself as a kingmaker in the GOP, he is the opposite.  I actually used to like him. He held the Democrats to the fire and held the GOP accountable.  He does not hold the GOP accountable at all anymore.  His ardent support of McCarthy proves one of two things; either Fox executives are telling him what to say, or he just wants to remain relevant with the GOP leadership. 

It’s odd really. Hannity used to go on nightly monologues about lower spending, less regulations, lower taxes. Now he goes out of his way to elevate a CA moderate who at best likes to play nice with the other side. And folks wonder why no writer for this blog is registered as a Republican anymore?  Hannity blew all of his credibility; or maybe he was always this way? At his best, maybe he just mimicked Rush Limbaugh for his nightly talking points and now that Rush is gone he’s showing his true colors. Makes you wonder.

The Chief

PS Wanna bet Hannity called McCarthy a “good conservative” as the Speaker votes were being held?

Yes, you read that correctly.  In the home county of the world headquarters of ReallyRight.com, we still have around 145,000 ballots to process and count.  You may be asking/wondering about the size of the county we live in, feel free to look it up.  According to Wikipedia, the population is around 1.6 million people.  Compare that to Los Angeles or San Diego that are far larger…. oh yeah, those counties are basically done counting!  Seriously look it up. Los Angeles has about 25k and San Diego around 11k.  Upon further review our home county has the most outstanding ballots by far!  Coming in a distant second is Placer County, with 82k.  Every other county has no more than 35k with many having only several thousand to count.

Y tho?

Well, it is hard to explain; actually, I really cannot.  Our home county, and I will defer to the Blog Father for additional commentary, is mostly 100% urban/big city.  Between Sac City, Elk Grove, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Unincorporated Sac, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, etc. there are very few residents living in rural areas.   Keep in mind that the cities I mentioned above basically all bleed into one another, in essence making it one giant metroplex.  The outlying areas of; Wilton, Galt, Herald, Rancho Murietta and Rio Linda make up a rounding error is terms of total population.  It makes no sense that counting would be taking this long, especially in the capital city of California. 

What can be done about it?

Well, nothing really. The CAGOP contributed to the problem by putting out their own unsanctioned vote drop boxes 1 cycle ago.  So good luck overturning all this mail in madness.  When the state decided to mail everyone a ballot years ago this will be the new normal, we will have “election month” rather than election day.  This is madness!  But apparently only those who don’t affiliate with the GOP out here anymore seem to care.  Sad!

A simple solution

We won’t be getting rid of the “top two” or “vote by mail” likely ever.  So here is a workable way to do this.  The ballots go out 1 month in advance but put a deadline on when it can be mailed in, I would advise 1 week prior to election day.  This gives the local elections office plenty of time to receive, verify, and count the incoming ballots.  Convert these “voting centers” into vote and transport ballot centers.  Make it so if I drop my ballot off at EG Library it is picked up, delivered to the election office and therefore processed and counted same day, the earlier the better.  This process should occur many times on election day.  The goal needs to be getting all ballots processed and counted asap.

While my solution may not be the easiest it’s the best moving forward in terms of election integrity.  I find it hard to believe here in Sac County we still have that many outstanding ballots when our election happened 3 weeks ago.  This is the reason most on the fringes of society claim voter fraud.  The longer this process drags out and the more and more ballots showing up in the mail after election ends gives these people more fuel for the fire.

Once more for the folks in the back

1.  Ballots out 1 month early
2. As they are returned the are immediately counted and verified
3. Stop accepting mail ballots after about a week prior to election
4. Continue to verify, and count
5. On days after mail deadline, vote centers will collect and immediately transfer the ballots to election office
6. Results will update in 30-minute intervals election night, and a count of all uncounted ballots will be provided.

Simple.

The Chief

President Trump had a good run, and in just four short years of his presidency he showed me how bad the GOP is corrupted by swamp creatures.  Similar to the CAGOP, the national party has the same types of folks; they talk a great game, then vote differently.  Case in point, healthcare. Trump upon being elected said “let’s get a plan ready and pass it once I am sworn in.”  That never happened.  The fire breathing conservatives never had a plan. In fact, I figure most of them likely voted for Hillary, figuring they could fundraise off her presidency and make millions.  In fact, I think most would agree Trump fought more with his own Party than the liberals. 

Everything was going well until the last 8 months of his presidency.  Then it all un-winded in spectacular fashion.  He “lost” the presidency. I use air quotes because I want to throw a bone to the mouth breathers who lurk on this site who keep talking about conspiracy theories.  Trump lost, I am sorry but folks it’s been 2 years now, get over it.  No one on this blog is happy he lost, mostly because of the way he lost, but most importantly what Trump did next was awful in my humble opinion. 

In the Georgia Senate runoff, he made bizarre statements and made that election all about him, as a result we lost 2 seats in the Senate we should still be in control of.  Rather than help the Party, Trump decided to make it all about him.  Again, we lost both seats, handing Chuck Schumer control.  Trump never let’s go of a grudge, and in this case, it decimated the Party. Look at what happened to the economy and the record spending on domestic and military programs by the Left.

His destructive persona continued with the January 6^th shenanigans.  Frankly neither myself nor any other blogger on this site cares about January 6^th, it happened, if you want to investigate the capital police etc. go for it.  It’s over.  Much like the Trump loss, get over it.  A group of whackos stormed the capital, see blogs about Jorge Riley for more details.

My biggest issue is how Trump acted this election cycle.  I will mention again that he raised 200 million this election cycle, with most donors likely thinking this would help his slate of candidates: Dr. Oz, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, Blake Masters, Adam Laxalt, Don Bolduc, and JD Vance.  Of those candidates, none got any support from him, and only Vance won, underperforming big time, check out how the governor did in Ohio and compare.  Trump spent no money he raised to help his own slate of people! 

Worse yet he announced he had “an announcement to make 11/15 about his future plans” about 3 weeks prior to election.  This, in my opinion, wound up the liberal base all over the country.  We as conservatives must face it, Trump is to the liberals what the Clintons are to us, we will turn out in large numbers at the mere mention of the word “Clinton”.  The Democrats did the same.  They want no part of Trump, he is the anti-Christ to them.  He did more than the Dobbs decision ever could.  His announcement went off the same way we all figured it would, he is running.  We barely controlled the House and will at best be 50/50 in senate.  No red wave.

Trump made it all about himself, and the party was crushed.  He never went after lock-down governors like Whitmer, Evers, or Walz.  Didn’t go after any democrat senators either.  It was classic Trump., I’m sorry to say this, but he is a narcissist, and the party is now going to be held hostage by him.  Sadly, because Trump wanted to overthrow the election, among other odd beliefs, and our senate candidates were tied to him, they were torpedoed. Republican gubernatorial ones were able to slightly differentiate themselves and survive. 

In closing.

Trump is running, he has already started going after Ron DeSantis (Ron Desanctimonius) and Glenn Youngkin (saying it sounds like a Chinese person).  This will be found as funny to his devout supporters, but to me I’m turned off.  Petty name calling and personal attacks have place, it’s called family court.  DeSantis won big and is the frontrunner in my opinion, I will be supporting him or Glenn Youngkin (VA Governor) most likely.  DeSantis turned a purple state bright red, Youngkin a former businessman who turned a blue state red, we need folks like this.  Conservative governors are where the turn-around will start.  Both of those are great choices, I like Abbott from Texas as well.

Sorry Donald, but your erratic behavior has turned me off.  You could learn a lot about yourself by reading the room at your “announcement” where were the electeds?  Celebrity GOP types?  Even your allies from your presidency sat it out.  I saw the My Pillow Guy, and Roger Stone, this hardly moves the needle.  Now big money GOP donors are fleeing you and supporting anyone but you. You had six years to help elect Republicans that you could work with, but instead you sat on your thumbs doing nothing but self-promotion.

Mostly my disappointment is looking at what could have been.  The Senate could have been 52-48 leading up to this election.  Pick up AZ, NV, NH, which were all likely pickups by realclearpolitics.com on election day by the way. In addition to holding the open seats, we could be looking at 55-45 right now.  The map looks bad for the Democrats in 2024, with seats in Montana, West Virginia, and Arizona up, all 3 of the current office holders are on the outs with the far left of the party, primary challengers perhaps?  Also seats in the upper Midwest are up, if things go right, we could be looking at 60 seats!  But no, we will be digging out of a hole due to Trump.

The Chief

Well that kinda sucked last night.  I was told by the media, even the left-wing ones, a red wave was coming. It was just a matter of how big.  The talking heads were saying GOP House with a 30 seat majority minimum, and a GOP Senate with a majority of 3-4.  Well, here we sit Wednesday at around noon, and we are at a House gain of 7, and a Senate loss of 1, and losses at the governor level of 2 so far.  This is the opposite of a wave; in fact it should be deflating.

Sadly, as a former card carrying CAGOP member, I am quite used to this feeling.  The wave never touches CA yet we were always told about the great hope that it would.  Our guys were going to do it, this was the year…etc.  So, the feeling, like I said, was nothing new.

So I will break down my commentary on winners and losers from last night.

Winner:  Ron DeSantis.  No question he is the frontrunner to take on whomever the presidential nominee is from the Democrats.  A 20 point win in Florida is what he needed.  Keep in mind 4 years ago he won by about 1%.  He also became the first GOP governor to carry Miami-Dade County since Jeb Bush.  Miami-Dade is mostly Spanish speaking mind you.

Loser: Dr. Oz.  This guy lost to a clown who can barely speak after having a stroke and who spent most of the campaign in his basement.  Oz also has a very questionable background of supporting; gay rights, lbgtq, puberty blockers, and just flat out being a shill who lives in New Jersey. Oh, also isn’t he a citizen of a Muslim country (Turkey)? This was a loss we couldn’t have, and he lost it.

Winner:  Lockdown governors.  Whitmer, Evers, and Walz all from the Midwest, all won fairly convincingly.  I guess these folks like being in a nanny state?  Amazing to highlight the difference in DeSantis winning by 20% supporting freedom, and these folks winning while locking down.

Loser: Certain down ticket races.  More on this in a minute, but look at those Midwestern states mentioned above, add PA, GA, AZ, and a lot of House seats were left on the table.

Winner:  Partisan politics.  No major wave in either direction, major politico types sent packing over Roe v Wade or other far out policies. This country is evenly divided, and it appears the Senate and House will reflect that as well.

Loser:  Trump.  I am actually starting to get off the Trump train.  Before you call me a bandwagon type or a fair-weather fan, I’m getting tired of his act.  He raised over 200 million and spent almost none of it.  This was a chance for him to get a coalition started for his next run.  He missed badly.  Even worse he endorsed and shepherded through some very average candidates.  Pure speculation on my part but I think any other candidate than Dr Oz, Herschel Walker, Blake Masters and Dan Bolduc (ME) would have done much better.  Even Trump supported folks who won badly underperformed.  Look at OH, the governor won by about 26%, Trump endorsed JD Vance won by 7.  In NC, Ted Budd won by about 5%.  In AZ Blake Masters is tracking about 10,000 votes less than the governor nominee is currently getting.  In PA his governor nominee flopped so badly it likely took Dr. Oz down in the undertow, at time of this writing the GOP governor nominee was at about 42% of the vote.  Oh BTW in Colorado Trump was so angry at nominee Kevin O’Dea in the weeks leading up to the race he said O’Dea shouldn’t win and called him a RINO.  O’Dea lost big, and Trump crowed on his Twitter clone, not a great look.

Winner: liberal policies.  Crime and law and order were on the ballot everywhere, and the Democrats won all the left leaning states.  So look for more homeless and more crime in these regions.  It is what it is I guess.

Loser: GOP messaging.  Which was what exactly?  I’m being serious.  It sounded like the same old same old, no taxes, less spending, put us in charge and you will find out.  I heard no answers to the crime issue, none on the inflation issue, and I think the vote reflected that.  You wanted to have your own congressman/senator back and let them continue the fight.  If the GOP doesn’t figure it out on a national level and soon, they will be like the CAGOP, essentially a regional party who serves as “loyal opposition” as opposed to new ideas.

Chief

Editor’s note: Trump’s endorsement of DR. OZ was the stupidest endorsement that he ever made. He lost much credibility with me on that one. It even caused me not to contribute money to him anymore. Left that sink in just little. I’ve been supporting him since before he won the Presidential nomination, something few in California can truthfully say. I haven’t been a major donor, but I have given a few contributions since he became a candidate. Endorsing Oz really crossed a line for me.

 Kevin McCarthy is not, nor ever has been, a conservative. He has a multi-decades long track record of opposing us and our ideas. He is the RINO’s, RINO. He is on the wrong side of almost any social issue that I or fellow Christians believe or care about. He’ll change his spots to appear our ally but beware. Mitch McConnell seems the same type of political animal; just enough change of beliefs to stay in power. For men like them, its about gaining and expanding power not doing what’s best for the country.

There was no GOP coalition to oppose Biden. All we got was the same old crap (smoke and mirrors) as “repeal and replace” with a lot less believability and only after internal polling showed the insiders that there was no Red Wave. It was a psyop to keep the Fox News faithful on the reservation.

The best we can hope for is two years of gridlock.

By Chief & Troll

Long standing traditions on this blog: Troll chasing any skirt that walks past him, Johnnie Does ripping small businesses, and Chief making predictions about elections.  So here we go!

Starting nationally

Blogger note:  Keep an eye on New York Governor race, if it’s very close, the GOP will way outperform my predictions. Also be aware of the “3 am ballot discovery” or “ballot counting will take months to complete” California has mastered the later, most swing states the former.  We saw the new Democrat playbook last election.

House elections:  The GOP will pick up 35-45 seats, it would be much higher if we had better folks running for governor in certain states.  In CA, we will pick up a couple seats…that’s my bold take.  A comfy GOP majority.

Senate:  Here is where my takes get even hotter, and predictions get bolder.  We will hold: PA, WI, OH, FL and NC.  These races won’t be close enough for the fraud to matter.  We pick up: AZ, NH, NV for sure, again these will likely be outside the amount of fraud that the Democrats will need.  Toss ups:  CO and WA, these will be tough, but if NY Governor race is close, dominoes will be a fallin’.  GA will go to a runoff and the GOP will win it next month.

The senate races remind me of a few years back, the Democrats put up average candidates, but they prevailed because the GOP brand was so bad, it’s going to be the reverse this time.  Let us not kid ourselves; Dr Oz, Herschel Walker, JD Vance, Blake Masters, Dan Bolduc, and Ted Budd are average candidates, but in a wave year they get pushed across the finish line.  I look for a 52-48 edge as a minimum advantage after Tuesday.

Governor: We will have a decent night, we hold GA, FL, TX, and VT.  The Democrats will pick up Maryland and Massachusetts, but who cares, those were on borrowed time.  The red team picks up: KS, WI, MI, NV, and I’m calling it, OR.  New Mexico will be close, and I think MN could be a barn burner.  Again watch New York, a little-known congressman from Long Island could keep it very close, Obama, Biden, and Harris have stumped for her recently.

Overall, a good night for the red team. On to CA

Not a lot of good to report here, I’ve heard rumblings Lanhee Chen will win Controller, no surprise, he is running as a Mitt Romney type.  Nathan Hochman could make it close for Atty General.  Look for Newsom’s results closely, if its close we could pick up about 4 seats in CA, a big blow out (68% plus) and I doubt it.

The statewide propositions will mostly all fail, the abortion one will pass big, I predict 68% in favor.  Blogger note:  This prop and Newsom should track fairly closely because the lack of any opposition from clergy, church or powers that be, make it a lost cause.  I’m disappointed the CAGOP didn’t endorse Prop 27, as I believe sports wagering should be allowed from your phone, but the CAGOP is owned by the Indian Casinos, so such is life.

Let’s turn it over to Troll shall we….

Well, well, well, here I go torching the Democrats……

Anyone seen that John Fetterman guy?  Running for senate in PA?  He looks like anyone at a CA state prison yard, just look at him.  Sweet holy moly is that the only outfit you own!

Oprah Winfrey supports Fetterman in PA…. well, if you want anyone to throw their weight behind you, Oprah isn’t a bad one to do so.

Speaking of weight, Stacy Abrams is running for GA governor again. Jesus, do her and Beto O’Rourke run for something new each cycle?  I do not know what Beto brings to the table, but I do know Abrams brings two things to the table, A KNIFE AND A FORK!

Speaking of ugly, has anyone seen Congress person Rosa DeLauro?

Wow hubba hubba baby baby, you must hate Alexander Graham Bell for inventing electricity.  Good god could you imagine if she married James Carville?  Oh god, my eyes, it’s like someone threw bleach in them.

IM ON MY SECOND WIND……

Tulsi Gabbard leaves the Democrat Party….no shock; have you seen Democrat women lately?  No one on their side is winning a Miss America pageant, no wonder they hate Trump!

DeLauro, Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton squaring off against: Lauren Boebert, Sarah Palin, and Nikki Haley is the definition of no contest.

Troll

In closing Troll has a new GF, Olympic bobsled and hurdler Lolo Jones.  Check her out.