In a couple of weeks, I’ll be 63 years old. That means I was 18 when Reagan won his first term, with promises of reining in the excesses of the Federal government. As did George H.W. Bush. And Ross Perot. I voted for Perot because of his promises. I didn’t make that mistake the next time around but Bob Dole wasn’t making much in the way of promises. George W. Bush made campaign speeches, but even if he had meant it, 9/11 wiped out any chance of shrinking government – not that I believed him in the first place. Then we got McLame then Mitt. I’d given up on the idea that we were ever going to get off the express-train ride to hell.
I voted for Trump in 2016 because he wasn’t Hillary, never imagining that he could actually win the thing. My thought at the time was, even if he won he was so hated by both sides that we’d be in gridlock for four years. (That’s not a bad thing.) Then, against the odds, against the lawfare, against the media, against everything, he actually got some things done, and I thought:
Of course, in 2020 the knives really came out, and Trump was denied a second consecutive term.
Then under Biden things seriously went to hell.
- The borders were opened on Day 1.
- COVID hysteria rose to a crescendo.
- The Transgender agenda cranked into high gear.
- The Summer of Love II came about with “Fiery but Mostly Peaceful” protests.
- The military pulled out of Afghanistan. Catastrophically.
- Russia invaded Ukraine.
- Government spending continued to accelerate.
- Interest rates skyrocketed.
- Cost of living shot up.
- etc, etc, etc.
On top of that, people noticed that Biden wasn’t hitting on all cylinders, but the Media denied any suggestion that he was mentally impaired as a “Right-Wing conspiracy theory” and insisted that he was “sharp as a tack.” Besides, his insurance policy of Kamala Harris protected him against any threat of implementation of the 25th Amendment.
Half the country believed the MSM anyway. He was fine. The government was in the hands of Adults again. We were regaining the respect of the rest of the world.
Then 2024 rolled around. Election year! And who rose from the pits of Hell to threaten the Ruling Class™? The Donald. Lawfare ensued. With each new suit, with each criminal charge, he just got stronger, until his nomination as the Republican Candidate for President was was an iron-clad lock.
And then, The Debate®. I’ve never seen anything to better describe the result of that confrontation than this:
Still, any hope of actual change remained zero. Even if Trump could pull off a miracle and win a second term, only done once in American history, he would be hamstrung the same way as he was in his first. I watched as the Democrats hastily propped Kamala up as the Second Coming. I watched as there were not one but two attempts on Trump’s life, one of which came within one minute of angle of succeeding. I watched as Trump built a coalition of ex-Dems Robert F. Kennedy, Elon Musk, and Tulsi Gabbard. Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance, Marc Andreesson, etc. joined the team. It was Big Tent Republicanism with a very Jacksonian vibe. Still, I thought, “Don’t give me hope.”
And then he won. He won the popular vote. He won all the swing states. And on Day 1 he started signing all the Executive Orders he’d promised in his campaign. But more than that, it became obvious that during his forty four years in the wilderness, he had studied, planned, organized and prepared. Elon hit the ground running as soon as Trump was sworn in. DOGE was not a new executive department, but a re-tasking of an existing one, one initiated by Barack Obama. They had dotted all the i’s, and crossed all the t’s, and it completely caught the Left off guard. Then the DOGE boys worked through the weekend, something almost unheard of in D.C, striking fear in the hearts of the Deep State.
But still, entertaining as it was, I knew the pushback would be coming, and it would be vicious.
But I was wrong. The Trump Administration was inside the OODA Loop of the Left. They were nearly paralyzed by the pace of the change. The media, the propaganda wing of the Left, could not build a Narrative™ fast enough to keep up. “Constitutional Crisis” died a pitiful death. And with alternative media making end-runs around them anyway, it wasn’t like they had the same power they’d had in 2016. The collapse of the “Sharp as a Tack” narrative, the revelation that the Hunter Biden Laptop was real and everyone knew it, COVID vaccine revelations and several other such examples had severely damaged media credibility and caused a lot of people to ask “What else were they lying to me about?”
But more than anything, Trump’s “controversial” Cabinet nominees were getting confirmed. With 53 Republican Senators only 50 were needed to confirm, as Pete Hegseth can attest. The Republican Party finally understood that the Voters would punish them if they did not support the Trump Agenda.
Daily the American public and the world were shown that the Deep State was taking American tax dollars and spending it on things no taxpayer would approve of. Especially the millions of dollars going to the very Leftwing media outlets shouting loudest about Trump and DOGE. Transgender this in Syria, DEI that in Moldova, etc. Money going to organization with known terrorist links, and so on, and the Left was forced to publicly support that spending.
And then, six days after the inauguration, two days after casting the tie-breaking vote to confirm Pete Hegseth, JD Vance went on Face the Nation. Questioned about his change in stance regarding “refugee resettlement,” he noted that one Afghan refugee – supposedly vetted – had been arrested for plotting a terrorist attack. When interviewer Margaret Brennan objected that no one knew if he’d “become radicalized” after coming to the U.S. Vance said this:
“I don’t really care, Margaret.”
In 1939 the public was shocked by Clark Gable saying “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” The shock was at the utterance of the curse, but it was shocking for its time.
Vance’s utterance was shocking because it was an actual statement of intent. No wishy-washy weasel words we’d normally expect from a politician, this was a statement of intent. “We’re done pussy-footing around.” And we may have now an actual Preference Cascade.
We’re now on Week 5 of the second Trump term and things are not slowing down. Outsiders are in charge of the DoJ, FBI, DoD, ICE…. Change is actually happening. Fraud and waste are being exposed. Spending will be curtailed, at least somewhat. The Ruling Class is no longer in control. They remain a serious threat. The Deep State still has hands on some of the levers of power, but that’s being eaten away by the Trump Administration and alternative media exposing it.
And I finally have some small measure of hope. I give a damn.
Trump is putting the previous decades of Republican governorship in stark focus, all the way back to Eisenhower, if not back to Coolidge.
If Trump can do this, so could have any prior Republican administrations, and what is starkly obvious now is that the did not, by choice.
I hope the Chamber of Commerce bought and paid for Republicans like Mitch McConnell are paying attention, because their brand of Democrat lite is now radioactive.
“God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”
― Otto von Bismarck
I’ve got almost eleven years on you; I’ll be 74 in May. I watched LBJ, the Nixon years, and was in the Army for the first year of Carter. Reagan’s good first term and bad second term, during which I became a libertarian, and the slide into the sewage pond after that. My only reason to tolerate Trump is his ability to make TPTB foam at the mouth. Six decades of people voting for the lesser of two evils gave Americans the choice between Hillary and the Donald. It turned out that Hillary was less popular than a yellow dog, but Trump was not prepared for how vicious and comprehensive the push back would be from the Deep State. No one could have.
Losing in 2020 gave DJT time to prepare a new attack, much wider and deeper, with many more allies from across the obsolete political “spectrum.” (Left vs. Right is irrelevant. Tyranny vs. Liberty is the measure we should use.) In his first term, he discovered that not all Republicans were his allies; in fact, maybe half. Now, party affiliation is secondary and declared loyalty to the Constitution, as defined by Trump, is the basis for joining the fight against the entrenched, unelected bureaucracy.
So far, despite the name calling from the media (which didn’t do much harm in the first term) and the continuation of lawfare (nice of the Deep State to tip their hand during the interregnum), the Trump team is showing a disciplined, coordinated, and prepared front against those that would enforce and expand their control of our lives. As you noted, they are acting quickly, seemingly anticipating each new attack from the Progressives and starting the next phase even as the leftists are wondering why their old school attacks are failing this time.
I believe that when warmer weather arrives and the calls from some congresscritters to “bring real weapons” to the fight get louder, there might be attempts at recreating the summer of 2020. We shall see. It will be their last gasp if they do, as it will show their intellectual irrelevance to anyone not among the hardcore 40%.
I, like Chris C have seen a lot. I will be 75 this year and Have seen the republicans become too concerned with being nice and being invited to all the good events. I want the people you are destroying this country destroyed themselves. If government employees are found to have been using there position to enrich themselves they should be prosecuted and jailed. Loss of pension at minimum. If they have actively worked against the interests of the United States they are traitors and should punished as such.
This is what I voted for, I want a better future and opportunities for my children and my families children.
sorry for the couple of typos, would edit it if I could
I agree with both Chris C and Old guy. And yes, I give a damn too!
Some of us have seen the fed dot gov from way deep inside, “up close and personal” as they say. My view came in the ’70s and early ’80s, and obvious even back then “burn it to the ground and start over” was the only reasonable corrective option (and, no, my experience was not as someone on the fed payroll). One does not “treat” cancer, one excises it and destroys it – completely – with radiation and chemo.
Trump is doing what not only the great majority of Americans want, it’s what is absolutely necessary if America is going to survive as more than a historical footnote. The path we were on <1/20/2025 assured our destruction; had Her Royal Highness Princess Kamala won she would be ruling over rubble within three years, the finances dictated that.
We're on a different path now, the challenge is, and will be, "helmsman, hold steady on this heading." I am confident Trump will, and am quite relieved that he, and those he has selected to assist, seem to fully understand and support the mission. Nearly a century of corruption and malfeasance needs to be eliminated, completely, and then maintained; both will require putting blood on the floor, and in some cases, a lot of blood. “No pain, no gain” is the weightlifter’s mantra, and there will be pain initially, occasionally quite a bit, but when the gains start being realized I’m confident attitudes will change and overcome what may appear to some – aka “The Left” – as negatives. One’s cushy do-little, or -nothing-at-all, federal job may disappear, but very soon a plethora of new opportunities will overwhelm those intelligent, and industrious, enough to conquer them.
We’re, very, very thankfully, on a new course, one that will correct past failings and lead to new futures. It is our job as citizens to ensure we hold steady on that course and not let the corruption and malfeasance resurface.
“Helmsman, hold steady on this heading;” in the story of America we are all helmsmen.
I didn’t vote for Trump because I wanted to have his child, I voted to have him murder the GOP.
Agree with what you said.
Exposed waste, fraud and corruption—that’s good.
Now I want to see “prosecuted, convicted and jailed” for all those who abused the trust of “we, the people”.
My wife and I both 63. This article describes us perfectly. We are happily and daily surfing the news, as month’s worth of stuff happens daily.
Two days ago, I was assured by all of the smart people that the House would never pass a recon. bill and that Trump would never cut a deal in Ukraine.
I also have hope.
Prosecution and jail-time would be nice, but the expense and time will both be astronomical. I’m willing to settle for “out of a job”. For the same reason, I’m OK with the overly generous severance package: Just get them to stop doing whatever they do (and sending pr0n chats at the NSA is better than surveilling Americans, so let it go).
Excellent
I must be the baby in the room at only 56, but uhhmm, yeah – I’m shocked that things I’ve been begging for my whole life seem to actually be happening now. Pinch me.
Well even younger, at 50, having had my family recover from the Carter years, and serve in the Navy for Clinton’s years, I fully support the speed and violence of Trumps movements. My first presidential election was when Perot was running, and even at 18 knew a vote for him was going to assuredly usher in Clinton. I am glad that the machine went full cheat and did not allow for Trump to serve is second term consecutively, and then leaned into the madness even more. This allowed him time to plan and a devil may care attitude this time.
The constant attacks against him and us finally showed that the Government had no clothes, to crib a turn of phrase.
And as you, I have hope for not only this country, but the Western world as a whole.
Happy birthday. I’ll be 65 myself in a few weeks. I’m with you on Trump 2.0. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see him hit the ground running and ignore the whining. If he can cut the deficit and rein in the deep state I’ll be overjoyed.
Well, I thought it was me (60Yrs) but Guard Duck wins. Actual 4d chess! And the enchanting thing is, has Trump gone all Hari Seldon on us? Does he have the entire next 12 years mostly detailed out? It’s clear his planning extends well past the 100 day mark. I have never in my life been this excited about ANY current events!
This pretty much covers it.
The part of it all that really pisses me off? People I thought better of still screaming ‘HITLER!’, or sometimes “HITLERS!”, giving not one damn about Biden’s condition and being lied to about it, and how his picked replacement, with no votes, shived him and tried to take over. It’s… downright horrible.
Hope the Secret Service having anything to do with Trump have been checked to a fault, because he’s going to need them.
Vance too.
And I wonder if the left has any realization of what another assassination attempt, let along successful, will mean?
Someone post an excerpt of this. What you’ve written is my life and thought’s. Except I’ll be 84 in a couple months. First vote was for JFK and voted for Perot. I think a lot of us start out dem and slowly migrate away as life happens. I’ve watched in amazement as Trump tore through all the signings and having the media there for that. No auto-pen for him. It’s obvious he learned a lot in his 4 years away and watching the media try to keep up is worth a giggle or two. Looking forward 12 more years of this.