We have arrived at the eve of a special watershed milestone in our fascinating history. The new President-elect's inauguration with Mike Pence, the vice president-elect. On January 20, this year of our Lord, 2017, Donald J. Trump, the star for many years of the reality T. V. show, "Celebrity Apprentice" and surprising nominee of the Republican Party, became the winner of a huge prize who will be duly sworn in by ancient oath of office, right hand raised and left hand firmly on the Bible. Possibly the one used by Abraham Lincoln, in Washington D. C. He has already arrived at Andrews with his wife, soon to be First Lady, Melania and soon to be, First Family.
Did you know that the vice president also takes an oath of office? Mike Pence will be sworn in on a famous Bible himself.
As a side note, there are stories of odd prophecies swirling around Donald Trump. Right, wrong, or immaterial to the situation, consider this: on the date of Jan. 20th, he will be...70 years, 7 months and 7 days old. There's a coincidence to ponder. Also, he is writing the Address himself.
Whether you like him or voted for him in November, or if you did not, the billionaire mogul and man behind the best seller, "The Art of the Deal", will get his chance to defend the 'silent majority', as many of his supporters are termed, making some extremely huge decisions very soon. As years ago, Ronald Reagan was said to of predicted, he will indeed be our next President of a blessed land. By the way, if anyone is intrigued, he has a more revealing book about his aspirations HERE.
If the political spectrum really isn't your cup of tea, if citizens choose to stay blissfully ignorant, turn on some sports, read a book, or watch a thriller instead.
Now we know 2016 was certainly an unusual year in politics, with the primaries and nominations amid much controversy on every side. New revelations seemed to arise almost every few weeks. While the president-elect has seen his share of blunt and heated and possibly outrageous behavior, the plentiful scandals of Hillary Clinton would fill books, (and they have). This includes her private email server, said by FBI director James Comey to be "extremely careless", NOT a good thing; and considering she repeatedly lied to the public about the exact subject, receiving debate questions illegally, the apparent collusion of some media outlets with the most public example of Donna Brazile and CNN comes to mind, the hacking of the Democratic Party headquarters and John Podesta hinting of racist remarks and possible conflicts of interest coming from Sidney Blumenthal's connections with the Clinton Foundation and going back to his 1994 resignation. Did Russia have anything to do with this? Were the contents of Assange's releases even worse than who was responsible? Questions, questions. As well as Trump's unique stance, any of these very issues probably cost her the election. Maybe they should of, period.
Further highlights broach the unusual manner of resignation of Debbie Schultz, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, the problems with Bengazi, on and on. Her previous scandals which would include a few from her senatorial years go back to the 90's with suspicions of Whitewater, China Gate, Filegate, etc., are not being addressed here. To be fair, much concerning these controversies were a part of her husband, Bill Clinton's eight years as president, while many seemed to derive from happenings in Arkansas and came with a bunch of congressional hearings and investigations. Plenty of websites will easily help locate such juicy info for one and all.
Pennsylvania has had a lot to do with these elections for a long, long time. The facts are the facts. This year our state voted in favor of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States of America. His campaigning in the face of Hillary's huge financial machine was an amazing sight. His zest and energy in battleground barnstorming across the nation was truly remarkable.
As you can see from the electoral map below...
electoral map courtesy of towin website |
The results of the Pennsylvania Presidential election ended in a fairly close race with Trump winning the 20 electoral votes. According to Wikipedia and other sources, he also won the popular vote- 2, 970,733 to Clinton's 2, 926,941.
The reds and the blues, county by county |
On April 26 of last year, Donald Trump took the PA Republican primary gathering 56.61%. On the same day, Hillary Clinton pulled in 55.61%. Her loss was very similar in numbers. As the Democratic side unfolded, Bernie Sanders made claims that the DNC was being unfair to him.
ISSUES, or NO ISSUES: A Brief Rundown
As for the major issues of the Democratic and Republican campaigns, the original plan was not to make explanations at all. This policy clearly felt as if the blog was sticking its head in the sand, leaving those that expect valuable information to be ignored for the sake of a neutral stance of some kind. That would be amiss, therefore some adjustments had to be made. A basic, more thorough report was allowed to proceed to make sense of how this all came about.
Although there are hints of riots and rumors of outlandish protests which appear to be less than a free exercise of the First Amendment in the sense that this is in the face of an event legally and democratically taking place and always has been, deserving of at least a modicum of respect as a venerable institution. Donald Trump has said in his first official news conference, he is very much looking forward to the inauguration and has expected it will be a beautiful event. Many celebrities have boldly stated they will not attend, some claimed they would leave the country if he was elected president! Okay. Have any left by now? Don't count on it.
There will be military bands to play, wreath laying at Arlington Cemetery, balls, concerts and dinners. The president-to-be says this will be an incredible experience considering that he is the head of "a movement like the world has never seen before..." The every four year-extravaganza will be followed by National Cathedral Church services on Saturday with the first 'business' beginning on Monday. The future will tell the rest of the story.
Regardless, according to USA Today, the pollsters not only were incorrect in predicting the Nov. 8, Election Day, the Trump victory "dealt a devastating blow to the credibility of the nation's leading pollsters" calling into question their methods. There are speculations toward the actual reasons for this, factors beyond the scope of this post. Nevertheless, it is fairly obvious that major portions of the media are opposed to a Trump presidency, make of that what you will. Stay informed, be involved.
Did Barack Obama and George Bush have their chance, their days in the White House to explain and change things in the manner they felt important? Yes. Did they have failures? Were they unfairly condemned and misaligned without even a honeymoon? Shouldn't this particular person, our next commander-in-chief also experience the selfsame opportunity? The answers to these questions really appear fundamentally obvious.
With conservative plans to lower taxes, expunge, repeal or alter Obamacare and gain less expensive premiums for better quality care, (which was promised to us at its inception, by the way); firmer control of the influx of illegal immigrants which includes an actual wall of sorts, especially the specific point concerning the definition of 'ILLEGAL' and 'repeat criminals'; a serious attempt to get the chaotic foreign policy situation under control, selection of Supreme Court justices to uphold the principles of the Consitution, the approval of his cabinet appointees, snd so on. We will be leaving behind us the IRA scandal, Fast and Furious, hopefully the thunderheads of a 20 trillion dollar debt some day... maybe, just maybe, we are entering the real era of hope and change in a drastically different mode.
Most people will concur, President Trump will have a whole lot on his plate. An uphill battle to wage successfully. Our prayers should be with him in these endeavors.
There have already been some key changes in the wind with downturn in Toyota stocks in Trump's tweets of panning the plans toward new Mexican factories, the Carrier deal, even influential relations toward Chrysler, Ford and multinational corporations to keep jobs in the United States. Meanwhile, he is putting the Trump organization properties and holdings into a trust and is separating himself from these conflicts of interest and handing the running of his company to his sons, Don and Eric. On the other hand, his not releasing his tax statements yet, condemning of CNN and Buzz feed for their supposed use of 'Fake News' and other factors are hot issues among many.
The President-elect, Donald Trump |
In the opinion of many, it is indeed time to reverse the 'playing field' of failed policies of previous administrations and deregulate improper laws and enact new ones that have OUR best, truly traditional, American interests, at heart.
Globalism may have ran rampant and not everything modern is better for us, folks. Then again, I am of a somewhat biased persuasion. I wouldn't say I live there all the time, I am rooted in the past even as I gingerly peer into the future....Many people may not realize Donald Trump is not quite the bumbling outsider he appears, perhaps because of his direct rhetoric, with 'Lyin' Ted', 'Little Marco' and 'Crooked Hillary', actually appearing to being more deeply informed on different levels of knowledge than is excepted in thew mainstream media. In fact, he has continually expressed his ideas and growing fears toward the discontent with the way our country has been managed for many years.
Finally, in this semi-editorial bit, remember, no one has to agree with anyone else. Likewise, you don't necessarily have to agree with anything I state on this post, in spite of the fact that much of it is, as closely as I am aware, in actuality, the truth. It's up to you individually, and so it should be. That is a part of what makes America Great and differs from all other governments across this great, wide world. Nothing is suppose to be a one way street. We have inherent rights from our Maker won by his Son at an extreme price. We are one people and yet complicated and diverse in various ways. Let's get back to common sense and personal responsibility, acquiring a stronger economy, military and judiciary in the face of rising troubles, greed, opposition and sometimes madness. We are still a long way from utopia, my friends. Any road to perfection is reaching for a distant object. Yet I feel this is an unusual time for men and women to be alive as the tree of liberty may bud and grow fruit once more in spite of so much effort to supplant and wipe out its existence.
At nearly high noon on the West Lawn at the U. S. Capitol of Washington, D. C. the 45th President and vice president precede to take the solemn Oaths of Office then came the Inaugural Address about Making America Great Again! Did you know, the tickets to the event and the swearing-in are free? Yes, but they are in high demand. Pennsylvania Avenue experiences the excitement of the procession and parade on over to the White House. This takes place at 3 p. m. eastern time.
That's about it, folks Let me know your ideas about the inauguration. We will see how smoothly the process goes along. Many hope for less controversy and a return to substance in the following months. Keep your fingers crossed!
See you soon for a more regional based post next time around.