How the US Senate Finally Handed President Trump a Major Victory

There are plenty of reasons to be furious with the Republican "led" Congress in Washington.

The biggest swamp creatures, including Mitch McConnell, John McCain and Jeff Flake, have stymied Trump--and our--agenda for the last ten months. They attack the President rather than working for Americans' best interests.

But one bright spot has emerged and the US Senate has given President Trump a major victory.

Jake Novak for CNBC reports:

President Donald Trump should give special thanks to two U.S. Senators this Thanksgiving weekend. One is still serving in the Senate, the other recently retired. One is a Republican. The other a Democrat.

Late last week, Grassley decided not to honor a Senate tradition of holding up hearings for judicial nominees who aren't cleared by their own home state senators. That tradition is known as the "blue slip courtesy" born out of time before nationwide communication technology when a given state's senators had access to much more information about nominees than their colleagues from the rest of the country. Grassley correctly noted that Democrats were now trying to use the blue slips tradition to replace the filibuster, and he's having none of that. 

So happy that Judiciary Chairman Grassley is putting the proper process ahead of the partisan bickering and bigotry of the Democratic minority. These antiquated measures were permitted for too long. The same goes for the time-honored filibuster tradition. It should only be used if US Senators actually get off their butts and talk a piece of legislation to death.

And that brings us to the Democrat who provided the initial generous source of President Trump's solid triumph: Former Senate Majority Leader, and Democrat, Harry Reid. Reid is a major reason this good fortune has befallen President Trump because Reid was the one who killed the filibuster rule for judicial nominees in 2013. And when he killed it, it was gone for good.

There were a few Democratic US Senator who slammed then-Majority Leader Harry Reid for killing the filibuster for federal district and circuit court nominees. The truth is, however, that the measure needed to go. During the Bush Administration, the Democratic minority (until 2007), went out of their to block qualified, well-vetted and well-informed nominees to the federal bench. The most notorious case was Miguel Estrada of California. US Senator Dianne Feinstein blasted the nomination because Estrada had no substantive scholarship or leadership to justify the appointment. The truth is that he was a well-qualified constitutional conservative, and the Democrats feared his incredible potential influence if confirmed.

Novak also points out that Reid's impatience worked even more for Republicans, since when they gained the majority in 2015, they stalled everyone of Obama's judicial nominees, and there was nothing the newly-imposed Democratic minority could do about it.

In fact, President Trump has twice as many vacancies to fill as President Obama faced in 2009. This is real winning. And there's more to this story:

But this isn't just about sheer numbers, it's about ideology too. While President Trump and conservatives have diverged in matters of policy several times over the past year, the judicial nomination process is decidedly not one of them. The nominees sent to the Senate from the White House are more conservative and even younger than what we saw during President George W. Bush's two terms in office.

Young conservative confirmations will ensure a long-lasting imprint on the federal judiciary and prepare a strong bench of candidates for the Supreme Court. In fact, one of the most important appointments has been Neil Gorsuch, cut from the same perfect ideological cloth as the late Antonin Scalia. The Democrats showed how out of touch and desperate they are by going after this nominee with all their political capital. They should have waited, since replacing one conservative with another would not have altered the balance of the court.

Instead, the plunged ahead and attacked Gorsuch with everything imaginable. They went so far as to throw up unprecedented assaults to this nominee, and thus gave the GOP majority the justification to kill the filibuster rules for all federal nominees.

More winning for the country!

Sure, the tax reform and Obamacare repeal bills may be jeopardized by internal spats between the GOP and the White House. But real history is being made in the courts all thanks to a bad bet made by Senator Reid and remarkable cooperation between the Trump team, Senator Grassley, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. While the fights with other senators like Flake et al may grab headlines, these judicial confirmations will have a much bigger impact.

Final Reflection

One key point in Novak's article is that the press is ignoring this unparalleled victory for the President and the Republicans. One other article, which I wrote about and shared with Townhall.com and Barbwire.com, featured that this country is going to be substantially more conservative for the next generation because of the rapid and rising number of judicial confirmations under the Trump administration.

Indeed, this is great news for taking back our country, for making America great again. We need judges who respect the Judeo-Christian ethic of our nation, men and women who honor the timeless values and traditions which make Western Civilization possible, and have made the United States the most prosperous, blessed nation on earth.

We should be glad for some substance of pro-Trump leadership in the US Senate, and this victory may explain in growing measure why Trump went along with supporting Luther Strange in the contentious Alabama US Senate special election primary earlier this year. Also, the US Senate, feeling the heat from the conservative grassroots across the country, are pressuring more members to get the President's agenda going forward. The US Senate's decision to repeal the onerous Obamacare individual mandate, for example, is a response from a rest conservative base and independent electorate which want the Swamp drained and the rights of American citizens retained.

The US Senate has made one key victory happen, but there need to be more victories very soon--which includes the final resignation of Majority "Leader" Mitch McConnell.

5 Reasons America Will Be More Conservative, via Daniel Lang

I recently discovered an article by author Daniel Lang, an incredible piece brimming with optimism for us conservatives. This quote in his article sums up his argument: “I think that the political landscape in America is going to be drifting towards conservatism for the next 20-40 years.”

Do his hopes for an American conservative ascendancy seem ideal or quixotic?

Here are his five reasons for his beliefs, and I agree with him. If all things continue as they have for the last ten months, we should to prepare for a compelling conservative pre-eminence: 

1. The Federal judiciary will be more conservative

The Number One argument from Trump supporters to convince dubious fellow conservatives to vote for Trump was the United State Supreme Court. Scalia’s death had placed the court in a precarious 4-4 split between liberals and conservatives. Hillary Clinton’s appointees would have reduced the United States Constitution to a parchment of suggestions.

Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia have confirmed that will reshape SCOTUS with a clear and convincing constitutionalist temperament. Trump’s long list of potential judicial nominees, along with toughened resolve in the US Senate to confirm judges despite politicized filibusters, all but assure a federal judiciary that will preserve and protect conservative ideals.

2. Mass immigration (including illegal immigration) will decline

Immigrant populations tend to vote Democratic. They want government largesse, or they find more appeal from the political party playing identity politics. Political assimilation takes time, too, just like cultural assimilation. Now that immigration is declining due to enforcement and robust international economic growth, the large immigrant communities in the United States will settle down, assimilate, develop prosperous careers, lasting legacies, and commit to limited governance and self-rule.

This trend will hurt the Democratic Party in particularly and liberalism general, as they have doubled down on seeking amnesty for illegals and raising immigration levels. Now all of that is going away.

3. The next generation of voters is already conservative

Post-Millennials, or Generation Z have lived through the hard times of 9-11 and the housing crises during their formative years. They experienced the devastating policies of the Obama Administration. Secular progressive puritans in the press and in education have shoved anti-American arrogance down the throats of this younger generations. Now, they are rebelling against liberalism. They are also enjoying the opportunities of a more open, entrepreneurial economy and society, brought by conservative policies. Recent discoveries in biological sciences have made them staunchly pro-life, too.

4. Liberals are not reproducing

The sexual resolution of abject liberals and progressive leftists has ended up decimating their numbers. Christians, populists, and nationalists believe in natural marriage, biological recognition of gender, and the sanctity of life. They will continue to have children, and they will replace the liberal cohorts which are dying out of their own free, misguided will. One clear proof of this is Germany, where childless Angela Merkel’s Party had the worst showing since 1948, while the Alternative for Germany enjoyed an immense surge in numbers. Frauke Petry, their party’s leader, is a social conservative with five children.

5. Academia is going down, and with it left-wing indoctrination

Young college graduates realize that they got sold a bill of goods, with nothing to show for it but grievance and debt. All that useless theory and fantasy shoved down their throats, with the tens of thousands of dollars attached as a price tag, has woken then out of the dogmatic slumbers of subtle socialism.

Colleges are also on the brink of their own “housing" crisis. The excessive costs of a college education are turning off prospective students. Fewer kids will enroll, and the universities will have to lower costs while grappling with their overleveraged assets, including non-essential programs. This economic bubble burst in the next five years. Universities will have to shutter down operations, or shut down completely. Students will go straight into the workforce rather than take on massive debt for a worthless diploma. Nothing ensures a conservative populace than facing, embracing, and overcoming the vagaries of the real world.

Final Reflection

Daniel Lang’s analysis was thorough and engaging. Are his hopes too bullish to believe? I disagree. He provided examples which have been consistent enough to justify political and cultural projections in our favor, based on facts and discernible trends, rather than political bonhomie.

With all things considered, including a consistently conservative Trump administration and effective Congress in terms of political appointments and policy, America will not only become more conservative, but witness a dominance of center-right political victories.