No One Asked Me But… (January 25, 2017)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… We have a new president and the sun still came up this morning!
The inauguration is over and the stupidity of the supporters of the losing party has just begun. The protesters were in the streets so they apparently didn’t hear President Trump’s Inaugural address. Much of it could have been delivered by their favorite socialist Bernie Sanders.

The speech attacked establishment Republicans and Democrats alike. What many on the left and right don’t understand is that President Trump is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He is a pragmatic businessman who operates from the premise of doing what works. This is foreign to the regular politicians whose major goal in life is not making things work for the American people but make sure they get re-elected.

Trump’s speech will not go down in history as a great political oration, but it was direct and to the point. He basically said things in Washington, D. C. are not good and those who are to blame are on this stage with me. He in effect attacked the administrations of Barrack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter while those men sat behind him. He did not spare the Congress even with congressional leaders in attendance.

No one asked me but… Sixty-eight members of the House of Representatives “boycotted” the inauguration.
They are led by Congressmen John Lewis who openly claims that the Trump presidency is illegitimate. He and his minions rightly claim that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. They incorrectly claim that this means she should be the president. Someone apparently needs to give these congressmen civics lessons.

No president of the United States has ever been elected by the popular vote. Even though most presidents have received more popular votes than their opponents, that has never determined their claim to the office. President Trump will be the fifth president of the United States that did not receive the majority of the popular vote.

In 1824, four men ran for president: Andrew Jackson, John Q. Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay. None received a majority of the Electoral College votes. The House selected Adams. Jackson, who had the most Electoral College votes the first time and the most popular votes, did not fill the office of the presidency until four years later.

In the election of 1876, Samuel J. Tilden beat Rutherford B. Hayes by 250,000 popular votes. Due to suppression of black voters in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, Hayes demanded a recount. In the recount all three states’ electoral votes were given to Hayes and he was declared President.

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison ran against the incumbent Grover Cleveland. Cleveland won the popular vote by 90,000 but Harrison won the electoral vote 233 -168. Cleveland won the next election and became the only man to serve a split term.

In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote by more than 500,000 but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush 271-266.
There are proper ways for congressmen to display their displeasure with the American people’s selection of the president, but this is surely not the way. There is a thing called protocol.

I remember a few years ago during the President Obama’s State of the Union address to congress when he stated that illegal aliens would not have access to the Affordable Care Act, Representative Joe Wilson shouted out “you lie”. While shouting out when the Prime Minister of England is speaking is acceptable that is not protocol for the American congress. The speaker of the house stated, “This House ought not to stand silent in the face of conduct almost universally… felt to be inappropriate,”

The fact that illegal aliens have accessed health care in the Affordable Health Care Act is immaterial. It was conduct considered not acceptable by the House of Representatives and therefore they officially “scolded” the congressman.
I am willing to wager that no such scolding will take place even though these actions are not within the protocol of the House of Representatives.

Representative Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat who is African American, said Wilson would not have made the outburst had Obama been white. He said Wilson’s action encouraged “racist sentiment”. Running the risk of being called a racist let me conjecture that had Trump not been white there would have been no boycott.

All congressional bills, before they become law, must go to the President for his signature. Since these sixty-eight congressmen believe Trump is not a legitimate officeholder they surely will not put their names on any bill he will have to sign. It will be interesting to see if they present legislation that benefits their constituents and expect this illegitimate president to sign them into law.

I recall a major college coach responding to an opposing coach who complained that he had run the score up on him. The winning coach’s reply was “Quit complaining. I don’t need to shut my team down; you need to recruit better players.”
The Democrats need to stop complaining and get better candidates.

No one asked me but… I ran the risk of being called a racist in the passage above; let me run the risk of being chauvinistic in this paragraph. I believe I have figured out why Hollywood starlets refused to participate in the inauguration. One look at Melania in her stunning blue Ralph Lauren outfit gives one to understand that there is no one in tinsel town to match her beauty. When Trump’s daughters appeared there was little lost in the level of beauty. Sorry Madonna you are not even close. The best part is all three of the women are smarter than most people and have actually accomplished something in real life.

There is nothing like basing your political decisions on drug addicted movie stars. These are the people who champion the cause of shutting down coal fire plants but fly around in private jets throwing more pollution in the air on one trip than a West Virginia coal miner does in a year.

It never ceases to amaze me that people who make their living in creating artificial worlds believe they know best for those of us who have to live in the real world. One must wonder when the last time Meryl Streep shopped for her own groceries. While many entertainment icons refused to perform for the new president those who did were great!

Thought of the week…Protesting because you don’t get your way is called a temper tantrum…no matter what your age.