The Outsider Perspective Issue 433 | The Beltway Outsiders

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Good Friday Morning! Except to Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who claimed in new court filings that he’s millions of dollars in debt, has no place to live, and is in dire financial shape. Apparently, no one is buying his paintings anymore.

I wonder why? The New York Post did some digging and looked at his home in Los Angeles. Not only is it seemingly livable, but it also doesn’t appear to have been touched by the wildfires while his neighborhood went up in smoke.

He’s already faced tax evasion charges. One wonders what he’s doing to avoid claims to the rest of his finances now.

This week, I’m going to cover the fallout from the State of the Union among Democrats. A year ago, I was writing about how Biden barely survived getting kicked off the ballot because he gave a decent SOTU speech. This year, Democrats are imploding with no leadership, plans, or clues—links to follow.

Quick Hits:

Trump’s economic vision includes “pain” ahead. Scan any poll right now, and Trump is taking on water on the economic front. Americans hate inflation, and they hate the sense of a slowing economy. WSJ summed Trump’s speech up as “No pain, no gain.” Trump’s team plans to use tariffs to “boost” the economy while acknowledging short-term downturns. Will that work? It’s hard to tell. Tariffs could trigger a slowdown, which could help inflation,despite increasing prices on some categories. Trump’s move is shifting investment dollars into the U.S. But interest rates are falling. It’s a hard target to track. In any event, inflation isn’t dead, and it’s Trump’s top issue.
Democrats claim calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas” is racist. During the middle of the SOTU, Trump referred to Warren as Pocahontas. The hit isn’t new, as conservatives called her Fauxcahontas after she falsely claimed to be Native American and even tried to use the “one drop of blood” claim to build her claims to minority status. The left claims the Pocahontas jab is racist while seemingly ignoring the part where Warren is nothing more than Rachel Dolezal for Native Americans. It’s bizarre logic.
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Where you can find me this week

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Trump Is Ending Ukraine War That Biden Should Have Ended – Conservative Institute

Trump Exposes Democratic Party As Broken Beyond Repair In One Speech – Conservative Institute

Trump Needs To Drop Hammer On Hamas – Conservative Institute

Democrats Descend Lower… As Trump Expands Coalition

Tuesday night, as Donald Trump wrapped up the first State of the Union of his second term, I had a serious thought that Democrats are truly in a deep wilderness. They’re lost and may continue losing until they figure out how to relate to Americans.

I say that with the full knowledge that Democrats will likely retake the House in 2026 and have an electoral edge in 2028. In American politics, the White House losing Congress is so common that it’s hard to imagine anything else happening.

But outside midterms, we do experience stretches where one party can dominate. The period I’m thinking about is the post-Kennedy/LBJ 1960s when Americans soured hard on Democrats.

The excesses of liberalism swept Nixon back into office in the 1968 election, and from that point until 1992, Republicans won every Presidential election for 24 years, with the exception of Carter’s failed single term. And Carter was the southern preacher reactionary moment to the Watergate fallout. Once the dust settled from Watergate, Americans went back to voting for Republicans.

I’ve wondered if we may be looking at the start of one of those moments. In the 20th Century, Democrats could fall back on their dominance in Congress due to the working class. They’re losing that. If they enter another period where Republicans dominate the White House, they’ll have nothing to fall back on.

My liberal friends would call this concern trolling. But it’s not in this case because Democrats’ bizarre reactions were the big story from this State of the Union. I thought Trump’s speech was one of his better ones, but he used Democrats as a foil, and they fell into the trap.

Peggy Noonan nailed this in her column: “Snap Out of It, Democrats.”

I will start with something [Democrats] won’t believe. In politics, there is bringing the love and bringing the hate. When the 13-year-old boy who had brain cancer and has always wanted to be a cop is appointed as an honorary Secret Service agent, laminated ID and all, and the child, surprised by the gesture, hugs the normally taciturn head of the Secret Service, the only thing to do, because you are human, is cheer that child. And when the president honors a young man whose late father, a veteran and policeman, had inspired his wish to serve, and dreams of attending West Point, and the president says that he has some sway in the admissions office and young man you are going to West Point—I not only got choked up when it happened I’m choked up as I write. The boy with cancer high-fives the young man, and the only response to such sweetness is tears in your eyes.

That moment is “the love.” It was showing love for regular Americans. To cheer them is to cheer us. It shows admiration for and affiliation with normal people who try, get through, endure and hold on to good hopes.

The Democrats brought the hate. They sat stone-faced, joyless and loveless. They don’t show love for Americans anymore. They look down on them, feel distance from them, instruct them, remind them to feel bad that they’re surrounded by injustice because, well, they’re unjust.

Mr. Trump says: No, man, I love you.

Which is better? Which is kinder, more generous? Which inspires? Which wins?

I had the same thoughts. And it was jarring to see from the Democratic Party because it has been billed as the “bleeding heart” party for all of my life. These are supposed to be the people who believe in the heart of America, in stark contrast to the “heartless” Republicans who focus on economics, bottom lines, and national defense.

One of the Democratic representatives stood next to the aisle where Trump was walking by with a sign that said, “This is not normal!”

But it is normal. This IS normal. Cheering on American success is the most normal thing there. Donald Trump has been the center of American politics since 2015. He will leave office in January 2029, which will be 14 years of political dominance.

Trump will span across two decades. He is normal and single-handedly redefined politics in the country – for better or worse. John Fetterman summed up the Democratic response well:

A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.

It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained.

We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to—and it may not be the winning message.

As a way of showing how far the Democratic Party has shifted, I’ve gone from thinking that John Fetterman was a brain-dead slob to improbably becoming possibly the only shot Democrats have in 2028.

Gavin Newsom is desperately trying to pivot away from the far left for a 2028 run, doing podcasts with Charlie Kirk. But doing podcasts instead of rebuilding Los Angeles sort of reveals the Democratic Party’s disconnect.

You can see the signs of some Democrats knowing what to do. But then you look at the State of the Union speech and get the polar opposite reaction.

If you can’t stand up, cheer for cancer-surviving kids, West Point admission announcements, and the celebration of America, what are you even doing?

I had an argument with a liberal acquaintance recently. He couldn’t even root for the Americans in the Canada vs. U.S.A. hockey match. You watch Democrats at the State of the Union address, and they either weren’t watching the hockey game or were rooting for the Canadians.

The path to beating Trump and winning the working class back is straightforward. Democrats have no interest in doing it. And for the first time in my life, despite all the electoral evidence I have behind things swinging back and forth, I wonder if Democrats will recover.

The guys at the Liberal Patriot are already warning Democrats that Trump has the potential to expand his coalition more.

We’re not even two months in yet.

Links of the week

For Hunter, the Biden business goes bust – Byron York, Washington Examiner

House censures Rep. Al Green for outburst during Trump speech – CBS News

Sanctuary city mayors struggle to counter GOP’s ‘pro-criminal’ attacks – Politico

State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas” – Axios

Zelensky’s conciliatory letter to Trump suggests he’s out of options – BBC

Supreme Court dismisses effort to reinstate watchdog head as defunct – SCOTUSBlog

Tim Scott unveils bill targeting debanking – NewsNation

Intel officials say CCP leadership corruption report is on the way after Biden admin delay – JustTheNews

A BBC Scandal Exposes the Sham Industry of Anti-Zionist Documentaries – Commentary