Polling: Major Problems For Zhou Regime

Right. I know that subject line sounds pretty obvious. However, an interesting article in The Atlantic examines some of the recent polling more closely, and comes up with some interesting insights that go beyond the usual day to day issues in the news.

It’s the Pandemic, Stupid

What new polls reveal about American priorities

First of all, all the polls and aggregations skew liberal, so the numbers may well actually be worse than represented. The polls that The Atlantic looks at are: the RealClearPolitics average, the FiveThirtyEight trend line, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll, and an NBC News poll (which got the most media buzz).

All the polling data shows Zhou's numbers plunging--virtually in freefall. The author, Russell Berman, sets up the "easy explanation" for the terrible ratings: the debacle in Afghanistan. That's pretty obvious, after all, and it's reflected in the polls. However, Berman then goes on to point out that a closer examination reveals bigger trouble ahead--Afghanistan doesn't even make the list of important issues for poll respondents. That means something else is driving the plunge in the polls:

About The Attempted Federal Takeover Of Elections

I can see that readers are aware that the Dem House passed their longed for Federal takeover of elections--authority which the Constitution explicitly reserves to the States. There's a brief article on this at American Greatness:

House of Representatives Passes Bill That Would Enable Federal Control Over State Elections

Here are some relevant excerpts:

The bill passed along party lines in the lower chamber, by a margin of 219-212. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill, which is named after the far-left Georgia congressman who died in office last year. The bill seeks to restore a statute from the original 1965 Voting Rights Act that had been struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013; the statute would permit the federal government to conduct its own review of local and statewide election laws and procedures if the state is considered to have “a history of voter discrimination.”

In the 2013 decision, Shelby v. Holder, the nation’s highest court ruled that demanding the states first seek permission from the federal government before changing voting laws was unconstitutional.

...

The bill now heads to the evenly-divided United States Senate, where Republicans are just as opposed to the bill as House Republicans were. Even several moderate Democrats have questioned the integrity of the bill, thus putting its future in doubt.

Shelby v. Holder was a 6-3 decision and is based in the constitutional principle of federalism:

UPDATED: Proof Of Crash And Burn?

 Think about this ...

That is really stunning. https://t.co/nkguQs17RM

— shipwreckedcrew.substack.com (@shipwreckedcrew) August 21, 2021

The relative silence of the GOP probably means they're content to allow this to metastasize:

I have written many times that I think the DNC will have a price to pay with the voting public if Biden proved over the first two years to be mentally unfit as he appeared to be. The GOP will hang him around the neck of every Democrat candidate in 2022. https://t.co/ot5B32hegr

— shipwreckedcrew.substack.com (@shipwreckedcrew) August 21, 2021

They know that this isn't going to go away. Not only will the fallout be with us in 2022 but likely for many years to come. This is crash and burn on steroids--or so it appears to me.

The problem with this POV is they have no idea what catastrophe might come next with him in charge. What happens if China moves on Taiwan or Russia sends troops into Ukraine?
I'm not saying Harris is guaranteed to do better but it is a near certainty that Biden will collapse. https://t.co/rlckLUc7iv

— shipwreckedcrew.substack.com (@shipwreckedcrew) August 21, 2021

And this is like the definition of damned if you do, damned if you don't. So--what do you do? One can imagine that any problem-solving outreach by Dems to GOPers receives the not-my-problem-man response.

OTOH, there is another reason for general GOP silence:

Conservatives who voted for Biden acting like there’s you can call takies backsies. lol that’s not how elections work. Biden is “governing” as any reasonable person knew he would. This is what they voted for. Don’t let them forget it.

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 22, 2021

UPDATE: Things aren't getting better--more crash and burn. Zhou has dementia, but what's Blinken's excuse? Oh, whatever, he was some foreign guy?

Conservatives who voted for Biden acting like there’s you can call takies backsies. lol that’s not how elections work. Biden is “governing” as any reasonable person knew he would. This is what they voted for. Don’t let them forget it.

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 22, 2021

State Of Play In Politics - August '21

Things continue to look down for Dems in Election 2022. This remains important because regaining the House remains the best prospect for shutting down Great Reset--the Senate, not so much, although a message sent to McConnell's wing might help. You have to start somewhere, and in the meantime slowing down the Great Reset is the best we can do. Winning the big battle of ideas--changing Middle Americans into philosophical warriors--remains a bridge too far at this point, so you go for the smaller victories.

Smaller victories appear to be within reach. Two articles that dovetail with each other give reason for hope.

At Red State yesterday we find some analysis of Yahoo polling--and, as the author notes, bear in mind that this was a +11 Dem sampling. Zhou's handlers can read polling results just as well as anyone, and they surely know what this poll is pointing toward:

Zhou Baidan Enters 'Yikes' Territory as Democrat 2022 Hopes Fade

The important thing is to look at the issues and to understand that some of them--bad as they may seem--have yet to really bite. Inflation is a good example. Schools is another--because I fully expect widespread shutdowns in major metro areas. Not just mask mandates. Look at the issues, because it will get worse. Wait till people start waking up to the reality of the Covid Panic and its attendant Regime--the real science. These are all issues that hit home for Americans and they also point toward broader political orientation issues--first principles of life as a society. These are not issues that a policy tweak or two can turn around:

Briefly Noted: Setting The Stage For 2022

Slowly but surely the stage is being set for Election 2022. Polling continues to show that crime remains the number one concern of voters, along with immigration and border security. These are negative issues that the Dems totally own.

The news just got worse for the Dems yesterday in, of all places, the US Senate, with two items--both decided on 50-49 votes. The Dems established their ownership--beyond any doubt--of two hot button issues for parents of kids in school, as well as all other concerned citizens who pay for what currently passes as education in America.

The first item was a Republican victory, 50-49, involving an anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) amendment proposed by Senator Tom Cotton:

In a late night vote on Tuesday, the US Senate passed an amendment that prohibits federal funds from going to pre-K programs and K-12 schools that teach critical race theory. Every single Democrat, except one – West Virginia senator Joe Manchin – voted against the legislation, which passed 50-49.

The result is that the Dems are on the record supporting the wildly unpopular CRT indoctrination going on in government schools across the country. They had no choice but to cater to their Left base.

The second item involved a narrow 50-49 Republican loss on an amendment proposed by Senator Tim Scott that would have mandated keeping schools open for in person teaching. Once again, the Dems are locked into supporting their base--in this case the extreme Left government school teachers and their union chiefs--and embracing the anti-science of lockdowns. This, too, I predict will be a big loser come November, 2022. 

The result should prove disastrous. 

I hasten to add. I'm not suggesting that this will save the country, not per se. However, at this point anything that slows down the Left and that mobilizes normal people across the country is something to cheer for.

Our Procedural 'Democracy'--At A Crossroads?

From an historical perspective human societies have been organized based on a comprehensive worldview--what we in the modern West would call a "religion." These worldviews express a society's understanding of human nature and of man's place in the larger universe. Customs, moral guidance and rules, and governance flow from that self understanding. When I first started this blog, the development of man's self understanding in history was my primary focus--thus, meaning in history.

This perspective remains relevant, although events such as the Russia Hoax overtook me before I could work my way up to modern times. Where do we in America stand in relation to this perspective? An answer to that question can only be framed from the standpoint of a very general overview of the historical development of the West.

Christian faith--considered in its essence--represents a break with the compactness of traditional cultures or societies, in which questioning of basic self understandings are discouraged. Christian faith is based on two things: historical events (Jesus of Nazareth) and a probing effort to understand the nature of reality through reason. The uniqueness of Christian faith--understood as reasoned belief--is apparent in the early Christian embrace of the figure of Socrates (a heretic in the context of the Greek religio-cultural self understanding) as a type of precursor saint to Christian faith. It was precisely Socrates' questioning of traditional certitudes that appealed to early Christians.

Potpourri Post: Inflation, Panic Pandemic, Deep State

Breitbart is reporting that a new poll shows that Americans are very concerned about inflation--a finding that I've been predicting. The good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, is that the reasons for the concern are unlikely to vanish before Election 2022.

Poll: Voters Are Overwhelmingly Concerned About Inflation

"Overwhelmingly." That's what I meant when I said "very."

Voters in battleground districts are overwhelmingly concerned about inflation and the rising cost of living, according to a recent poll commissioned by the American Action Network to show to the House Republican leadership this week.

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents said they are worried about the rising cost of living, and 53 percent had said they were extremely or very worried. When asked about the rising inflation, 86 percent of the respondents said they were worried, and about half (50 percent) of the respondents said they were extremely or very worried.

...

More so, one part that shows good support for Republicans is that 75 percent of the respondents also agreed it is the “Democrat spending proposals that could cause inflation.” Due to these results, 84 percent of the respondents said they would vote generic Republican, versus the 10 percent that said they would vote for the generic Democrat.

Ouch.

John Adams Then, Us Now

As we approach the Fourth of July this seems a suitable time to remind ourselves of some home truths. America was not founded as a Libertarian nation of atomistic individuals doing their own thing, much less as 'woke' versions of that simplistic Classical Liberal ideology. Several of the Founding Fathers spoke eloquently about the need for religious and moral formation, and none more presciently that John Adams:

From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798

To the Officers of the first Brigade of the third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts

Quincy October 11. 1798

Gentlemen

I have received from Major General Hull and Brigadier General Walker your unanimous Address from Lexington, animated with a martial Spirit and expressed with a military Dignity, becoming your Characters and the <, Start deletion,Place, End,> memorable Plains, in which it was adopted. 

While our Country remains untainted with the Principles and manners, which are now producing desolation in so many Parts of the World: while she continues Sincere and incapable of insidious and impious Policy: We shall have the Strongest Reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned Us by Providence. But should the People of America, once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Iniquity and Extravagance; and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candour frankness & sincerity while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. 

An Address so unanimous and firm from the officers commanding two thousand Eight hundred Men, consisting of such substantial Citizens as are able and willing at their own Expence, compleatly to arm, And cloath themselves in handsome Uniforms does honor to that Division of the Militia which has done so much honor to their Country. Oaths, in this Country, are as yet universally considered as Sacred Obligations. That which you have taken and so solemnly repeated on that venerable Spot is an ample Pledge of your sincerity, and devotion to your Country and its Government.

Where are we today? Ben Weingarten has written a thoughtful piece for Newsweek that shows how far we as a nation have traveled down the road of "simulation", simulation of justice and moderation while engaging in extravagant, inquisitorial persecution of those who hold to the ideals Adams embraced:

Some Thoughts From Robert Cahaly of Trafalgar Group

In the post-Obama election cycles, the Trump Era, the pollster who has most consistently gotten things right--including naming swing states where Trump needed to win "beyond the margin of fraud"--has been Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group. Yesterday an interesting article--for those interested in such matters--appeared which presented in its second half some of Cahaly's thoughts not merely on what has been happening with polling and with recent elections, but also some worthwhile thoughts going forward. Check it out:

Trafalgar: The Pollster That Keeps Getting It Right

UPDATED: The Roberts Strategy Lives, Right?

Arizona wins. This is a case I may want to read in detail--Alito writing for the Court, not sure about other opinions yet, since I've been writing on other matters. I thought this decision might come out later in the day. 

For now I'll leave this with Jonathan Turley, who views this as a "big win for the states"--and, I suppose for the federalism embodied in our constitutional order. However, as I've maintained re the putative Roberts strategy, what this does is put the ball back in the States' court. The States need to act--the SCOTUS, rightly, isn't going to do the work that the Constitution delegates to the States.

As you read, bear in mind that Turley is probably tweeting as he reads. We'll be updating as more analysis comes out. Also, as context, the District Court--to whose opinion reference is made, upheld the AZ law, but the 9th Circuit--now reversed by the SCOTUS--overturned that court.

At this early point, it does seem to me that the Roberts strategy lives. Notice, too, embedded in commentary on the AZ case, the CA case, opinion by Roberts--CA can't force disclosure of political donors. Another big victory against the Left:

Roberts Strategy To Be Revealed Tomorrow?

For the last several months--since the abdication of the Roberts SCOTUS from involvement in Election 2020--we've been speculating about a possible 'Roberts strategy' for election law. The basic idea is that, based on recent election law rulings, CJ Roberts has devised a federalist strategy for extricating the SCOTUS from the swamp of election lawsuits--to the extent possible--by returning primary responsibility for elections to the states. Which is precisely where the Constitution places the exclusive responsibility. What a concept! That, of course, would run counter to the federalization of all elections that has been trending--at the instigation of the Left--for several decades.

The rubber may hit the road on Monday, when Jonathan Turley expects a ruling in the Arizona election law case that came to the SCOTUS from the Ninth Circuit. This term--since the election in any event--the SCOTUS seems to have adopted a policy of issuing quite narrow--perhaps excessively narrow--rulings, but on largely unanimous grounds. But it's difficult to see the Court disposing of the AZ case on narrow procedural grounds if Roberts truly has a strategy in mind. The AZ case seeks to legitimize the Left's favorite electoral tactics of ballot harvesting and so forth which the AZ law bans. If the Roberts court returns responsibility to the states there should be a scramble to rewrite elections laws--with the legislatures being held accountable to the voters.

In this context of a pending decision in the AZ case, DoJ took the step of initiating a lawsuit challenging Georgia's new law. Does the Zhou regime know something? Or, in my opinion, is this a last ditch effort to influence the SCOTUS decision in the AZ case? Or is it possibly an attempt to steal some of the thunder from a decision that Dems fear, for consumption of their base? 

Jonathan Turley, law prof at Geo Washington U., has weighed in at Fox News with some interesting thoughts on the matter.

Wheels Coming Off?

The Dems cheated like hell in Election 2020, but to what effect? The great statesmen in the 50-50 Senate--Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (but perhaps fronting for a few more)--are blocking the Dem agenda. Latest:

Dem Meltdown Incoming: Joe Manchin Announces Decision on Voting Bill

But it's worse than that, as the article goes on to detail Manchin's plans to block repeal of the filibuster and to block a pure-Dem "infrastructure" bill.

Meanwhile the audits continue--and look to spread. And the bad Fauci/Covid hoaxes continue to metastasize while Election 2022 draws nearer. Leftist craziness grows unabated, the murder pandemic in Blue cities shows no signs of going away, and inflation burgeons. 

More bad news stories:

Fauci crony Peter Daszak got Covid stimulus money--and lots of it:

Why Did Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance Receive Over $1 Million In COVID Relief Funding?

It seems Daszak wasn't really doing much in the way of research--he was the fixer who arranged the government grant money and then spread the largess around:

UPDATED: Election Fraud Investigations Continue

We're all looking forward to see the results of the audit from Arizona soon, but already more and more irregularities in the handling procedures and in the access authorities are being revealed. Dem and, yes, GOPe stonewalling continues at a high legal level--local authorities are defying state senate subpoenas, even though state legislatures--under the US Constitution and most state laws--are in charge of elections. Some of these issues are finding their way to the SCOTUS. There's plenty of time for these matters to be resolved--or, if not resolved, then aired--before Election 2022.

As I've said previously, I simply don't have time to cover all the ins and outs of these investigations. As a result I'm waiting for more details on a broader scale than are currently available. We know that there are ongoing investigations with regard to GA, MI, and WI. I'm not sure what the situation is with regard to PA, but I believe there is action there, too.

I notice that my last reference to these matters at any length was all the way back at the beginning of February: BRIEFLY NOTED: Matt Braynard Is Still On The Case. In that post I noted Braynard's continuing outstanding efforts to document and expose widespread fraud. At that time I quoted Braynard from an appearance he made on Steve Bannon's show--and I don't believe anything has happened to change his assessment:

What I’m finding and continuing to find, because we’re actually still doing research, and we’re looking forward to presenting it more aggressively without the constraints of the lawsuits we were entangled with initially, is that among those three states, the number of illegal ballots surpassed the margin of victory. Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona, without those three, Joe Biden isn’t president – and I think we can prove that fairly conclusively.

Last night and this morning TGP had several posts which illustrate what Braynard was talking about as recently as two months ago (he's been on the case for far longer). Braynard, in his conversation with Bannon, focused strongly on Wisconsin, and since then there have been continuing revelations of collusion between local Dem elected officials and national Dem operatives--often circumventing local election officials. The first TGP report delves into more of that. It's now being documented that the scope of these operations was quite widespread:

Special Election TX-6: National Harbinger?

For political junkies Red State has a fascinating report on the special election that was just held to fill the vacant TX-6 US House seat--a basically suburban district pretty much south of Dallas/Fort Worth. Before we get to the Red State article, here's some demographic info from Wikipedia's TX-6 page. First a demographic profile:

Distribution	88.7% urban[1] 11.3% rural
Population (2019)	818,442[2]
Median household income	$71,161[2]
Ethnicity	52.0% White 22.2% Hispanic 20.3% Black 4.9% Asian 0.6% Native American
Cook PVI	R+6[3]

Next, recent presidential election results--21st century:

Year	Office	Result
2000	President	Bush 66 – 34%
2004	President	Bush 66 – 34%
2008	President	McCain 57 – 42%
2012	President	Romney 58 – 41%
2016	President	Trump 54 – 42%
2020	President	Trump 51 – 48%

Pay attention to that last line item, because it's important for what we're going to see--in 2020 this was only a Trump +3 district (nope, I'm not going there--don't need to for this).

Here's the Red State article. The title might seem counter intuitive, given that this is a pretty solid Red district:

Politics: Race, Taxes, Wealth

Three political points for today.

First, an interesting article at the Washington Times-- 

Trump's pollsters: Democrats' racial terrorism strategy will backfire again

With that title in mind it's not hard to follow the reasoning of these pollsters--the racial terrorism strategy, beyond the obvious and deep harm it's causing the country, is a bad political strategy. The article is fairly lengthy, but ...

In 2016 we were crazy enough to predict President Donald J. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton when the conventional wisdom was that it was going to be a Clinton landslide. ...

... Whether it was the economy, jobs, terrorism, immigration, crime or America’s standing in the world, voters said things had gotten worse and they wanted something new. Voters viewed Mrs. Clinton as a continuation of the Obama/Biden term.

Lost in the final tally was one very significant data point. According to a Pew research poll conducted among actual 2016 voters, two-thirds (67%) of Americans said race relations had gotten worse during the Obama/Biden years. Interestingly, it was the lowest job rating that President Obama received on any issue.

Clearly, what we call the Democrats racial terrorism strategy had backfired on them in the 2016 elections.

Now turn to Zhou. The authors set the table by reviewing the racism lie that Dems--not just Zhou, but the entire party--have built their fraudulent regime upon. Then, they go over the results of their survey--how poorly this is playing with Americans from most walks of life:

UPDATED: Briefly Noted: CRT Under Legal Challenge

Even though CRT is one of the biggest stories in current America, time is limited and I'm not about to spend time on an obviously deranged view of reality. So, briefly ... I'll cite the views of two pundits who are by no means conservative in the sense that I am. I do so as a hopeful sign that the unease at the direction American society is taking has risen to the attention of the Center.

Paul Mirengoff references an article that documents legal challenges to the imposition of CRT as the default--indeed, the only allowed--public ideology in our schools and workplaces. Mirengoff's views, as reproduced, track mine pretty closely. He's not optimistic:

... A nation that teaches children to hate its history and to demonize a plurality of its population is probably doomed.

Fortunately, as John Murawski at RealClearInvestigations documents in detail, CRT is under challenge in courts. Here are some of the legal actions he describes, along with my tentative, off-the-cuff thoughts about the cases:

...

Murawski also quotes Douglas Seaton of the Upper Midwest Law Center, which is planning to file lawsuits challenging the imposition of CRT, on the stakes of the legal battle ahead. Seaton says:

You can’t have a country as diverse as ours without equality before the law. It’s a recipe for communal violence, tribalism. You can’t simply proceed that way. You’d be doomed to internecine battles between groups.

Steve Sailer cites an article by Ueber Neocon NeverTrump Bret Stephens--quoting Stephens at length. Stephens thinks that 

... anti-racism narrative will profoundly alienate liberal-minded America, even as it entrenches itself in schools, universities, corporations and other institutions of American life.

I'm not as sanguine, but consider it a good thing that Stephens' misgivings are appearing in the NYT. Stephens considers that 

Politics: Recall And Redistricting

Gavin Newsom will face a recall election in California. Most polling and pundit analysis indicates that Newsom will not be recalled. However, that may not be the end of the story. The LA Times has some interesting coverage and the title suggests that there's more going on here than the recall election itself:

California GOP could gain from a Newsom recall election — win or lose — if they play their cards right

The Dem position is articulated by Bob Shrum--yes, I agree: FWIW. Shrum wants people to think it's only and all about the election results:

“The recall will become nothing more than psychic satisfaction for Republicans — until they get the results on election night,” he said.

But, not so fast. Republican consultants argue that this election will give them an opportunity to put their message before the public at a time when dissatisfaction is high. Regardless of whether voters--who are normally a cautious lot--decide to take drastic action, the campaign could prove to be a preview for future events:

Briefly Noted: Death In America

Briefly noted, because I'll be mostly just providing links. Something's going on in America, and it results from a total devaluation of life. Because it's largely kept from public view, people are complacent--but complacency is the first step toward death.

Tucker Carlson did a powerful show on Kim Foxx, George Soros' State's Attorney in Cook County. The footage is graphic and powerful, but note a number of key items:

Alderman Lopez talks of people being "gunned down by violence". Which tells you right there that he's afraid to name the problem.

Kim Foxx talks of "equity and justice, NOT law and order". She talks openly of supposedly making up for the past as reasons for releasing--uncharged--minority and immigrant violent felons. Kim Foxx has been elected twice, and while I have nothing to learn about vote fraud in Cook County, I am also convinced that Foxx would have won any fair election. I know my neighbors.

But while this report is about Chicago, it's also about every other city with a George Soros chief prosecutor. Here the death is of individuals, but it's also the death of communities and cities. Check it out:

UPDATED: What's The Incentive For Big City Cops To Stay?

There's a chilling article in the NY Post about the rate at which cops are bugging out--retiring, taking disability, leaving for greener pastures where they'll be appreciated and will be able to do their job without Leftist harassment: 

Are NYPD officers rushing to retire amid city’s anti-cop climate?

The answer to that one is a total no-brainer. Of course they're rushing to retire--or, if not yet eligible, to find some other way out. Wouldn't you? This should give an idea of how bad things are:

Briefly Noted: The Dems Went Down To Georgia

Here's my bottom line on the MLB and Corporate cave--cutting away from the who struck John of it all to the larger implications. Kama Sutra told us at the height of last years riots and insurrections that this stuff wasn't going away--it would continue under the Zhou Baiden regime. Well, here we are. Cancel culture is the new normal, and it's a great look--most likely, for the Republicans in 2022. It largely boils down to Metro Libs and BLM expressing their hatred for America. And themselves--there were 8 dead and 34 shot over Easter in Chicago. As we've seen over the past few years, in Liberalism self congratulatory virtue signaling easily morphs into self loathing and self destruction. Keep it coming--there's nothing that helps electoral turnout like a clear choice.