Restoring Washington DC Landmarks

The J Weber podcast is presented by Creative Planning, helping clients simplify their journey to financial wellness, one personalized plan at a time. The J Weber podcast is a production of I HAR Radio podcasts. Hello and welcome to the J Webber podcast. Today we're going to talk about the person who I see as the Democrats' most dangerous prospect for twenty twenty eight. And no, it's not anyone you've probably heard about , it isn't Gavin Newsom or Kamala or even AOC. It's Ro Khanna, the guy that Bernie Sanders has apparently been grooming to turn America's socialist movement over to. We'll also talk about an economy that is genuinely returning to a strong one under a second term of Donald Trump, and it could soon be stellar. Also, some thoughts on why Democrats and Trump haters can't just admit that this administration is doing a good thing in restoring Washington DC. Gregory John today , my producer is a few days off to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, his only daughter. His son married a few years ago and so this is it for Greg and Dorothy's children. Child number two and the daughter is getting married this weekend. So congratulations to the entire family. And it means that I have to spend some time in my closet today rummaging around to find a pair of dress pants that still fits. I don't think I'm going to find one, and so thank Heaven I'm not actually in the wedding or an important guest. I'm probably going to be the guy who will have a shirt, tie in suitcoat on the top half, but will be wearing jeans and comfortable shoes in the bottom half. That's just how I roll now as a retired fat guy. One of the advantages of growing older though is getting a pass on a lot of the small stuff. And in those instances, I am taking full advantage, absolutely. I can no longer be expected to know what day of the week it is or when people's birthdays are, or be expected to show up in a suit and tie or show up wearing dress shoes . And there will even be a day in which I'm no longer expected to contribute to the conversation, I'm sure. Hopefully I'm still years away from that, but there's a point at which the younger people don't even need to hear from you. You just're f aixture at the party because you know, they thought you should get out for the day. I'm not looking forward to that day, but it will take some of the pressure off. As of now, I'm still the radio guy who has interesting stories to tell and who everyone can ask about current events, etc . At some point, I won't even have to bring that to the party. Those are some of the benefits of getting older, especially if you have the benefits of a life well lived and a nice nest egg that someone else can manage for you, which brings us to my podcast's sponsor, creative planning. Have you heard about creative planning? They're one of the nation's largest independent wealth management firms offering fully integrated financial and retirement planning, investment management, estate planning, tax strateg ies, business services, and international wealth management all in house and coordinated through your wealth advisor. Their fiduciary wealth managers are here to help you navigate every piece of your financial life. Visit creativeplanning. com to schedule your introductory meeting. That's creative planning. com. Your team awaits. Paid for by creative planning, an SEC registered investment advisor. The speaker's statements are not an endorsement of the firm. All right, let's start here. So the party that calls everyone who disagrees with them a Nazi is now literally backing a Nazi for the U. S. Congress. This era's Democrats really are a perpetually shameful and shameless lot, aren't they? As expected, Graham Plat in wonum the main Democrat primary by a landslide, and now they're going to spend the next five months trying to explain away the fact that this man is genuinely a monster, just a rancid human being in just about every way. Because today's Democrat Party really has been taken over by a horde of America haters, and they cannot destroy the country if they aren't in charge of it. So every sense of decency that this country's past eras of Democrats once had is now on the scrap peak. Tuesday's elections answered the question that the media outlets and pundits on both sides of the aisle had been asking for weeks. How much garbage will Democrats accept from Graham Platiner? Well, the answer is any amount of garbage, any amount , because they gotta, just gotta win back control of the U. S. Senate at all costs. Just as the Democrats pretend to be the party of the working class and the poor, only to ignore them and screw them over time and time again , today's Democrats are also proving they aren't really the party of women. Not a if Nazi tattooed woman abuser with a history of vile hatred, lies, and violence is promising to vote the way Chuck Schumer wants him to vote, and will tip the power structure toward DC's Democrats, so that's fine with them. We got our answ er. And backing Platiner at all costs is just another example of how extreme and how dysfunctional today's Democrat Party is. It's not a mistake that the biggest supporters and the loudest advocates for Platiner are the Bernie Sanders and AOC style socialists. It was the so called Democrat Socialists of America who recruited Platiner to run in Maine, and it was Bernie, AOC, Liz Warren, and Rokana who were his most loyal and strident supporters and promoters in this primary . This really is the socialist trying to build a movement that takes over full control of the Democrat Party as it takes control of the country. Don't be confused about what we're seeing here. I find it interesting that Politico this week has a story about how there is no air apparent to the Bernie Sanders Socialist Movement. They claim that the nation's socialists, which they insist on labeling progressives, are torn between backing AOC California Congressman Rokana as their heir apparent to the Bernie movement and as a twenty twenty eight Democrat nominee for president. Well, listeners to my radio show will know that at least two years ago, probably more, I told you that Bernie Sanders doesn't think that highly of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. It's not that he hates her or that he doesn't appreciate what a feedom she has been for the Socialist movement in America, he does. It's that Bernie knows what we know . He knows AOC is actually sort of an idiot. Bernie Sanders is an eighty two year old man who has spent his entire life tricking people and mouthing Marxist baloney. He knows he's got a talent for it, and he knows a lightweight when he sees one. Yeah, Bernie has traveled the country with AOC for years, doing far left events and as part of their idiotic oligarchs tour. He sees how easily she tricks most of his die hard followers, but he also sees her stupidity,. I mean clearly , I'm just taking an educated guess here, but Bernie has got to see and hear how much of the facts, history, and logic Alex gets wrong. She can't open her mouth or even speak it for any length of time without revealing herself to be an idiot . And so a batch of stories a couple of years ago on Insider blogs reported that Bernie Sanders doesn't see Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as the person he wants to hand off his movement to. It's actually Ro Khana, who the vast majority of Americans don't even know yet. But I'll tell you, podcast listeners now what I told my radio show listeners back then. Ro Khanna is a major threat to the country and to the status quo, and we could be in real trouble if the Bernie Bros start to see that he is clearly the superior candidate and the superior mouthpiece to take over for Bernie. He's actually more convincing than Bernie . Folks, Khan is of Indian descent, and so he checks that minority box and even better than AOC does really, she can pretend to be all Latina, but aside from her name, she doesn't look particularly Hispanic or minority. Connie has the darker skin. He's got the foreign name, which today's Democrats and especially today's far left America haters really like in a candidate. Moreover, Kane is really smart . And I say this as a guy who never wants to see him anywhere near any real lever of power, certainly nowhere near the White House. But I respect intellect. AOC is an obvious idiot. Rokane is obviously a smart man who has a talent that is far better than Bernie's for slinging BS and making Marxism sound logical. I want to emphasize what I'm saying here because it's important . Bernie Sanders isn't all that convincing in his rhetoric, nor has he been a great advocate for socialism. And if you question that, why did he spend thirty years of his congressional career sitting in a corner of the Democrat Senate caucus being completely ignored. It was because he was the unconvincing crackpot socialist, that's why. He wasn't convincing anyone that socialism was cool, and he wasn't for decades. It was only after Barack and Nancy welcomed the lunatic fringe into the Democrat Party tent that Bernie became a thing. And remember how he became a thing . Bernie only got popular because he was independent who the Democrats couldn't freeze out of the twenty sixteen primary race for Hillary as they had all the others. No one else could run that year as a Democrat. They opened it for Hillary. Well, Bernie was an independent, and he wasn't expecting to win the nomination or win the presidency. He was just going out there trying to boost his little personal brand. He and his wife were literally renting college classrooms to hold their events in. They didn't expect anyone to show up . But silly old Bernie was the only alternative to another horrid Clinton in the White House, and so a large chunk of the left wing voters that year shifted over to Bernie . That is, to this day, the only reason that Bernie Sanders is known nationwide and is said to have a movement . In truth, the socialist movement in America has really grown due to outside forces and foreigners who want to destroy America, like George Soros, sweeping in to organize and fund it. It might have been Hillary's unpopularity in Bernie's twenty sixteen campaign that shifted America's Democrat voters further to the left , but everything since has been highly organized and funded by soros backed by organizations and other Marxist outsiders engaging what is basically a soft jihad to take over the country. They saw their opportunities and they've been taking them. There are more so called progressives, i. e. socialists sitting in mayors offices and city councils in our major cities than ever before. There are more socialists from DA to Dog Catcher representing this country in our medium and major cities than have ever been in the history of this country. I don't think most Americans understand that . Even in this round of primary voting this spring, while the results have been mixed, yeah, some moderate and traditional Democrat s have been winning their primary races, even so there is yet another batch of socialist candidates who have won their primaries . And in twenty twenty eight, they're going to want a candidate running for the White House. It won't be Bernie. He's way too old and he even admits it now. He said it again this week. Not gonna happen. AOC is the most obvious replacement because America's socialists find her smart and appealing and she's made herself wider known across the country , but she's an idiot who wouldn't survive the primary. And I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to be honest. Just like Kamala Harris, AOC is a woman who's too stupid to make it all the way through a month's long campaign without revealing herself to be a moron. A pretender, someone who isn't really ready for prime time. Voters will eventually see that if you see enough of this person. Folks, if AOC runs in twenty twenty eight, I have no worries about her ultimately getting the nomination or ending up in the White House. But Rokana, this guy who could literally come out of the blue that no one really knows about and has a good line of BS , that I worry about. That's how Barack Obama got into office. This is a guy who even most Democrat voters have never heard of, and could come out of California and step onto the national stage with a very slick and convincing line of BS selling socialism, that type of person is a threat . Kana looks good in a suit, he's about as slick a talker as I've ever seen in politics akin to Bill Clinton, and he , he could make Bernie and AOC's silly sounding socialist nonsense seem reasonable to a whole new group of Democrat and moderate voters. I'm telling you, if the Democrat Socialists of America and Bernie are smart enough to really get behind Ro Khanna and promote him for twenty twenty eight, they will represent a real threat to the country. I'm telling you now, do not dismiss Khana as just another Bernie or AOC. He's not. He's far smarter, slicker, and more talented. That makes him more of a danger to the Republic. He could sell their socialist destruction to the masses in a way that would be far more convincing than Bernie or AOC ever has. And this is why, at least two years ago, the far left insiders were saying Bernie sees a star here. He wants to hand over his movement and his voter lists to Kanah, not AOC . At least two years ago, Bernie knew that AOC might be appealing to a sliver of Dimwits , but didn't have the chops to trick at least half of the country into believing their Marxist BS . He sees that in Can na, that ability . Some of us have known this, but now we get the stories starting to pop up. The Whisper campaigns have started for both Khanna and AOC, by their supporters, both are apparently considering a White House run in twenty twenty eight, and now that Ber nie officially said he's out for twenty eight , you can expect this silent war between the two camps to start building. Politico notes, both House Democrats have traveled to important twenty twenty eight primary states this year, raising speculation that they're laying the groundwork for a future presidential campaign. Canna appeared at the South Carolina Democrat Party's annual state convention and it represented Jim Clyburn's annual fish fry fundraiser late last month. That's in South Carolina. Ron Clay, Chief of Staff during the former President Joe Biden's administration, is reportedly advising Canna. We'll get back to that. That's an important thing. They say Ocaso Cratez made a surprise appearance at Ebony's or Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, which is past ored by Senator Rafael Warnock. She stopped last month there. Politico goes on to say Sanders is close to both lawmakers and is unlikely to put his thumb on the scale for either candidate if they both run in twenty twenty eight. Both are already keeping flattery on Sanders as the king and as the man. They're clearly already pandering for his support. For example, AOC recently said, I think Bernie is his own Titan. I don't think there's anyone that can recreate one to one what Bernie has accomplished. She said, We're all very different leaders as well, and I don't want to be the next one. I want to be the first one. The most interesting part of the article is that several longtime AOC backers and members of the Socialist Squad in Congress are quoted as saying let's wait and see. They're not backing AOC. The fact that a fellow socialist like Promala Jayapal or Jasmine Crockett, the fact that they aren't leaping to Be Cckortes is interesting to me because they've been close to her in Congress all these years. Do they know she's a lightweight idiot too? I suspect that's the case. Also telling and concerning , Connie has caught the attention of the former Obama and Biden knites. To hear that Ron Clain and some old Obama and Biden handlers are now sweeping in to handle and manage a Rocana campaign in twenty eight means this needs to be taken seriously . After all, a lot of these people have already been a part of successful campaigns and are advisors to a White House. That puts some real gravitas in insider experience behind Kana, not AOC . Political correctly states Clayne was seen as the far left faction of the Democrat Party's way to wield more power in the Biden administration, with him telling the Daily Beast in twenty twenty one, Progressives are a big part of our party and making sure their voices are heard here at the White House is a big part of my job. In twenty twenty two, they reported once sidelined liberals see Ron Clay is a critical conduit between them and the West Wing . They say he entered socialist Mom Donnie's circle to help him with debate prep in twenty twenty five , and of course, Mam Danny won the New York Mayor election, and Clayne is also reportedly assisting with California Democrat nominee for governor Javier Bercera's campaign. Well, Bera is likely to be California's next governor. And as for whether Ron Clain has any scruples or personal ethics, no . Even knowing how unfit for office Graham Plattner is in Maine, even after understanding what type of person Plattner is and all the ugliness within him, Ron Clain sprinted into Maine to help Platinum do debate prep and salvage that campaign . And so it should concern us all that Ron Clain and a number of longtime Obama and Biden mercenaries are seeing Rokana as the Democrat 's answer in twenty twenty eight. And apparently they're seeing him as the larger answer to how the Democrats revive their troubled party, move more towards socialism. These are men and women who've spent their careers as insiders and behind the scenes operativ es trying to gain and then wield power . They're also a group that already knows what a pig Graham Platiner is and doesn't care. Understand these are the people. This is also the group of people who already know AOC is an idiot just like they knew Kamala Harris was an idiot and therefore knew how the Bidens had screwed over the party when they quickly handed Kamala the twenty twenty nomination. My point is the Democrat and DC insiders already know AO C is such an idiot that she can't possibly hide that fact from the public during a lengthy campaign. Kamala has already proven she can't do it. This is the group of people who don't see a Democrat savior in the current batch of people whose names are circulating for twenty twenty eight. Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker obviously don't impress them either . These are longtime Obama and Biden insiders and many of them served in both administrations. They want to choose some no name like Biden and Teddy Kennedy did with Barack Obama. They want to pull someone out of central casting that you can trick the voting public with and win the White House that way. And yes, I see AOC clearly setting herself up for a run. No one does this amount of travelling to early primary states, appearing at all sorts of small and regional party events unless he or she wants to run . But one thing's for certain, whoever the Socialist choosse to be be their standardarer in twenty twenty eight, that person is going to be just one candidate in a very crowded field and this is going to surprise them . I think this is going to make things interesting. Yes, Canna or AOC or both are going to be in that twenty twenty eight Democrat primary field. But folks, nearly everyone in that crowded field is going to be basically running as a socialist. You watch, nearly everyone running on the Democrat side in twenty eight is going to start out the primary sounding like Bernie and AOC and running to oppress the far left . So they're all going to sound like socialists. They're all gonna sound like Bernie and AOC. Remember this happened in twenty twenty when a field of twenty five Democrats all suddenly sounded more leftist than Bernie, including Kamala . I can only assume it's going to happen again in twenty twenty eight, because appealing to the Kook activists who now seem to control the Democrat Party and certainly control the activist class of the party, this is going to be seen as the way to get the nomination . And so whether it's CANA or AOC, they might be surprised to discover that they don't actually stand out from the crowd all that much. They might find that everyone in the entire field of candidates is claiming to have their exact same socialist positions on things and use the exact same sort of rhetoric. Moreover, that rhetoric isn't going to resonate with the majority of the American people. This is another thing that the smarter insiders and the former Obama and Biden strategists are well aware of and they're warning about. Few people are listening right now, but they're saying today's Democrat Party is not in good shape. In fact, two of Obama's former campaign managers just recently warned that the party is still a mess and that while, yes, Trump hatred is going to be the main driver of the upcoming midterm elections, they warn that the party's extreme and nutty pos itions on all sorts of policy is going to be a drag on the Democrats this fall and really become a liability in twenty twenty eight if the party doesn't have a smarter and more reasonable platform in twenty eight. This is David Pluff and Jim Messina, telling Axios that while Democrats are planning to rely on voters' frustrations with President Trump to pick up additional seats in the upcoming midterm elections, that's not enough to win the presidency. Meanwhile, they say , David Pluff says Democrats for the next decade have to be able to win elections in what are now red states in neutral and even challenging environments. This is the test. He said, Anyone who thinks that we're ready to do that is spending too much time inhabiting a political world that doesn't exist . Clitico says Messina and Pluff pointed to a recent poll by NBC that found fifty two percent of voters see the Democrat Party negatively compared to only thirty percent who view it positively. That same poll found voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to deal with border security, crime and immigration. And very importantly, even though today's voters are upset about high gas prices and the state of the economy, the poll found that Democrats still are not favored on economic questions. Democrats do not have an advantage on which party runs the economy better or which party will bring down prices. That's interesting, moving into a fall campaign that's going to deal heavily with economic questions . Democrats do not have an advantage on which party runs the economy better, or which party will bring down prices, etc , and it's because we all just live through the disaster of the Biden economy , and many of us still remember the overall malaise of the Obama economy. Meanwhile, the first Trump economy positively sun for three years until COVID hit , so we, the people, know that Democrats do not do better on economic issues . And so even if Pluff and Messina wouldn't admit to that, they're smart enough to see that no, the Democrats do not automatically win in fall or in twenty twenty eight if the economy's bad, which not it's, by the way, and we will get to that next. You're listening to the J Weber podcast, a presentation of NewsTalk eleven thirty WISN, an iHart radio podcast s. J Weber draws from his thirty five year career in radio news and commentary with an irreverent wit that simply can't be matched. Right minded alternative to media outlets that substitute self serving narratives for candor and truth. Listen to the J Weber podcast published every Tuesday and Friday. Be sure to subscribe . You are listening to the J Webber podcast. And yeah, it's reassuring to know that even if Americans are a little grumbly over the state of the US economy currently, they also understand that the Democrats aren't going to have the quick fix or any real answers to it. That might keep a bunch of moderates and independents from reflexively voting Democrat in fall, especially if gas prices continue to fall into the summer and fall here. And we've been talking on this podcast about how the media's relentless perception narratives on the economy just simply aren't ringing true. My hope is that as gas prices start to fall again, and if President Trump can find a satisfactory way to end the Iran conflict, my hope is that more and more Americans will start to realize that, yes, their paychecks are going further than they were under Biden. And yes, nearly all of the major economic indicators are now revealing a strengthening economy, not a perfect economy, but certainly a stronger one than we had under Joe Biden because it's simply the truth. These same Trump critics and nasty leftists spent the entire first term of Trump trying to pretend that that economy was terrible even as wages boomed, there was a glut of jobs, and every single government and prialvate sector meas ure of the economy showed that it was the strongest economy in fifty years in America. Trump and his economic advisors did that before COVID hit. They delivered the strongest economy since Reagan and even had it bouncing back strongly post COVID until Joe Biden and congressional Democrats got into power and insisted on forcing through a massive spending bill that touched off five percent, then seven percent then nine percent inflation and sent the economy into a downward spiral. So it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that the same nasty haters are now insisting that this Trump economy is terrible, worse than Biden's , not by a long shot. Stephen Moore is one of the economists who helped Trump build his brilliant first term economy, along with people like Larry Cudlow and Arthur Laufer, and he's now pointing to some of these very same governmental indicators that show Trump's second term economy is also starting to roar . And with Trump having been in office for only fourteen months, it's starting to roar. Moore is correct. This is really impressive stuff. Stephen Moore says last week's blockbuster jobs report with more than two hundred sixty five thousand jobs added was very welcome news to almost any American. The exception would be the economists of the left who throughout Donald Trump's now five and a half years in the White House keep getting the economy dead wrong. Moore says just a few months ago a gag,gle of economists on the left, led by Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, who, by the way, is just a dope, they started warning of stagflation, a witch's brew of high inflation and high unemployment at the same time. The Liberal Center for American Progress told us that we were already in the danger zone, claiming that the Trump administration's agenda has generated stagflation, slower growth, and faster inflation. Moore points out that these are the same false claims made during Trump's first term when some critics warned his policies would cause a second great depression. Instead, incomes for American families soared in real terms by more than six thousand dollars. So far this term, median household income is up already three thousand dollars. Moore says the nation's unemployment rate of four point seven percent is one of the lowest in the industrialized world and indicates that most American workers who want jobs are finding them out there. Employers are complaining of a shortage of trained applicants for jobs , which gives workers an ability to bid up salaries. Meanwhile, there's a construction boom going on in America driven by new spending on plants, factory equipment, road building, and data center construction. Moore says manufacturing is roaring back . The Institute for Supply Management has just registered the sector's fourth straight month of expansion, the best numbers in four years. He says in some, America is making things again. Then there's the bull market in stocks, Moore continues. All the major indexes, the S and P five hundred, the Dow, the NASDAQ are soaring to record and near record highs. Given that most Americans have their retirement income invested in U. S. companies, this is good news for nearly all American workers. Moore admits it is true that some of the tariff policies have bumped up prices, but three Trump policies in particular have paved the way for this economic comeback. First, the Trump tax cuts have stimulated business investment and hiring. They've also saved the average American family more than two thousand dollars in a lower tax bite. Second, deregulation has saved American businesses nearly one trillion dollars by cutting costs from thorny and expensive rules. Those cost savings will help drive down prices . And third, the pro America energy production policies have turned the USA into the world's largest oil and gas superpower. Gas prices would be at least a dollar a gallon higher, Moore says, without the domestic drilling boom. Yes, prices remain stubbornly high, and we are all feeling the pain at the pump at the grocery store checkout counter. Consumers and voters are still in a cranky mood, he says, but Moore concludes This is a strong economy that's only bound to get stronger as time passes and the positive changes that Trump and the Republicans have made more fully take hold , which is something I agree with completely. I've been saying many of these same things on previous podcasts. This is a strong economy. Wage growth has finally been outpacing inflation again in the second Trump era, which means people's paychecks are starting to go further than the average person probably recognizes. Also, GDP growth is up, production is up, even home sales are looking stronger again . And here's where we need to be careful because the housing market has been the most stubborn market and one of the worst economic measures since COVID. Basically since the booming Trump first term , the house market has been up and down with a series of false starts and false recoveries. But for what it's worth, May's home sales were showing some of the strongest growth in recent memory, and they amounted to the biggest jump in sales since Biden left office. This could be, could be a sign that the so called spring selling season is finally returning to normal. Sales of existing homes were up over three percent in May over April's figure, and that was the biggest increase since December. One reason could be that mortgage rates declined a bit in April, making May purchases a little more affordable for buyers , but you might have noticed there also seems to be more inventory available, as in more houses for sale. I know it's only anecdotal, but I'm noticing more for sale signs overall as I drive around and live life, maybe you are too. And mortgage rates are still around six and a half percent, but we have analysts hoping that with a new Fed chairman and an improving economy , the rates could slip below six percent soon, and if so, that could be a little optimistic lift to buyers and sellers, and maybe the housing market could finally move out of its four year slump. Another important factor, the prices of homes have finally seemed to have stabilized a bit. The average price of a new home has risen just about one percent since last year, with prices actually falling in about one third of the biggest metro real estate areas across the country. Home prices were actually flat or down a bit in twenty eight of the top one hundred metro markets in May . So with a little more inventory, a little more stable pricing, this summer seems to be a situation in which buyers can be a little pickier and take more time with a home purchase . As I say, we need to be careful here. We can't claim that this is the start of any sort of longer term trend toward a healthier housing market again , but these are positive signs. Now, when it comes to manufacturing and American production, you heard Stephen more, America is getting back to making things in this Trump economy. This is another instance in which you genuinely can give Donald Trump and his team significant credit because they got back into the White House and immediately started to make moves to bring more manufacturing back to this country. They did so by yes, leveling foreign tariffs, but they also did so by cajoling and in some instances shaming U and. f Sore.ign businesses to create more development and more jobs here. People tend to forget that in the first months that Trump got back into office, even as he was using the threat of tariffs as a way to make doing business overseas more expensive for companies , he was cutting and signing deals with major U. S. and foreign corporations to start new plants here and expand existing plants here. We have all sorts of job expansions going on in this country now thanks to Trump, and especially with the dawn of AI, Trump and his team know that America's going to need a strong base of manufacturing jobs if America is going to prosper in the future. This week we got another example of Trump's good work in this regard, even if most major media outlets didn't report on it. Some did. I'm talking about Nipon Steel announcing a two to three billion dollars investment in one of the oldest and biggest steel plants in America. This represents the creation of all sorts of new high paying construction jobs and later jobs in the steel industry when it looked like the era of the American steel worker was going to fade into oblivion as Biden left office. Some of you might remember this. The Japanese company Naipon wanted to buy US steel because it was a failing company going out of business. This is another indication that the steel industry was simply going to fade into history soon. Nipon execs offered to swoop in and buy U st.e Sel. and keep the factories running, but the Biden White House blocked the sale. They insisted that it represented a threat to national security. Okay, I think we can all see that worry. It's a legitimate worry, but it still would have meant that US steel simply went bankrupt and went out of business at some point. So Biden's team blocked the sale and then did nothing. Took no further steps to try to save those steel industry jobs. It wasn't until Donald Trump got back into office that he revived the deal with NIPON after getting assurances that they would make a huge new investment here in America and create even more jobs in steel in America, not end up with fewer . As part of that agreement, Trump got the guarant ee that he and all future presidents can actually veto any plant closings or attempts to transfer jobs out of the country . And so in one fell swoop, Trump not only saved U. S. steel and much of the remaining American steel industry, but he got a foreign investment that should guarantee at least six thousand new jobs in that industry and an estimated one point seven billion dollars in new economic activity for Pennsylvania. Shouldn't he and his team get credit for that? Biden didn't do that. Biden's team just said no to a sale that would have saved thousands of U. S. jobs and then did nothing to help save them otherwise. You're still going to try to tell me that Biden and the Democrats ran a better economy or have a better idea of what's going on with an economy than a Republican does? Biden and the Democrats gave us nine percent inflation that they never could control, and they gave us nearly eight percent mortgage rates , they nearly destroyed the American dream. But a bunch of lefty liars and pundits want to pretend that Biden's economy was better? You're a certifiable idiot if you believe that. In fact, if President Trump and his team and the Republican leaders in Congress have done anything wrong here? It's that they haven't promoted and touted the very significant economic wins that the country has seen since Trump retook office and they in Congress passed a fantastic tax cut package. I'm starting to get concerned that we have important elections coming up and neither Trump nor congressional Republicans are really talking up the big wins that they have had over the last fourteen months. Maybe they think it's self evident, but in politics , you have to constantly keep reminding people of your successes, and just as importantly, you need to keep battling back against the misinformation that your political opponents are going to spin out there. At this point in the Trump economic recovery, it's genuinely idiotic to claim that this economy hasn't improved or that the average American isn't better off or hasn't noticed. I bet they have. And since most voters vote based on their own self interest, Trump and the Republicans need to pound the economic message between now and fall. Things have improved and they will improve even more because of this new path we're on . The latest Tip poll found that the cost of living and economic factors dominate the voters' concerns for fall , and of course they do. But tip found cost of living and inflation dominate. Forty three percent of respondents name these among the top three issues facing the country. The economy ranked second, just generally, at thirty percent, and then the U . S. Iran conflict falls number three at twenty three percent saying they're concerned about it. Meanwhile, immigration and border security, which sat near the top of the list in the winter, has slipped to seventeen percent and is now in sixth place in that list of issues people are worried about ? Well, why is that? The pollsters don't explain it, but it helps explain the fickle nature of voters. Why have the border and immigration issues plummeted to sixth place in the voter list of concerns . Well, because Trump's handled it, right? Trump fixed this. The border is locked down and mass deportations are underway. As promised, Trump and the Republicans listen to voters and finally fix the problem. And so do they get any credit for doing so from voters in fall? Will an appreciative country decide that they deserve to be rewarded with another term? You'd certainly hope so, but the likelier outcome is no. You don't get credit and you haven't fixed the economy that Jo e Biden absolutely destroyed over the course of four years. You haven't fixed that in just a few short months, so I'm voting Democrat . That sadly is how way too many swing voters think. The sad fact is, rather than rewarding good governance , most often the fickle voters just move on to their next complaint and demand a fix to that. Well, in this instance, Trump and the Republicans have absolutely fixed the border and illegal problem, and they've gone a long way toward fixing the economy . And I swear to you, in an earlier era the people of America's newsrooms who are real journalists and who actually tried to be fair and balanced, in an earlier era, the American people would have already been told this numerous times. The economy is improving, and Trump and the Republicans have kept their promises on the illegals in the border. Those stories would have already been written and told by real journalists. The vast majority of Americans would know that the country really has seen a rather dramatic turn around in just fourteen months . But infuriatingly, we can't expect that level of honesty and accuracy from today's so called news media. Instead, most of these newsrooms are dominated by left wing activists who are only pretending to be fair and b alanced, and so any positive stories about how America is doing today need to be scrapped, hidden . They can't tell the American people that President Trump is building five miles of border wall each day and illegal crossings have stopped entirely. He can't tell the American people that Trump's team has already deported or sent home about three million illegals . They can't tell the American people that one reason crime rates are down so significantly is that I CE has sent home tens of thousands of repeat foreign criminals and gang members, or that the FBI is finally focusing on helping state and local enforcers deal with their crime problem. Today's so called news media can't tell voters any of that , or their left wing allies wouldn't win another election anytime soon, so they simply refuse to report it. Bury the truth. And that leaves the space in the public arena and on social media for all sorts of angry Trump and Republican hating morons to spin all sorts of obvious lies as truth . Like Biden's economy was better, or the reflecting pool is going to look like a swimming pool, or AOC is smart , fat is pretty , men make the best women, etc But even in this environment, if Trump and Republicans can relentlessly message all of the positives of the last fourteen months, they have a better than normal chance of retaining power in Congress and continuing to restore America post Obama and Biden . They do in part because they are actually keeping their electoral promises of twenty twenty four and in part because today's Democrat Party has been taken over by genuine American haters and extremists who insist on pushing policies that most Americans hate or know are ridiculous. NewsTalk eleven thirty WISN he's proud to present the J. Webber podcast J Weber draws from his thirty five year career in radio news and commentary to craft an insightful look at the major stories and impactful issues from around Wisconsin, the nation, and the world. And after you've enjoyed the J Weber podcast, we invite you to go to your radio or go online and listen to NewsTalk eleven thirty WISN Wisconsin's Most List to Radio Station We have talked about how there are certain things that are guaranteed tests for Trump derangement syndrome, as in, if you're all upset that President Trump and his administration are restoring and beautifying Washington, DC , you definitely have Trump derangement syndrome. If you're upset that President Trump and his rich friends have volunteered to build a large ballroom of the sort that every president, probably since Teddy Roosevelt, insisted we need , you've definitely got Trump derangement syndrome. Folks, if you're actually suing to stop the Trump ballroom or stop the restorations, you actually have Trump derangement Ebola because it's bad enough to moan and whine about someone doing a bunch of good things because you don't like that person. I think it's next level illness to actually make the move to sue to stop the positives that that person is doing. And yeah, we have left wing organizations suing to try to stop the Trump ballroom and stop the restoration of DC landmarks, etc. That represents Trump derangement ebola, as far as I'm concerned. That is a level of mental illness that you simply cannot recover from. One couple that we are certain has the Ebola is a couple that's suing to stop the country's two hundred fiftieth anniversary celebration. You hear about these two turds? They're liberal boomers. One is a longtime political activist, thes a oth Versi ofetnam vet. They are the face of the left wing legal organization that's suing in order to stop the country's two hundred fiftieth anniversary celebration that's coming up. What sort of evil idiot do you need to be in order to think that this is a good idea or to think that you're winning something much less standing up for something if you do succeed. This is a serious question. What is the person or the organization that shuts down the country's two hundred fiftieth anniversary celebration standing for. What principle have they protected? The right to hate America ? The right to ruin a good time ? I know that they want to make this about Trump, and I know that if they actually get some court to stop this, there would be a sliver of Americans who would cheer. They also hate Trump and hate this country, so they'd revel in the victory. But for the eighty five percent of Americans who still love this country and its bipartisan system of government, its constitutional freedoms and openness , how would they view this? Really? A sliver of people hate Trump and America so much that they cannot possibly tolerate the rest of us celebrating that we're part of the greatest country in the world. Wow, that's pathet ic . Apparently they really want to stop this UFC event that Trump is hosting on the White House grounds. The Trump haters have a special venom and hatred for the fact that Trump has allowed the entire lawn to be covered with this UFC arena and stadium seating that's been put up temporarily . And it does look ugly, but they just cannot cannot take it. They claim it's beneath the dignity of the country. It's just shameful how Trump is abusing the White House in these hallowed grounds, et cetera. Well, these are the same people who wouldn't blink twice or object at all if Barack Obama or Joe Biden would have done this. And my take on that ugly structure is it is ugly, but it's temporary. I'm not offended as an American. I'm not particularly invested in it one way or the other. My only take on it is how much it cost and with all the Herculean hassle that went into erecting that venue etc , whether it's worth it and, it's not . I don't have the total in front of me, but it's costing hundreds of millions of dollars to make that event happen on the White House lawn, and it's a gargantuan waste of money. That's my take. But it's also not my money. And if Dan Whitea and Don ald Trump want to blow a bunch of their personal and business fortunes on it, whatever. Teddy Roosevelt held boxing matches at the White House. Other presidents have held special events that disturb the lawn. This isn't even historically unique, but to sue over it, that's stupid . And to sue over or get angry over obvious improvements is genuinely foolish. If you're finding yourself angry that Donald Trump cleaned up massive amounts of DC graffit i and restored statues and fountains and got them working again, something's wrong with you . You should be asking yourself, why can't I just admit that this is a good thing that this president did? And move on. It was a good thing that Obama made the call to kill Bin Laden. It was a good thing that Bill Clinton signed the federal crackdown on crime. We conservatives admitted those things in the moment when they were happening . We know a good positive move when we see it. Presidents from both parties can do positive things and make some calls that shouldn't even be controversial . Donald Trump restoring and rebe ying our nation's capital and or throwing the National Party to mark two hundred fif andty years of American greatness , these shouldn't even be controversial things . As Rich Lawye is suggesting to his Democrat friends, just admit the reflecting pool looks better and move on. How hard is this? And if you haven't really been on social media or paying attention, oh my god, you have missed a ludicrous argument over the reflecting pool that's gone on for weeks . There has been an absolute war, a genuine, nasty frenzy in Washington , DC and in political circles over the reflecting pool. When Trump came back into office, it was still a stagnant swap that teamed with algae, and additionally, it was leaking thousands of gallons of water either daily or weekly , I forget which. But we arrived at that situation after Barack Obama's administration in his era tried to fix things. They tried to deal with a stagnant smelly pool by spending thirty five million dollars, thirty five million dollars to fix it. The problem is, typical to today's left wing era, Obama's regime approved a quote green fix. The restoration had to be environmentally friendly , apparently. And so long story short, they did it all wrong. It took two years and thirty five million dollars and no exaggeration. Within weeks of the Obama White House refilling the reflecting pool and declaring it fixed, the LG bloomed again and worse than ever because it was done somehow to be eco friendly rather than a real fix. Shortly thereafter , the seals and seams started leaking, with the leaks getting worse over time. In short, Obama's effort didn't fix the leaks or the algae blooms, and we, the taxpayers wasted thirty five million dollars , only to have a worse situation than the one Obama said he would handle. Now, when that's the backstory, who would complain about a Trump fix that costs a fraction of the price and actually corrects the problems? Well, Trump haters would , because in this era, the Democrats and Trump haters feel the need to bitch about absolutely anything and everything . And so they quickly spun tales related to how Trump was going to ruin this. He's going to paint the floor a bright robin egg blue and chlorinate the water, and it's going to look like a swimming pool. That was the big lie that left us hyperventilated over for months. The water's not going to reflect anymore once Trump gets done with it. That was another claim. And I really love that one, because if you're suggesting that Trump can actually change the reflective properties of water , you really have lost your mind, or you're extremely gullible . And so here we are months later. All the leaks are apparently fixed. The bottom of the reflecting pool was painted a dark blue that actually enhances the reflection, it's refilled, and it looks fantastic. In fact, people who work in that part of Washington, DC and the U. S. Capitol are admitting that people are flocking to the National Mall just to get a photo of it and check it out in all of its clean and reflective glory now. This is another situation that backfired on the liberals because they insisted this was going to turn out terrible. They gave it all sorts of national intention, and now people are trying to figure out what the big deal was about, and they're arriving at the conclusion, hey, this looks great. Trump did a great job . I know some of you have seen the photos of this lit up at night now. It's spectacular. The workers and planners under Trump really did a spectacular job. And so have the leftty whiners been codified? Are they admitting that they were worried in whining over nothing? Of course not. Instead, they did what they always do. They simply shifted to a different set of lies and claims. They pivoted from he's gonna ruin it to it doesn't look any different , and this is wasted money. First of all, it absolutely does look different. And anyone living and working or even flying over Washington, DC could tell you that. This is a huge improvement. But second, and maybe more importantly, the leaks are fixed and there's no longer thousands and thousands of gallons of water leaking out of it and under our national mall and national monuments every week or whatever, every day or every week or every month. If nothing else, they should be celebrating the environmental fix on the left . No , it all has to be nastiness and negativity, even if they have to invent the reasons to be nasty and negative, and that's what they do. This is the political era in which we live. As the editors at Issues and Insights put it, this is just how it works now. Trump does something, everyone freaks out, the results don't justify the panic, the TDS Brigade then just moves on to the next freakout. That is exactly the case, and it is on everything, every issue, large or small , foreign or domestic, but this is how it has gone ever since Donald Trump first took office in twenty seventeen. It's freak out after freak out after freak out with the, haters ' doomsday scenarios never panning out, Trump proving them wrong, the country comes out better for it, and they just reinvest their hate into the next freakout. It's so tiresome that truth be told, it's the main reason I chose to end my daily radio show . I was only fifty eight and certainly could have signed two more contracts with IHART and kept going until I was closer to her actual retirement age. But I couldn't take the perpetual cycle of hatred and fresak outs on both sides of the aisle, by the way