HALF-FULL REPORT 06/17/16

As we argue over whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would be a worse successor, we got a vivid reminder yesterday (6/16) that the worst president America has ever had is in the White House now.

In a farrago of lies that may be the most despicable public statement a president has ever made, Barack Obama accused opponents of gun control of being responsible for the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando last weekend.

The president was joined in his slander by most Democrats in Congress and most of the “mainstream” media, desperate to conceal the fact that the worst terror attack since 9/11 was perpetrated by a devout Muslim, a closeted gay who was a registered Democrat.

That Omar Mateen was an ISIS sympathizer is made clear by statements he made during, just before, and well after the massacre, by the enjoyment he took from watching ISIS beheading videos on the internet, by his contacts with other Islamist sympathizers.  Yet Mr. Obama and the New York Times profess ignorance about his motive.

“Gun control is now a national security issue,” said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.  But he was unable to name a single gun control measure that would have prevented the massacre.

Neither have the “mainstream” journalists who’ve been wildly exaggerating the deadliness of the AR-15 – which wasn’t the semi-automatic rifle Mateen used in his murder spree.

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Democrats – and Donald Trump – want to prohibit gun sales to Americans who are put on secret lists – lists which include toddlers, and once included Sen. Edward F. Kennedy, D-Mass.

This chillingly unconstitutional measure wouldn’t have prevented Omar Mateen from buying the guns he used in the Pulse nightclub, because Omar Mateen wasn’t on a terror watch list.

That he wasn’t calls into serious question the competence of the FBI, which investigated him in 2013 and 2014.  When he was casing Disney World in April as a possible target of his jihad, Disney reported his suspicious behavior to the FBI.  So did a gun dealer who refused to sell Mateen body armor.  And the FBI did – nada.

Yesterday his CIA Director issued a chilling rebuttal to President Obama’s claim ISIS is on the run. ISIS is more “formidable” than ever, is planning more Paris, Orlando-style attacks, John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Yet those in government who are responsible for our safety are unable, or unwilling, to protect us from Islamist terror.

As per usual, gun sales soared in the wake of this new push for gun control.  The inability or unwillingness of the authorities to protect us has given special urgency to the “debate” (the name calling and lies of the president and his minions hardly constitutes debate in the traditional sense), because if they won’t protect us, we have to protect ourselves.

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Britons will vote next Thursday (6/23) on a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union.  Current polls show Brexit (a conflation of the words “Britain” and “exit”) with a slight lead.  This is remarkable, because virtually every major British politician opposes Brexit.

The London Telegraph summarizes here the arguments for and against Brexit.

The EU “resembles nothing so much as the Habsburg Empire in its dying days,” said The Spectator, a conservative magazine. “A bloated bureaucracy that has outgrown all usefulness.  A parliament that represents many nations, but with no democratic legitimacy.”

The anti campaign has been mostly scare-mongering.  The Independent, a left wing newspaper, offers six reasons why Brexit wouldn’t be so bad.

Brexit would be a blow for liberty.  But it would come at a short term economic cost, for us as well as for Britain.

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If Brexit wins, the EU may be doomed, because other countries – chiefly Sweden, Norway, Denmark and France – are likely to follow.

A Brexit victory would mean big changes in British politics.  Prime Minister David Cameron almost certainly would be replaced by London Mayor Boris Johnson, the most prominent politician who supports Brexit.  The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), having lost its raison d’etre, likely would be folded into the Tories.

Campaigning for and against Brexit has been suspended following the murder yesterday of Labour MP Jo Ann Cox, 41, a Brexit opponent.  It remains to be seen what impact her murder will have on the referendum.

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The Taliban controls more of Afghanistan now than at any time since it was toppled from power in 2001, said our new commander there.

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The politically motivated prosecution of six Baltimore police officers for the death in police custody last year of petty criminal Freddie Gray is falling apart.

The first trial, of Officer William Porter last fall, ended in a hung jury.

In the second trial, Officer Edward Nero was acquitted of all charges.

In the third and most important trial, of Office Ceasar Goodson, driver of the van in which Freddie Gray suffered his fatal injury, the prosecution rested Wednesday after its chief witness was demolished on cross examination.

The trial began inauspiciously with Judge Barry Williams scolding prosecutors for withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense.  This forced the prosecution to abruptly change its theory of the case, with risible results.

The defense rested Thursday, after doing further damage to the prosecution’s case.  This is a bench trial.  Expect Judge Williams to issue his verdict Monday, said attorney Andrew Branca, who’s been covering the trials for Legal Insurrection.

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Marco Rubio has changed his mind, will run for re-election to the Senate from Florida.

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Donald Trump got a bump in the polls when the GOP primary campaign ended in May.  Would Hillary get a similar bump from the end of the Democrat contest, I wondered in last week’s HFR?

Not so far.  Hillary was still bouncing around in the low to mid 40s in polls this week.  But the Wicked Witch of the West opened up a comfortable – in a Bloomberg poll Tuesday a huge – lead, because the Trump campaign is in free fall.

In a CBS poll Wednesday, 51 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump’s response to the Islamist terrorist massacre at a gay nightclub.  Only 25 percent approved.

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Trump’s speech on Orlando Monday (which he didn’t write and read on a teleprompter) was pretty good.  But Trump blew whatever ground he gained by insinuating President Obama may be an ISIS plant, and by charging in a speech in Greensboro, North Carolina Tuesday that U.S. soldiers in Iraq stole “billions” of dollars in reconstruction money.

In an ABC News poll Wednesday, 77 percent of women, 89 percent of Hispanics, 96 percent of blacks disapproved of The Donald.  Now he’s teed off Iraq war vets such as Corbin Reiff.

“Trump is building up hostility, shedding prospective supporters, and alienating – or worse, frightening – entire voter groups at a stunning rate,” wrote GOP strategist Ed Rogers in the Washington Post Tuesday.

In a CBS News poll Wednesday, Hillary led Trump, 43-37.  In the Bloomberg poll Tuesday, Hillary led 49-37. In a Rasmussen poll yesterday, it was Hillary 44, Trump 39. In a Reuters-Ipsos poll yesterday, it was Hillary 39, Trump 31.  In a Fox News poll last week, it was Hillary 42, Trump 39.

The Donald is on track to get a lower percentage of the popular vote than Goldwater in 1964 (38 percent), McGovern in 1972 (38 percent), Mondale in 1984 (41 percent).

Given how profoundly she’s disliked, the mid-40s may be Hillary’s ceiling.  But – unless an FBI recommendation she be indicted for major felonies lowers it – the mid 40s may also be her floor.  The Trump elevator is still descending.

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Remember during the primaries when Trumpkins said a big reason for backing him was because he was so rich he wouldn’t be beholden to special interests?  They believed The Donald when he said he’d self fund his campaign.

The Trump campaign is broke.  He isn’t putting in his own money because (a) he’s a lot less rich than he claims; (b) his fortune is tied up in illiquid assets such as real estate; (c) he never intended to spend his own money, or (d) all of the above.

Nor is The Donald putting much effort into asking others for money.  When RNC Chairman Reince Priebus gave him a list of two dozen traditional big buck donors to the GOP to call, he stopped after calling three.

Republican donors assembled by Priebus were spooked when Team Trump told them they intended to contest California, New York and Maryland.  The money men know that’s delusional.

There isn’t a Trump campaign in the traditional sense anyway.  He intends to rely – as he did in the primaries – on “earned” media and social media.  (Twitter is the ideal communications medium for The Donald, because he’s never had a thought so profound it required more than 140 characters to express.)

The Republican governors of Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts and Tennessee have said they won’t vote for Trump.  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has withdrawn his endorsement.  New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez never offered one.  Republicans in Congress – even early and enthusiastic supporter Rep. Duncan Hunter of California – run when reporters ask them about The Donald.

The most succinct description of what this week was like for the GOP was this tweet from Commentary Editor John Podhoretz: * * * *

Trump’s despicable smear of U.S. troops in Iraq was so politically counterproductive that U.S. Naval War College Prof. Tom Nichols suspects he’s goading Republicans to dump him at the National Convention in Cleveland.  Nichols thinks – as do Jack Wheeler and I – that Trump never expected to win the nomination, didn’t want to, and is looking for a way out.

The Donald already is planning his next gig – a Trump News network, he’s pitching to cable companies on the basis of the size of his “audience” in the primaries.  I’m sure it’ll be as big a success as Trump Steaks, Trump Water, Trump University, and Trump’s casinos.

The Donald may be a Clinton plant, said veteran Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-OH. I wonder how much longer it’ll be before it dawns upon even the most dimwitted Trumpkin that he/she has been had.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret, and was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force during the Reagan Administration.  He is the national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.