Jul 15, 2018 5 min read

Part 1

The oft-quoted title line is from Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar,” wherein Mark Antony seeks to incite the crowd at Caesar’s funeral to violence. It would be an appropriate motto for the Trump Derangement Syndrome-debilitated Democratic Party we see today.

We are witnessing a very troubling phenomena in America. That Democrats have behaved irrationally for quite some time is hardly news. What is new and troubling is that the better President Trump and the nation do, the more irrational and violent their behavior becomes.

This increasingly violent behavior should concern us as a nation. I will examine this increase in irrationality and violence in three parts. In this, the first part, I will look at the continuing success of the president that is driving the left into their increasingly hysterical state. In Part 2, I will look at the increasing violence itself and where that could lead. In Part 3, I will look at the disintegration of the Democratic Party

President Trump has had a very good 2018. He has been delivering regularly on his promise to “Make America Great Again,” and this infuriates liberals. While many people may not be in love with his strategies and ways of getting things done, there is no denying people are better off now than they were the day Obama and his socialists vacated the White House. Sure, President Trump sends provocative tweets and drives the media crazy; then, while the adolescent talking heads and media are whipping themselves into a frenzy about his latest tweet, the president is off accomplishing good and valuable work for the nation. Much of the positive work he does goes unnoticed by the media. That is either because of their mission to see the president fail, or the media is too busy yelping about their cause of the day.

Perhaps most obviously, the president’s policies have spurred the economy and created jobs, nearly 3 million so far this year. Unemployment is at historic lows. Nationally, the unemployment rate is about 3.8 percent, and black unemployment is down from the 7.8 percent it was when Obama left office to 5.9 percent. Locally, unemployment in Washington County is down to 3.8 percent from 5.3 percent a year ago. In Greene County, unemployment is 4.3 percent, down from 6 percent a year ago. There are many reasons for this, but a growing economy is at the top of the list.

Contributing heavily to the growing economy is the president fulfilling his campaign promise to cut the incredible mass of Obama-era regulations that are part and parcel of left-wing job-killing governance. So far, federal agencies have issued 67 deregulatory actions while imposing only three new regulations. The economy is growing, and the equity markets have been doing well.

The president’s welfare reform promoting economic mobility will encourage more people to enter a workforce now short on workers. The latest numbers show this is indeed happening.

The president ordered the end of the Obama-era “catch and release” travesty regarding illegal immigrants. This will contribute to American jobs, improve safety for Americans and lower government support costs. He also deployed the National Guard to the border to enhance security.

In March, the president announced steps to stop China from stealing American intellectual property. Implementation is just beginning.

The president’s tax-cut plan has had an extremely positive impact, despite what Democrat doomsayers murmur. The tax cuts have allowed companies to reinvest in their businesses, which increases employment and frees up cash, which has resulted in pay increases and bonuses for workers and has brought business back to America. Personal tax savings will result in an average tax cut of $2,059 for a typical family of four next year. People like Pelosi and Wasserman can cast all the unfounded aspersions they want, but Americans are financially better off under Trump.

President Trump has had a good year in foreign relations, also. He said he has no intention of being everyone’s friend. He works for the American people. He puts America first, where it should be. Appointing Mike Pompeo as secretary of state was a great move and got the North Korean talks off to a quick start. He has made more headway in North Korea than any of his predecessors, but there is much left to do. He demonstrated to Kim Jong-un that he means business, and it is working. Time will tell how well.

For the first time in a great while, President Trump has let our trading partners know that the United States is not their personal bank. If we trade with them, it will be fair trade. This nation will no longer tolerate other nations who impose high tariffs on our goods and expect us to impose none on theirs, such as is the case with Canada. He asked a simple question – why should Canada, for example, impose a 25 percent import duty on U.S. steel entering Canada and charge them nothing for Canadian steel entering the U.S.? Let’s make it even.

The appointment of Justice Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was brilliant, and now the president has had an opportunity to appoint another quality Supreme Court justice. He has appointed, and continues to appoint, a large number of federal judges. Thirty of these are now serving.

The Democrats are going berserk because they see the president as wiping away the stifling legacy of Obama, creating jobs and an economy they were not able to create, reducing the size of the federal government and returning power to the people. Further, they cannot get over the fact Hillary lost in large measure because the American people didn’t want what they were selling.

They have no rational argument, so they resort to violence and profanity. In the next part, I will look at how this violence takes shape.

Dave Ball is vice chairman of the Washington County Republican Party and a Peters Township councilman.