From MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr.

“The enemy is not Donald Trump and never has been. The enemy is Statism. Left libertarians such as David Boaz and Tom Palmer, with their emotions raging, and outfits like the Left-funded, TDS-infested, Kamala-supporting Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism never got it and still don’t.”

Statism and intellectual elitism took a big hit in the election. Count the reasons, such as this listing distributed on social media.

It was the economy…. migrant mess…. inflation spurred by rampant spending…. green energy idiocy…. electric-everything mandates…. Left’s anti-Americanism. Men in women’s sports. Transitioning children.
Threats to the Supreme Court and the filibuster. Lawfare. Government greed. Lasting damage done to a generation of children from repressive lockdowns. Abandonment of merit in favor of identity politics. Foreign policy idiocy, such as the Afghanistan debacle and sending billions to Iran.

And promised spending binges. Unjustified or excessive TDS. Rampant antisemitism. Disastrous public education system for children. Highly suspect – and telling – selection of Tim Walz rather than Josh Shapiro as Harris’s running mate.

The Deep State. Blatant lying. Open contempt for average Americans. Naked bigotry. Big Tech collusion. Censorship, speech suppression, and ministries of truth. The “coup” that installed Harris.

The utter awfulness of Harris. Unqualified, unable to answer an unscripted question, lacking any track record that would suggest she’s ready for the Presidency, dithering, deceitful, disrespectful, dodging, and apparently capable only of generating word salad.”

Losing Left Politics

Bret Stephens provided a warning to the Left with his pre-election New York Times editorial, “There’s One Main Culprit if Donald Trump Wins” (October 22, 2024). He called out “the way in which leading liberal voices in government, academia and media practice politics today” and listed seven problem areas:

The politics of condescension…. The politics of name-calling…. The politics of gaslighting…. The politics of highhandedness.… The politics of Pollyanna…. The politics of selective fidelity to traditional norms.… The politics of identity over class.

Stephens’ post-election editorial, Done With Never Trump, continued his pre-election analysis (December 17, 2024):

Is it time to drop the heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified so much of the Never Trump movement — and that rendered it politically impotent and frequently obtuse? Yes, please. But Never Trumpers also overstated our case and, in doing so, defeated our purpose.

Stephens continued:

So here’s a thought for Trump’s perennial critics, including those of us on the right: Let’s enter the new year by wishing the new administration well, by giving some of Trump’s cabinet picks the benefit of the doubt, by dropping the lurid historical comparisons to past dictators, by not sounding paranoid about the ever-looming end of democracy, by hoping for the best and knowing that we need to fight the wrongs that are real and not merely what we fear, that whatever happens, this too shall pass.

Final Comment

All true. The enemy is not Donald Trump and never has been. The enemy is Statism. Left libertarians such as David Boaz and Tom Palmer, with their emotions raging, and outfits like the Left-funded, TDS-infested, Kamala-supporting Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism (publisher of The UnPopulist), never got it and still don’t. [1]

In fact, the large majority of real-world libertarians and the think tanks therein are excited about the prospects of the new Administration compared to the Road-to-Serfdom Democrats. The post-Boaz Cato Institute is back in the political game, offering insight and ideas about maximizing markets and freedom and rolling back Statism in the Trump framework.

Tom “Trumpissmo” Palmer (his slur) has blocked me on social media, so expect more emotionalism, despair, and anger toward a world where normal, hard-working Americans elected Trump (for good reason) and want to be left alone from ‘experts’–and misfit culture warriors.

Here’s to a very interesting 2025!

—————

[1] ISMA (per founder Shikha Dalmia) advertises itself as “a public policy organization committed to defending free societies and opposing the worldwide slide into illiberalism” (whatever that means). The UpPopulist (Substack) describes itself as “a publication committed to defending liberal democracy against new forms of authoritarianism in the United States and around the world.” It sees Trump as “Far Right,” but not Biden-Harris and radical progressivism as Far Left. Very strange….

I was banned from The UnPopulist comment section (“user was indefinitely suspended for this comment”) for this challenge to Tom Palmer, coauthor of this Far Right interpretation: “Your Comprehensive Guide to the Far Right: Part I.”

Tom Palmer should now write a similar piece on the Far Left. Words like authoritarianism and fascism apply. An Op-Ed in today’s NYT gave this as a potential reason for a Trump victory over Harris:

“The politics of name-calling, which happens every time Trump’s voters are told they are racists, misogynists, weird, phobic, low-information or, most recently, supporters of a fascist — and, by implication, fascists themselves. Aside from being gratuitous and self-defeating — what kind of voter is going to be won over by being called a name? — it’s also mostly wrong. Trump’s supporters overwhelmingly are people who think the Biden-Harris years have been bad for them and the country. Maybe liberals should try to engage the argument without belittling the person.

Enough said. Time to substitute scholarship for emotionalism and Trump for Statism.

From Legal Insurrection

And by not attending the Davos conference, Trump now leads other international leaders in “quiet quitting” globalist environmental rules that have only strangled their economies and hurt their peoples.

Posted by Leslie Eastman 

After his election win in November, I wrote that President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has prepared executive orders to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and open up western lands for drilling and mining:

(a) The United States Ambassador to the United Nations shall immediately submit formal written notification of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The notice shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Depositary of the Agreement, attached as Appendix A. The United States will consider its withdrawal from the Agreement and any attendant obligations to be effective immediately upon this provision of notification.

This executive order was among the first he signed in the festive post-inauguration parade signing ceremony in the Capital One Arena.

…He intends to streamline permitting and review regulations that “impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals,” according to a list of priorities from Trump’s press office.

He also intends to take action to end land and water leasing for wind energy, and undo the Biden administration’s actions that promote electric vehicles.

Trump views energy prices as central to his mission to address widespread frustrations with the cost of living, and has argued that slashing red tape will help drive down energy prices and fight overall inflation.

“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices,” Trump said during his inaugural address. “That’s why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”

The crowd very enthusiastically cheered his signing of the order.

The full title of that order is: “Putting America First in Environmental Agreements”.

The whole suite of newly signed presidential orders is listed on the highly revamped White House website. This executive order’s “Implementation” portion heavily targets funding commitments.

…(c) The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, in collaboration with the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury, shall immediately cease or revoke any purported financial commitment made by the United States under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

…(e) The U.S. International Climate Finance Plan is revoked and rescinded immediately. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, within 10 days of this order, issue guidance for the rescission of all frozen funds.

In his pre-signing remarks, Trump looked at the largest contributor of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions….China.

“I am officially withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord – a one-sided deal that hurts American industries while letting China pollute freely. We will no longer cripple our economy for a globalist agenda!”

As an added bonus, Trump does not plan to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum this year in Davos. In fact, many international leaders are “quiet quitting” globalist environmental agreements that do nothing more than strangle their economies and hurt their people.

While Donald Trump, who is being inaugurated as U.S. president on Monday, is expected to address the forum via live video link on Thursday, a number of key leaders will be completely absent from the event.

These include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations — which includes the U.S., Europe’s biggest economies, Canada and Japan — the only head of state attending the summit in person is outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

I am looking forward to energy independence and regulations that properly balance reasonable environmental concerns with effective natural resource development.

It is ironic that the day after President Trump essentially moved to nullify U.S. Climate Policy, the coldest and deepest winter storm in over 40 years descends on the country.

When normally hot-headed for “weather is climate change” CNN calls it, you know it’s gonna be big.

Winter Storm Warnings have been posted and stretch from the U.S.-Mexico border all the way to Duval County, Florida. Get this: 3-5 Inches of snow is in the forecast for Houston, TX; 2-5″ for New Orleans; and up to 3″ along the west Florida panhandle through Wednesday.

Already there have been reports of snow in the area, along with strong winds and freezing temperatures. In one case posted on Twitter, a swamp airboat was turned into a snowmobile – h/t to “Paul in the heights” on Twitter:

And it gets more interesting. For example, a Blizzard Warning was issued for the Lake Charles area by the National Weather Service serving New Orleans/Baton Rouge. That’s something you don’t see every day.

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, the temperature has dipped to -9°F this morning. This breaks the old daily record low of -6°F set in 1935. 

And it isn’t just Kansas City, much of the nation is seeing new cold records today. Dozens if not hundreds of cold weather records have been set. Over 75% of the US expected to face freezing temperatures this week.

Other interesting examples:

Snow at the University of Houston, where they closed the campus:

https://twitter.com/UHouston/status/1881724543892443628

The NWS in Jacksonville Florida predicts snow and freezing temperatures:

Further north, in Atlanta, the NWS says:

A Winter Storm Warning and a Winter Weather Advisory are in effect from 10 am Tuesday until 7 am Wednesday. Although the snow accumulations are highest over central (especially west central Georgia) in the Warning area, travel impacts will be the primary concern with ANY snow amount. Expect the afternoon and evening commutes Tuesday to be impacted, as well as Wednesday commutes.

Climate Scientist Dr. David Viner, who once famously bloviated:

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.

“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.

…could not be reached for comment. Likely because his blunder has been disappeared from the Internet.

You can bet though, that the usual suspects will start blaming this event on climate change, citing the climate driven excuses “polar vortex” and “weather whiplash”.

Note: Tweets from Chris Martz were used for some elements of this story.