Politics

Trump’s Law Enforcement Policies Better Than Obama’s?

Published

8 years ago

December 26, 2017

(Via Fox News)

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump praised the virtues and sacrifice of law enforcement officers in his many campaign speeches. To beleaguered cops, the president’s inauguration signaled the welcome end of eight years of unwarranted criticism from the Obama administration.

In the President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress, he cautioned against the path followed by President Obama. The new president said that Americans “must work with, not against – not against – the men and women of law enforcement. We must build bridges of cooperation and trust – not drive the wedge of disunity.”

President Trump added: “Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They’re friends and neighbors, they’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters – and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry about whether or not they’ll come home safe and sound. We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.” I couldn’t agree more.

The applause from the assembled legislators would have been drowned out by those in law enforcement circles. Police had long been on their post-Ferguson heels after events involving the questionable use of force were pounced on by a race-focused president and a complicit media.

Rejecting those divisive narratives, President Trump shifted the nation’s focus to the rising number of violent crime victims. President Trump recognized the sacrifice of law enforcement in ways his predecessor refused to do, like ordering the White House bathed in blue during National Police Week.

In the months since, the president has responded to the crisis of opioid abuse and fatal overdoses by declaring a national health emergency. Expressing a determination to save lives, his public health approach to the problem muted natural critics who mistakenly assumed he would default to the “lock-em-up” tactics used during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s.

However, detractors are now suggesting the public health approach is itself racist, because predominantly white opioid abusers will escape the black “mass incarceration” of the criminal justice system of two decades ago.

President Trump’s pick for attorney general – Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions – has proven a stalwart asset, even while weathering Trump criticisms for his recusal from the ongoing Russia investigation.

Over the summer, President Trump and Sessions reversed Obama-era policies including those restricting the use of life-saving surplus military equipment by law enforcement. Within weeks, the value of that equipment was again evident as police responded to horrific active shooter tragedies in Las Vegas and tiny Sutherland Springs, Texas.

President Trump’s “America First” border policies have faced a barrage of challenges, including federal lawsuits to prevent their implementation. He’s endured the slanderous lie that he’s hate-filled and anti-immigrant.

The president’s commitment to secure our borders is now showing the intended consequence of reducing illegal border crossings. Recent Department of Homeland Security reports show arrests at the border at a 46-year low, with a 25 percent reduction from 2016.

Ignoring open-border globalists, the president understands that securing the U. S. border is fundamental to the integrity and security of a sovereign nation and fundamental to the rule of law.

Through Sessions, President Trump has challenged “sanctuary” jurisdictions that ignore Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention requests to hold criminal illegal aliens for enforcement actions.

The president responded to the incomprehensible loss of a child to a violent felon who shouldn’t be loose on American streets. He channeled the sentiments of millions about the sickening killing of Kate Steinle by a criminal illegal alien given refuge by San Francisco.

President Trump was right in rejecting the notion that jurisdictions that turn a blind eye to criminal illegal immigrants somehow make America safer.

The president will have much to do in 2018. His messaging to law enforcement is a solid first step, but faith and words need follow-up.

Our border is still too porous. Department of Homeland Security agencies tasked with shoring it up need people and resources – fast.

And the president needs to lean on the Senate to move bills like Kate’s Law and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, while preparing for battle in the federal courts when liberal jurisdictions challenge steps toward responsible immigration enforcement.

Meanwhile, the president and attorney general need to press the attack on savage gangs like MS-13, whose ranks are fed by the pipeline of illegal immigration.

Finally, we’ve again witnessed the specter of terror in America. Responding to the ISIS siren song, foreign-born actors executed terror attacks in our best-protected city. Eight innocents were fatally mowed down and a dozen injured in New York City’s deadliest attack since 9/11 and a second attacker detonated an improvised explosive device in midtown Manhattan.

The terrorist strikes fed the debate over the proper limitations on the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “702” intelligence collection authority, which is up for renewal.

President Trump can’t afford to rest on his words of support for law enforcement. He’s had an impressive, welcome start but dealing with law enforcement issues is a marathon, not a sprint.

Politics

Bannon An ‘Oppurtunist’ – Trump Jr & Newt Gingrich

Published

4 days ago

June 20, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

(Via Zerohedge)

In the course of less than a day, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has gone from simply “former Trump strategist” to “radioactive backstabber,” after The Guardian reported that Bannon, in Michael Wolff’s new book “Fire and Fury, called a June 2016 meeting at Trump tower involving Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

In response, President Trump issued a four-paragraph scorching reply, saying Bannon had “lost his mind.” Donald Trump Jr. also responded, calling his father’s former chief strategist “backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President,” adding “Steve is not a strategist, he is an opportunist.”

Steve had the honor of working in the White House & serving the country. Unfortunately, he squandered that privilege & turned that opportunity into a nightmare of backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President. Steve is not a strategist, he is an opportunist

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018

Newt Gingrich chimed in on Fox News, telling Neil Cavuto, “I think that Bannon thinks he’s extraordinarily important. But the fact is, Trump had won the nomination without Bannon. Trump would have won the presidency without Bannon. And Trump has governed without Bannon.”

So I think there’s an exaggerated sense of who Steve is. And I think, remember, this is a guy who got fired. So you have a guy who has been fired who is trying to claim a bunch of things, which he apparently did not claim at the time.

And I think you have to just say, you know, it’s noise. It has nothing to do with — the things that matter to America and the things that matter to the American people have no relationship to the kind of noise that we’re going to spend all day today with.

And luckily for the president, he’s really come to distinguish between the things that matter and the things that don’t. The meeting this weekend at Camp David matters with the Republican leadership. Steve Bannon saying a bunch of junk doesn’t really matter in the long run. It will disappear. -Newt Gingrich

Trump Jr. also replied to a tweet by conservative pundit Bill Mitchell, which quotes a portion of Bannon’s book, reading:

“On Election Night, when the unexpected trend , Trump might actually win, seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears—and not of joy.”

Trump Jr. responded: “Another good one. Anyone who knows me or follows me knows that’s about as far from something I would say or how I speak as possible… What a joke.”

Another good one. Anyone who knows me or follows me knows that's about as far from something I would say or how I speak as possible… What a joke.😂 https://t.co/4L9rYK8W56

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018

And earlier in the day, Trump Jr. tweeted “Andrew Breitbart would be ashamed of the division and lies Steve Bannon is spreading!,” after tweeting “Wow, just looked at the comments section on Breitbart. Wow. When Bannon has lost Breitbart, he’s left with . . . umm, nothing.”

Andrew Breitbart would be ashamed of the division and lies Steve Bannon is spreading!

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018

Wow, Just looked at the comments section on Breitbart. Wow. When Bannon has lost Breitbart, he’s left with . . . umm, nothing.

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 3, 2018

And now, it appears as though Bannon may have lost any hope of cobbling together political capital. As US News reports;

Despite his blatant miscalculation and the animosity he stirred among traditional Republicans, Bannon’s enduring influence was that he purportedly had a direct line to Trump – the White House confirmed they spoke by phone last month – and could help mold the president’s thoughts on policy and political strategy.

Now, that line appears lacerated.

“Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look,” Trump said in the statement. “Steve doesn’t represent my base – he’s only in it for himself.”

The extraordinary breakup between the two larger-than-life comrades led to immediate fallout across the Republican Party. GOP leadership rejoiced at Bannon’s fall from grace, with allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reveling in and sharing the president’s takedown.

Bannon’s split from the Trumps puts wealthy GOP donor Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer in an awkward spot – as the financier have financially supported Breitbart, while also supporting President Trump and his GOP causes. Mercer announced in November that he was selling his stake in his company to his daughters – while at the time, making it clear that while he occasionally discusses politics with Bannon, he’s not always aligned with him.

And as Trump Jr. said earlier today – when Bannon has lost Breitbart, “he’s left with … ummm, nothing.”

In September, Bannon appeared on 60 minutes where heb called himself a “street fighter” and “declared war on the GOP” for trying to “nullify the election.” Bannon also said that the Trump administration made the “original sin” of embracing the establishment. “I mean, we totally embraced the establishment … Because ya had to staff a government.”

Bannon also said he was going to be Trump’s “wing man outside for the entire time, to protect [Trump] and to “make sure his enemies know that there’s no free shot on goal.”

Well – it looks like Bannon just took a shot on his own goal, and will be cast into radioactive irrelevancy for time immemorial.

Iowa

Blexit / WalkAway: Majority of Non-White Voters Plan To Vote Republican in Iowa’s 1st District According to NYT Poll

Published

4 days ago

June 20, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

In what seems to be a testament against a “blue wave”, according to a NYT poll taken back in September, it shows that 45% of non-white participants, the majority, plan to vote Republican. With 42% voting Democrat are 13% undecided. Non-white people were 7% of those polled entirely.

What also is interesting is it shows 52% white people voting Democrat, with 37% voting Republican, and 11% Undecided. Showing a higher rate of non white people voting for Republicans than white people.

Now overall this poll also showed Abby trouncing Blum, and while we disagree with the polling numbers to that extent because it seems that they may have over sampled Democrats, although we can’t tell because the poll data does not show party affiliation.

No matter how you frame it, it shows the media’s race baiting narrative hasn’t worked in Iowa’s first district as much as they hoped and non white people are a powerful force within the Republican party.

Media

Bill Maher Brings On Vaccines Skeptic, Gets Railed By Media

Published

4 days ago

June 20, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

This past Friday Bill Maher brought on a “questionable” guest as his first on his show ‘Real Time’ on HBO. The guest in question —, is a known Vaccine Skeptic. It was quickly noticeable from the crowd reaction, which is usually sporadically either clapping or laughing, often mocked by Bill himself, was very quiet and toned down, most likely thrown off guard. This issue, like many Bill champions on his show, are issues he prides as fringe on both sides of the aisle, the far-left and far-right often being huge skeptic of establishment Scientist and Doctor opinions.