New party chair a clueless hack
I know a lot of good local Democrats who voted for Harris, and I know a lot of good local Democrats who voted for Donald Trump this last election.
Where the twain shall meet, who knows.
In fact, it bears repeating for those who want to know what it will take to turn around the Democrat Party moving forward — Trump won all four counties that comprise the RGV in the 2024 election.
Historic, unprecedented, pick a word.
Trump won Starr County, 58 percent to 42 percent.
Hidalgo County, 51 percent to 48 percent.
Obviously, these numbers are rounded up or down.
Cameron County, 52 percent to 47 percent.
Finally, Willacy County, 51 percent to 48 percent.
A slam dunk in what was once one of this country’s strongest Democrat strongholds, bar none, with more Dems per capita in deep South Texas than almost any other area of the country. That was the case for decades, dating back to the 1930s.
Yet, still, Democrat leaders (most) don’t have a clue what it will take to turn things around, nor do they have a clue as to why Harris and Walz lost. Not only the electoral vote, but perhaps more importantly, the popular vote.
What to Do?
In a rather sick, delusional sort of way, it’s been said by too many talking heads on the boob tube that Trump won because too many Americans hate women and people of color. Walz is as white as a Minnesota snowflake, so they must mean Kamala Harris, whose dad is Black, and whose mom is from India.
If you voted for Trump last November, raise your hand if you are a misogynist racist.
Didn’t think so.
So, why did the Rio Grande Valley (all four counties) vote for Trump?
A lot of it had to do with the border, based on what people tell me who voted Republican last election.
They have worked here all their lives, paid into the system, and yet they get very little in terms of Social Security, Medicare benefits upon retirement.
Meanwhile, they see streams of people from countries all over the world walk across the U.S. border unmolested during the Biden years. They are not vetted for past criminal behavior, nor are they checked to see if they are carrying any communicable diseases. Plus, they seem to get a lot of benefits that, many voters think, should be going to them instead.
Hard to argue that point.
Second, the price of everything is going up and up and up.
Yet, the increase in Social Security payments, for example, is a fraction of what the real inflation rate is.
On the culture front, they don’t want to see a transgender person use a girl’s bathroom if they were born a biological male. Nor do they think it fair for a transgender athlete born male to compete against women in women’s sports.
Poor Dead Nurse
Yet, to prove they haven’t yet learned any lesson, 35 Democrat senators in the U.S. Senate voted recently against the newly inked “Laken Riley Act.”
It was even worse in the U.S. House where only 48 Democrats out of 215 voted to approve the Act.
This was a no-brainer, and if Democrats want to reclaim the majority, they need to get a clue about what many Americans care about — a secure border and public safety.
The Act, now law, was named in remembrance of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered in horrendous fashion by a Venezuelan killer who was in this country illegally when she met her sad fate.
The newly passed Laken Riley Act will now require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain and (deport) illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assault against police officers, and crimes that result in serious bodily harm or death (after their prison sentences end).
Here’s a run-down of the Riley case from the Center for Immigration Studies:
The “Laken Riley Act” was named after a Georgia college student killed last February (2024) by an illegal entrant who had been released into the United States. Given it was the first bill considered in the new 119th Congress, it’s a clear indication representatives are moving quickly to respond to voters’ concerns about the ongoing migrant surge and the looming threat of illegal alien crime. It appears the bill will get the 60 votes it needs to clear the Senate (it did).
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta College, went for a run on the campus of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Ga., on the morning of Feb. 22, 2024. Shortly thereafter, according to authorities, she called 911 from her cellphone, but the dispatcher was unable to make contact before the call ended.
She was reported missing shortly after noon that day, and less than a half hour later her body was discovered by a UGA police officer in a wooded area 65 feet from a jogging trail.
An autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to her head — “including eight injuries to the left side of her skull and an injury just above her right temple” — as well as evidence that she had suffered asphyxiation. The coroner determined that a combination of those injuries led to Riley’s death.
Surveillance video led investigators to 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who was a repeat criminal and a repeat illegal border crosser.
Thanks to nearby surveillance footage, on Feb. 23, 2024, police noted scratches on his arms, and DNA matching his was subsequently found under Riley’s fingernails. Other forensic evidence also linked Jose Ibarra to the crime.
Following a bench trial, a Georgia state court judge found Jose Ibarra guilty on 10 counts — including murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, and aggravated assault with intent to rape — in late November. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Democrat Response
Given those facts, one has to wonder how 35 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and approximately 165 Democrats in the U.S. House can vote against a law that will hopefully prevent such tragedies in the future.
Maybe they should come to the RGV, hold several focus groups, and ask those voters who used to be their core constituents what they think about the Laken Riley Act.
Instead, the Democrat Party just elected a clueless 51-year-old guy, Ken Martin, as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who said last Saturday, speaking about Trump, and I quote, “We’re coming. This is a new Democratic Party. We’re taking the gloves off.”
That’s a winning formula, all right. Martin’s party just got its rear kicked last November, with both the electoral vote and the popular vote, and Kenny still doesn’t seem to understand why?
Good luck with that.
By the way, what is Ken Martin’s background with regard to his professional career?
Has he ever run his own business, made a payroll, worried about making sure that his business made more money than it lost?
Nope.
He’s been in politics his whole life, AKA, sucking off the public teat, as it were, or at least sucking off campaign donations.
What a guy to elect as the national chairman.
At the age of 17, Martin started his political work in 1990 as an intern for Minnesota U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone's campaign and later interned in his official office.
From there, it was one political gig after another, including the successful Clinton/ Gore campaign in 1992.
A pity he didn’t learn anything from the Clinton years, when the national budget was balanced for three years straight — 1998, 1999, and 2000 — with the help of the Republicans led by Newt “the Toot” Gingrich.
Clinton knew that to be successful, he would have to swing more to the center and work with Republicans and police agencies to get crime under control as well as this nation’s spending.
What is Ken Martin’s plan to reinvigorate the Democrat Party?
He’s going to take the “gloves off” and go after Trump.
Brilliant, Kenny. Good luck with that.