OPINION:
I’m a lifelong Republican. I was born into it. My dad was a Jewish Republican butcher from Brownsville, Brooklyn. His favorite saying was “Watch what a man does, not what he says.”
My wise dad also taught me, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” He must be rolling over in his grave watching today’s GOP cowards — oops — I meant leaders.
The Republican leadership is so dumb. Dumber than a box of rocks. Weak, feckless, cowards. They have proved themselves rats by deserting Donald Trump over a sentence.
I never heard this much screaming when Hillary Clinton was busy covering up Benghazi, or lying to the face of the parents of dead heroes at Dover Air Force Base when the Benghazi bodies returned home, or when the Clinton Foundation took billions in bribes from foreign governments, or when President Obama committed fraud to sell Obamacare, or when Mr. Obama killed millions of middle-class jobs, or when Mr. Obama used the Internal Revenue Service to viciously and maliciously target, intimidate and persecute conservative groups and individual high-profile critics (like me) in the worst witch hunt in U.S. political history.
But when Mr. Trump fights back against liberal prejudice and bias in the legal and judicial system, when he dares to question a biased liberal judge appointed by Mr. Obama who made contributions to Democratic candidates, who belongs to La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, who was on a selection committee to choose illegal aliens to get scholarships, who clearly hates Mr. Trump’s views on building “the wall,” that’s biggest issue in the history of the Republican Party. That’s “racism” and must be stamped out immediately.
For argument’s sake, let’s examine the results of Mr. Obama’s actions upon the U.S. economy that did not attract this kind of shock, awe and vitriol from either liberals, the media or establishment Republican leaders.
Then you can tell me what is more important — Mr. Obama’s actions or one sentence from Mr. Trump.
The latest job report came out only days ago. The results were pure disaster — 38,000 total jobs were created in May. Experts expected 160,000 new jobs. Instead, the number was far closer to zero than 160,000. As in no jobs. It was the worst jobs number since September 2010.
But it was even worse than it looked — the Labor Department also revised downward the previous two month’s jobs reports by 59,000 jobs.
And the number of Americans who are working age and not working went up to a modern record of 94.7 million. Why? Because a mass exodus of 664,000 workers left the workforce last month. That means the equivalent of the entire Washington D.C. just left the workforce in one month.
It’s important to note this is happening at the same time gross domestic product (GDP) is close to zero. That’s a bad combination — zero jobs and zero economic growth. Sounds like an “Obama Great Depression” to me. And if this these numbers don’t constitute a Great Depression, I’m afraid to ask, “What does?”
The Obama economy is in free fall.
Here is a powerful list of shocking, damning, specific facts about the Obama economy:
• GDP is the only real determinate of economic growth. Mr. Obama is the only president in history to preside over seven straight years of growth under 3 percent.
• 2016 is off to a pace that virtually guarantees this will be the eighth straight year with GDP under 3 percent. Without an improvement, Mr. Obama will become the only president in America’s history to never produce a single year of 3 percent or higher GDP.
• The longest previous streak of under 3 percent GDP in the history of America was four years (1930 to 1933) during the depths of the Great Depression.
• From 1790 to 2000, America’s economy averaged GDP growth of 3.79 percent. Mr. Obama’s eight years are on pace to average GDP of 1.55 percent — substantially less than half of our country’s average economic growth for 210 years.
• For the first time in American history, more businesses are being destroyed each day than are being created.
• More Americans now receive entitlements than work full-time.
• 13 of the 23 Obamacare state exchanges have failed. The remaining 10 have losses of more than $200 million per year.
• In this Obama economy, 40 percent of American workers now earn less (adjusted for inflation) than a full-time minimum wage worker in 1968.
• 20 percent of U.S. families don’t have a single member who is employed.
• More Young Americans now live with their parents than at any time since Great Depression.
• 43 percent of the 22 million student loan borrowers aren’t making any loan payments.
• Two-thirds of Americans don’t have $500 for an emergency bill.
• Food stamp use under Mr. Obama is up by 43 percent.
• The number of new food stamp recipients under Mr. Obama is three times higher than new job recipients.
Now you tell me: What should have attracted more anger and vitriol — Mr. Obama’s actions for the past eight years or Mr. Trump’s sentence about a judge in a civil case?
I rest my case. The Republican leadership is dumber than a box of rocks.
• Wayne Allyn Root, author of “The Power of Relentless” (Regnery, 2015), is a radio talk show host. He was the 2008 Libertarian vice presidential nominee.
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