NEWS AND OPINION:
Former President Donald Trump — who appears to be indefatigable — is off to the Tar Heel State on Saturday, hosting yet another jumbo-sized rally in Wilmington, North Carolina. He’ll follow that with another rally Monday at an Indiana, Pennsylvania, convention and athletic complex.
His closest “Team Trump” allies are also busy, busy, busy in support of “Team Trump’s Agenda 47 Policy Tour,” according to the Trump campaign.
Former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado and Kash Patel, former chief of staff for the Department of Defense, head to Stateline, Nevada, on Friday.
Chad Wolf, former acting secretary of Homeland Security, and Monica Crowley — political commentator and also former assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs — are off to host a town hall in Maricopa, Arizona.
Come Saturday, vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance will travel to the Berks County Fair in Leesport, Pennsylvania.
Former presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard will journey to Las Vegas on Saturday as well — part of the campaign’s ongoing “Reclaim America Tour.”
THE BLAME GAME
“In the immediate aftermath of the second attempt on Donald Trump’s life you would think the media would show some restraint and ’lower the temperature’ in their attacks on him,“ writes Geoffrey Dickens, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog.
“Nope,” he noted.
Mr. Dickens’ new study reports that in the first 72 hours after the shooting, the anti-Trump spin — on the broadcast evening news programs — was 95% negative and just 5% positive.
“It wasn’t just ABC, CBS and NBC that were horrible in the first few days after the assassination attempt. CNN and MSNBC also filled their programs with criticism of Trump and Republican ‘rhetoric’“ the analyst wrote.
He cited clear examples of this phenomenon, like this one:
“Do you expect to hear anything from the Trump campaign about toning down the rhetoric? Toning down the violence? Or would that be atypical of the former president?” one MSNBC host asked.
Curious? Find Mr. Dickens’ unique study at Newsbusters.org.
GROWTH IS THE KEY
The House Budget Committee took a sharp pencil to the dicey economic and energy policies that have emerged from the White House in recent days. The committee also staged a hearing titled “The Cost of the Biden-Harris Energy Crisis” on Thursday.
“The fiscal health of our country is in decline. I think we all agree with that. You can’t look at the balance sheet, you can’t look at CBO’s projections, you can’t look at the debt to GDP, which is higher than it’s been since World War II and more,” advised House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, Texas Republican.
The cost of electricity has gone up 25% to 30% for the typical American family — twice as much as it did when President Trump was in the White House.
“Policies have consequences, and that consequence for families is a whopping $1,700 per family per year. These costs on the economy and our consumers, the American people, are a direct result of the policies of the Biden-Harris Administration,” Mr. Arrington warned.
“We have to rein in spending and we have to grow this economy. We must have policies that encourage and foster growth, and central to that are good energy policies. If we can grow 1 percent, we can save $3 trillion to put against the deficit. If we grow 1 percent, we can add $10,000 over 10 years and hardworking Americans’ pocketbooks. We can bring the debt-to-GDP down by at least 20 percentage points,” he noted.
“Growth is key, and the lifeblood of that growth is energy policies. We’ve seen the opposite of it, disastrous energy policies and disastrous results. We must make a change if we’re going to get our country on a good fiscal path and hand it to our children in the manner that gives them the opportunities and prosperity that we’ve all enjoyed,” Mr. Arrington later concluded.
INFLATION NATION
The Heritage Foundation has launched a “groundbreaking new tool ” that is meant to help Americans assess the impact of record inflation on their household finances.
“Average statistics can’t capture the unique ways inflation affects each household. That’s why we created the Personal Inflation Calculator — a tool that delivers a tailored report on how inflation specifically impacts your cost of living,” said Parker Sheppard, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, in a written statement highlighting the tool’s significance.
“The rapid increase in the cost of living for American families is a direct result of unnecessary federal spending and the Federal Reserve’s printing money to pay for it. Our Inflation Calculator exposes the hidden tax of rising prices, helping Americans grasp the true costs of the Biden-Harris economic policies,” Mr. Sheppard said.
Find the calculator and much information at MyInflation.com.
WEEKEND REAL ESTATE
For sale: A “mid-century marvel” home built of natural wood and stone in 1966 on one acre in Asheville, North Carolina, and “meticulously reinvented” by architect Lawrence Traber. Four bedrooms, five baths, floor-to-ceiling windows, maple and oak flooring and mahogany doors, unique fireplace, 1,400-bottle wine cellar, state-of-the-art kitchen with “eat-in peninsula,” includes a primary suite with private patio and newly added “garden room” and open floor plan. Two-car garage, landscape lighting, mature trees and formal plantings, unique garden gate, patio, EV hookup and extra carport. Priced at $3.5 million through Sotheby’s International Realty. Find the property at 5brooksideroad.com.
POLL DU JOUR
• 37% of U.S. adults say they feel “dread” when they think about the 2024 presidential election.
• 36% say they feel “optimism” when they think about the election.
• 34% say they feel “exhaustion.”
• 27% say they feel “excitement.”
• 18% say they feel “depression.”
• 15% say they feel “indifference.”
• 8% say they feel “delight.”
• 11% say they feel “none of these feelings.”
SOURCE: A Yahoo! News survey of 1,755 U.S. adults conducted online Sept. 11-13. Respondents could select all feelings that applied to them.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @HarperUniverse.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.