Despite healthy ratings, ABC promptly cancelled Tim Allen’s popular sitcom, Last Man Standing this week. The show was a successful part of the ABC line-up for six years.  While some media reports claim that ABC cancelled the show due to poor ratings, the truth is that the program was the second highest rated comedy and the third highest rated “scripted” show on the network. In fact, during the final years of the show, Last Man Standing drew an impressive average of 8.1 million viewers each week.

Allen’s real crime was not poor ratings, but having the audacity to announce he was a conservative. He understood the challenge he faced in Hollywood. In an interview with ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, Allen lamented that “You gotta be real careful around here. You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody else believes. This is like ’30s Germany.”

Allen is not the only actor to be ostracized due to his beliefs. Jim Caviezel faced a backlash for starring in the Mel Gibson film, “The Passion of the Christ.” Caviezel did a masterful job playing Jesus Christ, the role of his lifetime. Instead of his peers praising his work and showering him with job opportunities, Caviezel became an unwanted commodity in Hollywood. In an interview with Polish journalist and film critic Lukasz Adamski, Caviezel noted that after the movie, “All of the sudden I stopped being one of the five most popular actors in the studio and I hadn’t done anything wrong, I just played Jesus.”

Unfortunately for the small band of conservatives in Hollywood, the industry treats them like they are infected with the Bubonic Plague. Caviezel and Allen are joined by a select group of courageous conservatives such as Jon Voight, Cheryl Ladd, Bo Derek, James Woods and a few others, but, overall, Hollywood is a monolithic community controlled by extreme liberals.

Most conservatives do not speak up for fear it may end their career. Woods knew he was endangering his job prospects in 2013 when he spoke out against President Obama’s liberal policies. After Woods stood on principle and expressed his political views, sadly, he has all but disappeared from the big screen.

For decades, there has been a liberal groupthink in Hollywood; however, in recent years, it has become even more pronounced. This community strongly supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, holding glitzy fundraisers and raising massive contributions for the Democrat Party.

With almost all of the major stars in Hollywood being liberal, actors like Tim Allen are a rare breed indeed. Not only is he a conservative, but his show, Last Man Standing, revolves around a main character, Mike Baxter, who is both a conservative and a Christian. It is the perfect sitcom for this era, appealing to the 63 million Trump voters who are not represented at all on broadcast television.

Not only are Trump voters excluded, but working class Americans and those who reside in the Rust Belt and rural communities are also not represented on broadcast television. Even ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey recognized this fact at a recent meeting in London. He admitted that his network has not “paid enough attention to some of the true realities of what life is like for everyday Americans.”

While Hollywood loved Obama and his big government policies, millions of middle class families suffered during his two terms. During the Obama years, poverty rates increased as millions more Americans were added to the food stamp rolls. Due to Obamacare, healthcare premiums skyrocketed, but American wages remained relatively stagnant. The Obama administration even targeted certain “dirty” industries such as coal, bringing economic ruin to communities throughout the Rust Belt. It was not surprising that a record number of people, 95 million, were not even members of the workforce at the end of Obama’s second term.

These liberal policies created real suffering, but, in Hollywood, President Obama was viewed as a conquering hero. Not surprisingly, these liberals believe an independent conservative like Donald Trump is an evil authoritarian. It is hard for them to relate to any American, much less a fellow actor like Tim Allen, who actually supports the policies of Donald Trump.

Back in the 1980’s, during the conservative Reagan era, a very successful television program was Family Ties with a conservative character Alex Keaton, played perfectly by Michael J. Fox. It aired on NBC for seven years, winning numerous awards and garnering great ratings. It connected with audiences during an era that was dominated by a popular, conservative President.

Unfortunately, broadcast television networks today are not interested in appealing to the massive Trump electorate. If so, ABC would not be cancelling Last Man Standing, but adding more programs just like it to their line-up.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Tim Allen Is No Longer The Last Man Standing appeared first on The Hayride.

As the Robert E. Lee monument was being removed last Friday, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave a victory speech to a select group of supporters at Gallier Hall, ironically, a former slave auction house. And the media couldn’t get enough of it.

In the last week, the speech received lavish praise from the liberal media, both locally and nationally. Landrieu received glowing tributes throughout the mainstream news media, from the pages of the liberal Times Picayune in New Orleans to the editorial page of the liberal New York Times.

In fact, on Sunday, Landrieu will achieve the ultimate award bestowed to a liberal politician, an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Surely, partisan Democrat host Chuck Todd will shower Landrieu with praise for having the “courage” to dethrone the four nasty, symbols of white supremacy. Unfortunately, he will probably not ask the Mayor about many of the city’s ongoing problems and unanswered questions.

For example, will he ask about the horrible street conditions, the growing homeless problems or the ever-increasing murder rate? Will he ask why the Police Department is so under staffed and the District Attorney’s office is so underfunded? Will he ask about why the population of the city has started to decrease for the first time since Hurricane Katrina?

Will he ask about the lack of transparency involved in the monument removal process? Will he ask about the true financial cost of this effort for a city struggling to pay for basic operations?  Will he ask about the mysterious anonymous donor who gave the city funds for this operation or the Mayor’s shameful misuse of public employees from the Fire Department and the Police Department to remove the monuments?

Will he ask the Mayor to account for his many lies on this issue, on topics ranging from the number of times Robert E. Lee visited New Orleans to the storage of the monuments after their removal? For instance, the Mayor’s office promised to store the monuments in a city owned warehouse after their removal. Instead, Landrieu discarded the monuments in a city owned junkyard, almost tempting vandals to deface or destroy them.

Finally, will the Trump hating host ask the Mayor the obvious question, “Mr. Landrieu, did you remove the monuments to elevate your national standing and set the stage for a presidential campaign?” Of course, the answer to that question is indeed yes, but Landrieu will never answer it truthfully. The entire disgraceful episode has tremendously harmed the Mayor’s standing in New Orleans, but helped his standing nationally.

In the Democrat Party today, a centrist has no chance to capture the presidential nomination. Only a politically correct, radical leftist has a prayer of being the 2020 Democrat Party presidential nominee. By declaring war on the 300-year history of New Orleans, removing four priceless monuments, dividing the city on racial lines and ignoring much more important problems, all to promote his selfish personal ambitions, Landrieu has perfectly set the stage for a presidential campaign.

Democrats are looking for a leader from a younger generation. They need someone who will confront Donald Trump on a variety of issues. Landrieu has already established his desire to attack Donald Trump by opposing the President’s plan to defund sanctuary cities. Landrieu is very proud of the fact that New Orleans is a sanctuary city and he will not abide by whatever Donald Trump or his Justice Department tries to do.

Removing monuments, fighting Trump on sanctuary cities, and garnering national publicity, are all important initial steps in launching a Democrat Party presidential bid. On a more practical level, running for President gives Mr. Landrieu something to do since he is leaving his Mayor’s post next year and he has no job prospects on the horizon.

Why not just continue to campaign and act like a politician? Landrieu is a lifelong politician who has no training, experience or interest in working in the private sector, so a presidential campaign is perfect.

Another important sign of an upcoming presidential campaign is that the Mayor’s good friend, confidante and fundraiser is a guy who knows how to get someone elected to the White House, a “Ragin’ Cajun” named James Carville, who can easily use his connections to line up positive national press for Landrieu. Carville also will surely advise Landrieu to keep denouncing the monuments as he understands that attacking symbols of the Confederacy plays very well in the leftist world of the Democrat Party today.

This strategy will lead to more opportunities for Americans to see New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu in the national media, vowing to keep the country safe from Confederate monuments. This weekend, he will continue his crusade on the national stage, restarting the Civil War, reopening old racial wounds, but revealing his political ambition, his only true interest.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Mitch Landrieu’s Still Fighting The Civil War, And The Media Loves Him For It appeared first on The Hayride.

In our toxic age of political correctness, nothing is immune from liberal political attacks, even the beautiful, majestic and endangered tigers. It seems obvious that tigers should be supported since their numbers are dwindling the in the wild and their natural habitats are constantly shrinking.

Most people probably think it is innocent for Louisiana State University (LSU) to feature tigers as their mascot and display a well-maintained “Mike the Tiger” in an air conditioned, deluxe enclosure right outside the football stadium. This $3 million habitat is a mansion that tigers in the wild or any animal for that matter would love to call home.

Unfortunately, all those assumptions are incorrect in an age of stifling political correctness. Today, it seems that the “Fighting Tigers” are racist symbols of oppression to African American students at LSU.

In 1895, the nickname “Fighting Tigers” was adopted at LSU to honor the famed Louisiana infantry of the Civil War. These fighters were known as “Tigers” and were celebrated for being particularly courageous and battle-hardened warriors.

The name was given to LSU by the original football coach of the school, Dr. Charles E. Coates. He wanted his football teams to display the same fight on the gridiron that the Civil War soldiers showed on the battlefield.

Since that time, the nickname has honored both the beautiful big cats of the jungle and the Louisiana Confederate soldiers.

Sadly, in our age of historical revisionism, when Confederate monuments are under attack across the country, anything associated with the South during the Civil War has become controversial, even a harmless nickname.

Today, an online petition at www.Change.org has gathered 568 signatures demanding that LSU remove the Tigers mascot. The organizer, LaMallori LSU, claims that the Tigers mascot is “the most prevalent Confederate symbol in the United States” and that it is “incredibly insulting” for black students to deal with the racism associated with the mascot. LaMallori LSU also states that the Louisiana Civil War infantry mistreated slaves by engaging in violent abuse of the innocent African Americans of that era.

This mascot has been used for 122 years, it is a symbol of pride for LSU fans. Historically, it has not been viewed by any LSU supporter as a symbol of racism. Only left-wing agitators would link the use of the nickname Tigers with racism.

The petition is just the latest outrageous move by leftists to remove monuments and change names of anything associated with the Confederacy. The left was emboldened when the liberal Democrat Mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, was successful in removing four Confederate monuments in the city. In the aftermath, organizers have targeted dozens of other monuments to remove and names to change.

The next step for Louisiana and the rest of the South is unknown. Remaining Confederate monuments in New Orleans are being defaced and damaged while the Mayor has done nothing to protect them. It is almost as if Mayor Landrieu is encouraging the destruction of these valuable monuments.

Obviously, mascots are not immune to this crazed, disturbing movement. In the NFL, activists have targeted the Washington Redskins because the nickname is supposedly offensive to Native Americans. Never mind that the name was originally bestowed on the team as a sign of respect and honor for Native Americans.

In the world of college sports today, the Tigers are not alone in coming under fire. For years, teams with the nickname Indians or Rebels have been pressured to change. At Ole Miss, the Colonel Reb mascot is no longer used while the Mississippi state flag is no longer allowed in the stadium.

What is next? Tulane University was named after a wealthy benefactor of the Confederacy, Paul Tulane. Does that school name need to change?

The LSU Tigers petition has not generated many signatures, thankfully, but it is creating significant publicity nationwide. With the politically correct leadership of universities across the nation, including LSU, there is no guarantee that these types of demands will not be given earnest consideration.

The overall ultimatums in the petition are quite chilling. The organizer calls for an end to not only the Tigers nickname, but also for “the day when every symbol of white oppression is torn down.” The petition also takes aim at the “Mike the Tiger” mascot. It states, “It’s also cruel to cage a wild animal for the amusement of privileged white people. They’ve never been in a cage!”

This “march toward justice” is a march toward insanity, a march toward devastation. The efforts to erase history, remove monuments, change names and mascots must stop immediately. If not, our country will disintegrate before our very eyes.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: The PC Lunatics Have Moved On From The Redskins And Are Now After The LSU Tigers appeared first on The Hayride.

To maintain the security of our homeland, our federal government depends on the services of contractors who work with our intelligence agencies. It is imperative that these contractors employ individuals of high character and integrity for their mission is so important to the security of our nation. Sadly, one such contractor in Augusta, Georgia, Pluribus International Corporation, made a terrible mistake when it hired an unstable 25-year old woman who legally changed her name to Reality Leigh Winner.

Ms. Winner was arrested last weekend for illegally removing a top secret report from a secure government facility and sending it to an Internet based news outlet, The Intercept, which published the material. The National Security Agency document detailed attempts by Russian hackers to compromise U.S. voting software in states across the nation prior to the November 8, 2016 presidential election.

For these alleged activities, Winner was officially charged with leaking classified U.S. documents. If convicted, Winner, who pleaded not guilty, faces a potential sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

After her arrest, some disturbing information has been uncovered about Ms. Winner. On her voluminous social media posts, Ms. Winner made it very clear that she is a hardcore liberal and hates Donald Trump. In fact, she referred to our President as a “c..nt,”  a “piece of sh..,” and a “soulless ginger orangutan” not exactly the best way to refer to her boss. In contrast, she liked the Facebook pages of liberal icons such as Bill Maher and Michael Moore and was a strong supporter of the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

Prosecutors also announced that they retrieved a journal from Winner’s home and discovered some very unsettling contents. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari, Winner declared her intention to “burn the White House Down…find somewhere in Kurdistan to live.” To make matters even worse, she  pledged allegiance to the terrorist group, the Taliban and expressed support for Osama Bin Laden.

In a hearing yesterday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Epps was also alerted that Winner may have illegally accessed top secret information before her tenure with Pluribus. While she was in the U.S. Air Force, Winner inserted a portable hard drive into a top secret computer. Regrettably, authorities have not been able to locate the hard drive or the information that was downloaded.

The case against Winner became even stronger when prosecutors outlined to the judge what Winner said in recorded phone calls from prison. She admitted to her mother that she “screwed up” and coached her to tell the media that she was “scared” and “play up that angle.”

She told her sister that she would receive favorable treatment at a bond hearing because she would “play that card: being pretty, white and cute, braid my hair and cry.” Her strategy was quite ironic since Winner had previously claimed on Facebook that “being white is terrorism.”

Fortunately, Winner’s outrageous plans did not work out in her favor. Prosecutors successfully argued that Winner was a flight risk if she was released. Judge Epps denied her bond and ordered Winner to remain behind bars until her trial. Epps said that her notebook comments “whether that’s a jest or not, it still concerns me.”

These new developments show that Winner was likely guilty of espionage and possibly other crimes. There is no doubt that she illegally shared classified information with a news site. She holds views that are clearly anti-American and she definitely hates the Commander-in-Chief. A person with such a mindset should never have been hired by any contractor working with the National Security Agency and never been anywhere near top secret information.

This entire episode raises plenty of questions about the hiring process for contractors that have access to classified and top secret information. Only patriotic individuals of highest character and integrity should be hired for these positions, not a youngster who shared a variety of violent and radical views online.

This sad case illustrates why the nation is dealing with so many intelligence leaks to the media. Our government has been compromised by the current arrangement with private contractors. It is obvious that the background checks need to be seriously upgraded. In the future, no one like Reality Winner should ever be given such close access to our nation’s most sensitive information.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

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“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.” – Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President, National Rifle Association 

Despite the horrible news of the week, including the killing of two prison guards in Georgia and the attempted assassination of Republican congressmen in Arlington, Virginia on Wednesday it was a good week for the good guys with guns Wayne LaPierre often talks about.

Donnie Rowe and James Dubose are accused of killing two prison guards early Tuesday morning as they were being transferred between detention facilities southeast of Atlanta. After their escape, they spent two days on the run until they were spotted by Tennessee state troopers.

In the ensuing chase, Rowe and Dubose crashed their car and fled into the woods adjacent to Interstate 24. Eventually, they came upon a residence in the small community of Christiana, Tennessee and attempted to steal the homeowner’s vehicle.

Unfortunately for these accused murderers, the homeowner noticed that two people were trying to snatch his automobile. In fact, this homeowner was the worst nightmare for Rowe and Dubose. He was armed and unafraid to brandish his weapon. The homeowner, along with some timely help from a neighbor, held the pair under citizen’s arrest until the local sheriff’s department arrived to apprehend them.

This was just one of the many daily incidents of LaPierre’s “good guys with guns” stopping criminals from committing additional crimes. On Wednesday, as Republican congressmen were practicing for their annual baseball game against the Democrats, lunatic leftist James Hodgkinson entered the baseball field in Arlington and fired up to 60 shots from a high-powered rifle and a handgun, attempting to assassinate as many of the GOP elected officials as possible.

Hodgkinson was a volunteer in the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). He had a long history of posting hateful messages about Republicans and President Donald Trump on social media. He belonged to online groups such as “Terminate the Republican Party” and vowed to “destroy Trump.” He was a fan of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and other leftist media personalities. Sadly, his hatred toward Republicans reached a boiling point on Wednesday morning as he attempted to assassinate as many as three dozen GOP congressmen.

Fortunately, one of his targets, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) is a member of the GOP leadership and was protected by two gun toting Capitol Police officers. These brave law enforcement officials engaged the gunman for ten minutes, eventually subduing him and eliminating the threat. While five innocent people were wounded and several of them, such as Congressman Scalise, are still suffering from serious wounds, the carnage would have been much worse if the armed officers were not there.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was at the baseball practice and praised the “incredibly brave” response of the Capitol Police who “probably saved the lives of everybody there.” According to Paul, “had they not been there, it would have been a massacre.”

Sadly, despite the seriousness of the injuries to Scalise and others, Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) wasted no time in trying to turn this tragedy to his political advantage. Regrettably, McAuliffe barged onto the scene in the aftermath of the shooting talking about gun control, advocating “background checks, shutting down gun show loopholes.” He did not even know or care about the specifics of this case, only that it was a good opportunity for him to promote the gun control agenda.

It would have been better for McAuliffe to spend some more time reflecting on the issue and preparing his remarks for he laughably blurted out that “we lose 93 million Americans a day to gun violence.” He even repeated this nonsense at the impromptu press conference before eventually realizing that he meant to say “93 people” a day are lost to gun violence, not “93 million Americans.” That’s the quality of the argument those who villify LaPierre and the NRA have on offer.

The real lesson of both tragedies is not that we should implement more gun control and please liberals like McAuliffe, but that our leaders should encourage the expansion of gun ownership in America. Thankfully, in our country, unlike the United Kingdom and France, our police carry firearms. We are also fortunate to have enshrined in the U.S. Constitution the Second Amendment, guaranteeing our right to bear arms, providing the most comprehensive guns rights of any nation in the world.

While liberals lament our “gun culture,” the real story of the week is that guns, in the hands of the right people, save lives. The more people who become trained in the use of firearms and purchase them for personal or home defense, the more likely it will be for unhinged gunmen like Hodgkinson or prisoners on the loose, like Rowe and Dubose, to encounter law abiding Americans who will stop the bloodshed. This will result in the lives of more innocent Americans being saved and more dangerous criminals meeting the fate they deserve.

For all the demonization of the NRA on the part of the Left, last week gave us a lot of evidence Wayne LaPierre had it right.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: This Week Proved Wayne LaPierre Was Right appeared first on The Hayride.

It is getting extremely difficult to keep track of the ever increasing number of fading Hollywood stars threatening to harm or kill President Donald Trump. The latest outrage occurred when overrated actor Johnny Depp joked about assassinating the President at a U.K. music festival. He asked the crowd “When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?” This was obviously a reference to actor John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. He dug an even deeper hole when he followed his question by making a thinly veiled threat on the President’s life.  Amazingly, he told the crowd, “it’s been a while, maybe it is time.”

For these remarks, Depp should be visited by the Secret Service and possibly charged with threatening the life of President Trump. It is a Class E felony; punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine.

Depp’s ravings follow a string of outrageous antics by radical leftists. In just the last few weeks, a Trump assassination play was staged in New York City, comedian Kathy Griffin was pictured holding a decapitated head of Donald Trump, actor Jim Carrey joked about bashing the President with a golf club, rapper Snoop Dogg produced a video with a Trump clown being shot and actor Robert DeNiro expressed a strong desire to punch the President in the face.

With all of this happening in quick succession, it might be time for the Secret Service to create a special branch devoted to investigating angry Hollywood stars. It has been clear since he announced for the presidency that the vast majority of Hollywood stars hate President Donald Trump. This nasty attitude is apparent almost every time one of these celebrities is interviewed by the media. They also use their platform on awards shows to blast the President on everything from his plans to build a border wall to his desire to repeal and replace Obamacare.

These leftists still can’t get over Hillary Clinton’s loss in the November 2016 presidential election. Many of them, like Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry, were active in her campaign and even cried when she lost.

For these Hollywood stars, the pain of losing in November has been compounded by the aggressive agenda of President Trump. The celebrities have become frantic to stop the President, so they regularly attack him on social media. In addition, they have become involved in the recent special elections, such as the race to elect a new congressional member for the 6^th district in Georgia. Actor Samuel L. Jackson starred in a radio commercial for the Democrat candidate Jon Ossoff. Other celebrities such as Rosie O’Donnell and Alyssa Milano contributed to Ossoff’s campaign.

Unfortunately for the Hollywood Trump haters, they lost again. Despite having a huge financial advantage, Ossoff was handily beaten 52-48% by GOP candidate Karen Handel, the former Secretary of State in Georgia.

Toward the end of the race, even Democrat activists had to admit that Ossoff had several significant problems as a candidate. It hurt him politically that he did not live in the congressional district. His youthful age, 30 years old, and his profession as a documentary filmmaker might also have given some voters pause. However, the real issue was President Donald Trump. Voters who supported his agenda did not cast a ballot for Ossoff. In fact, during her victory speech, Handel received the loudest applause when she thanked the President for his help.

One of the best parts of Karen Haindel’s victory on Tuesday night was the stunned reaction from Hollywood stars who invested so much in the race. The reaction on social media was priceless. Actor Billy Eichner lashed out at Handel, calling her “terrible,” “homophobic.” Actress Debra Messing tweeted that the results were “hard to process.”

Poor Debra, the results were not hard to process at all. Voters throughout the country are once again rejecting the radical leftist and hateful message of Democrats and their Hollywood allies and voting for Republican candidates who are vowing to support President Donald Trump. Since Election Day 2016, Republicans are 5-0 in special elections.

Despite Hollywood revulsion and mainstream news media bias against the President, he keeps winning these special elections. On Wednesday morning the President enjoyed a victory lap and tweeted that “All the Fake News, all the money spent =0.”

The reason that the President and Republicans are winning these elections is that voters want to see action on the serious issues facing the country. All the Democrats are offering is a loathing of Trump, an obstruction of his agenda and a constant obsession with the “Russia investigation.”

Most Americans are more concerned about rising healthcare costs, border security, tax cuts, wage growth, infrastructure improvements than the “Russia investigation,” which has no tangible impact on their lives.

If Democrats continue their hate campaign against President Trump and focus on the “Russia investigation” they will continue to lose special elections and become an even smaller minority party. When that happens, Democrats can thank many leftist groups, including their most vocal cheering section, Hollywood stars.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Hollywood Goes Off The Depp End appeared first on The Hayride.

The more the media and the establishment politicians scream about the President’s tweets, the more obvious it becomes that he should keep tweeting. President Trump has over 33 million followers on Twitter and his tweets are a terrific way to connect with his supporters without the filter of the liberal media.

This week he tweeted about critical issues such as the House passage of “Kate’s Law” and the “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act.” These bills fulfill the President’s campaign promises to take decisive action against the threat of illegal aliens in this country.

He also tweeted about his meeting with the President of South Korea and his speech touting his plan to unleash the American energy industry. Predictably, none of those issues received any coverage as all the media focused on was his tweets about the low rated MSNBC show “Morning Joe.”

The President tweeted that during last New Year’s Eve at his Mar-a-Lago club, show host “low IQ crazy Mika” Brzezinski and her fiancé and co-host “Psycho Joe” Scarborough “insisted” on joining him. The President turned down their offer and their request for an interview, and tweeted that Brzezinski was “badly bleeding from a face-lift.”

His comments about Brzezinski led to a frenzy of biased coverage for several days throughout the mainstream news media. The usual collection of liberal Democrats and establishment Republicans, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, criticized the President’s “face-lift” tweet. Not surprisingly, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed the President’s tweet was “blatantly sexist.”

The criticism occurred just as Fox News was releasing a new poll which showed that 71% of Americans believe President Trump’s tweets are hurting his agenda, whereas only 17% believe they are helpful. While 13% of respondents approved of his tweets and 39% want him to be more cautious, 46% of Americans disapprove of his continued use of Twitter.

The “Morning Joe” controversy only emboldened the many critics of the President’s use of Twitter to communicate. Yet, this criticism is exactly why the President should continue to use his favorite form of social media. Ever since he entered the presidential race, Donald Trump has been the subject of unrelenting condemnation from his many political enemies. He has succeeded without their approval and will continue to prosper despite the loud complaints of those who oppose his agenda.

In this case, the President responded only after months of unrelenting ridicule from the “Morning Joe” hosts. They have called the President “unbalanced,” “unhinged,” a “liar,” a “child,” and, for good measure, claimed that he suffers from “mental illness.” Brzezinski even had the audacity to cite the need for the 25^th Amendment to be enacted and for the President to be removed from office because he is “unfit.” The hosts have also been fixated on mocking his “teensy” hand size, making sophomoric implications about the President’s genitalia.

Their show regularly features guests like advertising executive Donny Deutsch, who claim without evidence that the President is mentally incompetent and not “well.” Deutsch also challenged the President to a “schoolyard” fight. So, this lunatic can now be added to the list of celebrities who have threatened the President and need a visit from the Secret Service.

After months of on air venom directed at the President from both the hosts and their guests, Donald Trump decided to return fire via Twitter, which is his way of responding to attacks. During the GOP primaries, Mr. Trump created nicknames for his opponents such as “Little Marco,” “Lying Ted,” and “Low Energy Jeb.” In the general election, his famous moniker for his Democrat opponent was “Crooked Hillary,” a most appropriate title.

This type of hardball tactic has been part of the President’s personality for many years. It helped Mr. Trump create a strong bond with Republican voters who wanted a President to respond to critics in a forceful way. For too long, Republican Presidents, such as George W. Bush, refused to retort when attacked by their opponents. In this respect and in so many others President Trump is different, certainly a breath of fresh air.

In a media environment that is almost universally aligned against him (89% negative coverage according to the Media Research Center), President Trump needs a way to respond to attacks. His preferred method is not a fireside chat, like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or an address to the nation, like President Ronald Reagan, but a tweet, which occasionally is controversial, but, more often, is brilliant.

These tweets energize his supporters and helped President Trump, against all odds, win the GOP nomination and the presidency. While the media and his political critics will continue to criticize his tweets, the President will undoubtedly not stop. His critics, the so-called experts, want him to stop tweeting; however, these are the same “geniuses” who said that Donald Trump never had a chance to win the presidency.

Like Trump, Reagan had his share of critics. He assessed them in his way, “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.” What was true then is even truer today in a political world that revolves around the Twitter account of President Donald Trump.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Keep Those Tweets Coming, Mr. President! appeared first on The Hayride.

During the 2016 election, the Never Trump conservative critics of Donald Trump predicted a catastrophe for the country if he was elected President. Well, as we approach the six-month anniversary, America is witnessing our most successful presidency since Ronald Reagan.

Contrary to worries from movement conservatives, the President assembled a stellar cabinet and appointed a solid strict constructionist, Justice Neil Gorsuch, to the Supreme Court.

He instituted a travel ban, upheld by the Supreme Court, on six majority Muslim countries that harbor terrorists and cannot provide adequate vetting of their citizens who want to visit the United States. While we await construction of the border wall, deportations of illegal aliens have increased and the flow of undocumented immigrants across the southern border has dropped dramatically.

The President is currently enjoying his second successful foreign trip. On his first overseas visit, he was greeted as a hero in Saudi Arabia and sternly warned Muslim leaders about the threat of radical Islamic terrorism. Fortunately, America now has a President who will speak the truth about the jihadist threat to civilization. In addition, Americans now can feel comfortable that their President will no longer apologize for their country, but will extol our virtues on foreign soil.

After his successful visit to the Middle East and the reestablishment of a close relationship with our biggest ally in the region, Israel, President Trump admonished our NATO allies to pay their fair share in military expenditures. This stern lecture was not well received by some NATO countries, but it was appreciated by leaders in Poland and other countries who are fulfilling their defense obligations.

As he embarked on his second foreign trip, it was quite fitting that the President’s first stop was in Poland, where he was given an enthusiastic welcome. At the G-20 summit, he finally met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and successfully negotiated a cease-fire in Syria, while discussing other important topics such as the North Korean threat and cyber warfare. While the biased media focused on Russian interference in the 2016 election, President Trump focused on delivering results for the American people.

His significant foreign policy accomplishments notwithstanding, the biggest impact of President Trump has been on the nation’s economy.  On Friday, the federal government announced another positive economic report. Last month, 222,000 jobs were created, significantly higher than economic forecasts. This year, the country is averaging 180,000 new jobs each month, much better than the average during the Obama years.

Last month, the unemployment rate held steady at a remarkable 4.4%. Wage growth edged upward 2.5% annually with the average work week increasing to 34.5 hours. In June, there were 160.1 million Americans in the labor force, an increase of 361,000 from the May report. Overall, the labor force participation rate improved to 62.8% as 94.8 million Americans are outside of the workforce, a decrease of 170,000 from last month.

While these job numbers are impressive, it will take time for the full Trump economic plan to take full effect. First the GOP Congress needs to pass a healthcare plan that will cut taxes, lower premiums and remove the individual mandate. Then, a tax cut plan needs to be passed that will provide relief to millions of Americans and give businesses an incentive to grow their operations in our country. Cutting the top corporate tax rate will also lure companies that have left the country back to the United States. The President will also create more jobs in the economy as he rebuilds our crumbling infrastructure and boosts our military spending as we follow the Reagan maxim of peace through strength.

While we await some action from the slow-moving GOP Congress, the President has been aggressively signing executive orders to improve our economy. One major step was removing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. This treaty was never ratified by the United States Senate and would have unfairly penalized American businesses. By approving the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, President Trump has not only guaranteed more job creation, but he also helped ensure that our country will become energy independent.

In his first few months, the President has also cut harmful government regulations, unburdened the coal industry, and turned the EPA into an agency determined to improve the environment, not harm our economy. Furthermore, the falling gas prices are giving economic relief to millions of Americans. In the critical area of trade, the President removed our country from the terrible Trans Pacific Partnership and will rework NAFTA and other trade deals to make them more beneficial for our country.

Last week, the President revived the National Space Council as he displayed a renewed vigor to rebuild our space industry and reorient NASA toward human spaceflight. As America once again reaches for the stars, so has our stock market, which has reached an all-time high during the Trump administration. At the same time, consumer confidence has skyrocketed.  Despite the constant media criticism, it seems clear the American people have confidence that President Trump and his team are skilled at handling our economy.

With the dizzying pace of triumphs, the Never Trump critics of the President look foolish today. These so-called Republican conservatives said that Trump would be a disaster for the economy. They claimed he was just a liberal masquerading as a conservative.

At this point, the evidence is clear that these critics were embarrassingly wrong and that Donald Trump has not only restored faith in American leadership around the world, but he has also restored faith in the American economy at home.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Is The President Making The Never Trump Crowd Look Foolish? appeared first on The Hayride.

A once proud political party has now been completely overtaken by the insidious forces of political correctness. For decades, Democrats celebrated two of their founders, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, with an annual banquet. This event was held across the country as a fundraiser for local and state Democratic Party organizations. Yet, in an era when historical revisionism and political correctness runs amok, state party organizations have begun to change the names of the annual event.

The Louisiana Democratic Party has become the latest state organization to join the bandwagon and disown Jefferson and Jackson. Their upcoming banquet, which will be held in New Orleans on August 26, will now be called the “True Blue Gala.” Presumably, no one will be offended by the word “blue,” but in this age of snowflakes and professional protesters, we can never be sure.

Louisiana Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Carter Peterson said the name change reflects “the progress of the party and the changing times.” Disavowing two Presidents and American heroes is not “progress,” but pure idiocy. By the way, Democrats should be careful in highlighting Carter Peterson as their spokeswoman. She is not exactly an expert on proper language and behavior. For example, during one of the final days of the recently completed legislative session, Carter Peterson, a Louisiana State Senator from New Orleans, was talking loudly in the back of the chamber and was asked by a Republican colleague to keep quiet. This incensed Carter Peterson and she yelled at her fellow lawmaker to “F.. off.” This was horrible language for any legislator, especially the Louisiana Democratic Party Chairwoman, to direct at a fellow lawmaker

While Louisiana Democrats don’t mind a Chairwoman who uses foul language, they now have a major problem with Jefferson and Jackson. The reason for the banquet makeover is that Jefferson and Jackson owned slaves. Today, in our world of politically correct revisionism, it seems every historical figure is being judged by our present-day values. It is no surprise that so many of our Founding Fathers and Presidents do not survive such unfair scrutiny with their reputations intact.

Current Democratic Party leaders should not feel morally superior as future generations may view these leaders very negatively. An activity that is legal today, such as abortion, may be perceived by future generations as barbaric. Similarly, we justifiably view slavery as a horrific practice; although it was officially legal until the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865.

Thomas Jefferson was one of our greatest Presidents, a true genius, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, one of the most influential and consequential documents in world history. His contributions to our nation, including the major expansion of the United States with the signing of the Louisiana Purchase, are being overlooked because he owned slaves.  Soon, Democrats may call for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. to be destroyed or for the American cities and the Louisiana parish, named after the former President to undergo a name change.

Andrew Jackson was a genuine war hero and President. He saved New Orleans and preserved the country by leading a rag tag army to victory against elite British troops. This monumental triumph at the Battle of New Orleans is memorialized at the Chalmette Battlefield, a site that may be targeted for destruction by the forces of political correctness because Jackson was a slave owner.

This banquet change was announced weeks after officials from the Mayor Mitch Landrieu administration removed four Confederate monuments in New Orleans. The next step for politically correct activists in New Orleans is to remove the iconic statue of Andrew Jackson in the French Quarter. After the banquet announcement by Louisiana Democratic leaders, it is logical to assume the party supports the destruction of the most photographed spot in the Gulf South.

Where will this end? In New Orleans, liberal agitators were successful in 1997 in persuading the local school board to remove the name of George Washington, our nation’s first president, but a slave owner, from an elementary school. This type of insanity is not limited to New Orleans, unfortunately. In fact, some activities are targeting the ultimate prize, the nation’s capital. In their ideal world, the name Washington D.C. would be forever erased.

The result of the name changes, revisionism and political correctness is more hatred for the history and Founding Fathers of this country. Instead of being reviled, our Founders should be celebrated for their wisdom and foresight. Without their contributions and sacrifice, we would not be living in the greatest country in the world. In fact, all of us might be living in a totalitarian country and the professional agitators would have no rights at all, certainly not the ability to protest and complain about perceived sins of the past.

Americans should thank God and feel quite fortunate that our nation was led by great heroes and Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. This is true whether the Democratic Party wants to acknowledge it or not.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Democrats Disown Jefferson And Jackson appeared first on The Hayride.

Despite the continual drama surrounding President Trump and his administration, it is comforting to know that his political opposition is in total chaos. Since the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama, Democrats have lost over 1,000 state legislative seats across the country. While Democrats have total control of the Governorship and state legislatures in only five states, today Republicans have the most legislative seats in the history of the party.

With 33 GOP Governors, control of the U.S. House, Senate and White House, the Republican Party dominates the national political scene today. Unfortunately for the President, Democrats still maintain control over the liberal media and the “deep state,” the mammoth and powerful federal bureaucracy. Thus, the President has to endure an unfair, biased and ever expanding investigation by a Special Prosecutor, who should have never been appointed.

The “Russia” investigation has given Democrats control of the political narrative, but that has not translated into success at the ballot box. In special elections since the Trump victory, Democrats have lost in Kansas, Montana, South Carolina and Georgia.

Despite plenty of favorable media coverage, Democratic Party leaders are having plenty of problems raising money. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) finished the month of June with a significant debt of $3.3 million. In May, the DNC was almost $2 million in debt. Under the mediocre leadership of DNC Chairman Tom Perez, fundraising has been horrific. The May 2017 contribution totals were the lowest in 14 years.

Perez is the former Secretary of Labor of the Obama administration and he secured the position because of his connections to the former President. As DNC Chairman, he has traveled across the country with much fanfare. While he has not been successful raising much money or delivering inspiring speeches, Perez has made a memorable impact by his frequent use of profanity. In fact, Perez uses curse words on a regular basis, even when speaking to crowds filled with children.

With such classless and unimpressive leadership, it is no wonder the Democrats are losing elections and raising inadequate contributions. Due to their own weaknesses, they are unable to take full advantage of the multi-pronged media and political attack on President Trump.

Over the last few months, Democrats are almost exclusively focused on the Trump-Russia fantasy, but their strategy is not resonating with average Americans. Polls show Americans have much more interest in healthcare, the economy and tax policy, but Democratic Party leaders are constantly ignoring the issues and pushing for more focus on the Russia investigation. Their goal is to invalidate the results of the 2016 election and create another Watergate type scandal.

The one member of Congress who has been the most vocal in denouncing the President is 78-year old Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). She boycotted the President’s inauguration and has been calling for his impeachment from the very beginning of his term. The Congresswoman never gave President Trump a chance and has boasted of her disinterest in meeting with him. Such congressional mistreatment of the previous President would have merited an intense media scolding, but Waters is treated as a celebrity for her “courageous” stand against Donald Trump.

Since Waters is an African American woman with extremely leftist views, the media is very willing to promote her nonsensical comments about President Trump. Even though she is incredibly partisan and quite ineffective in Congress, her outrageous comments guarantee her ample media coverage.

This weekend, the Congresswoman will be in New Hampshire, possibly launching a laughable bid for the presidency. The Congresswoman claims that her focus is on her re-election to Congress, but she will run for President “if the millennials want me to do it.” Please millennials, encourage this crazy woman!

Theoretically, the Democrats could face a 2020 presidential campaign with four major candidates above the age of 72: Waters, Hillary Clinton, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and former Vice President Joe Biden. Talk about a party devoid of new ideas and fresh leadership!

Instead of recruiting younger and more moderate leaders, Democrats are moving further to the left and relying on their tired and divisive political veterans. It is little wonder Democrats are in debt, raising limited contributions and obsessed with Donald Trump. Ironically, he possesses everything Democrats want: billions of dollars, the White House and a strong connection with his base of voters. As long as Democrats keep acting this way, President Trump and his supporters are not going anywhere.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

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Friday morning, the rationale for why conservatives across the country should support Republican Party candidates and enable the GOP to control Congress was completely shattered. By losing a 49-51 vote, the Republican led U.S. Senate failed a pass a “skinny” repeal of Obamacare, condemning the nation to more suffering from the horrors of socialized medicine.

It was a stunning failure for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was tasked with crafting legislation that would attract at least 50 Republican votes. In the end, McConnell was only able to muster 49 Republican votes, so the reform measure failed. Three turncoat Republicans joined all 48 Democrats to defeat the best chance to repeal at least some of the most offensive aspects of Obamacare.

It was a bitter defeat for the GOP, the President and all healthcare reform supporters. Now, health insurance premiums and deductibles will continue to increase. Insurance companies will continue to withdraw from certain states and choices for struggling Americans will become more limited.

For Americans who do not want health insurance, they will continue to be mandated to buy the product. Others who cannot afford the skyrocketing premiums will have to pay an outrageous fine to the IRS. In addition, many employers will be forced to trim the number of full time workers to escape their expensive Obamacare coverage mandate. Thus, the lack of GOP leadership in the Senate will result in real pain for the American people.

Most of the blame for this debacle rests squarely on the shoulders of Majority Leader McConnell. Since the November 2016 election of Donald Trump as President, McConnell has had over eight months to develop legislation that would pass the Senate. With such an embarrassing failure, McConnell should be removed as Senate Majority Leader. Republicans need a leader who can deliver for not only the country, but also for the Republican Party.

Mitch McConnell has enjoyed over 10 years as Republican Party leader in the Senate. First as Minority Leader and since January of 2015 as Majority Leader. In that time, he has not been an advocate for conservative reform. In the presidential election, he was not a strong advocate for Donald Trump. In fact, he spent the entire presidential campaign trying to distance himself from the populist oriented GOP nominee.

McConnell is the ultimate insider, he is a creature of the swamp that controls the Beltway and our federal government. As a Senator for 33 years, McConnell long ago ceased being a reformer and became part of the dreaded Republican Party establishment. He is ill-suited to promote Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” agenda.

Along with his failure to pass the Obamacare repeal, McConnell has allowed the Senate to delay action on dozens of Trump administration nominees. What is the use of having Republican leadership of the Senate when its’ leader cannot produce any legislative accomplishments?

On the major items in the President’s agenda, the Senate has not been able to provide victories on even one of them, except the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.  At least the House passed a healthcare reform bill, even though it was imperfect. Unfortunately, the Senate seems incapable of doing anything, which is why McConnell should be fired as Majority Leader. If he had any decency, he would resign his post, but we should not expect such a selfless act from a lifelong politician like Mitch McConnell.

Under McConnell’s leadership, the Senate has produced six months of worthless talk and debate, but no legislative victories for President Trump. If this continues the GOP will suffer the same result in the 2018 mid-term election as what happened in the 2006 election, after four years of Republican Party leadership of the Congress and the White House.

In that period, Republicans used their majorities to deliver more debt, grow government, increase federal regulations and bureaucracies, add entitlement programs and start a brand-new government department. Thus, the Republicans acted like Democrats and the base reacted by withdrawing support for the party.

Eventually, this GOP abandonment of their principles paved the way for the 2008 election of President Barack Obama and Democrat majorities in Congress. The result was a hard-left agenda and possibly the most damaging President in our nation’s history.

Similarly, the current failures will probably ensure Democrats make gains in the 2018 mid-term elections and possibly take control of Congress. In this case, with the GOP Congress doing nothing, the GOP base will be demoralized and will not turnout in substantial numbers in the next election. In contrast, the left is stark raving mad about Donald Trump and is very energized to elect a Democrat Congress in 2018.

Liberals know that if Democrats are elected to Congress, they will deliver legislative victories for their base. For example, the stimulus bill and the “Affordable Healthcare Act” were rammed through in the first two years of the Obama presidency. In contrast, conservative voters should have no confidence that congressional Republicans will deliver anything of real substance. The sobering result is that no matter which political party controls Congress, the federal leviathan grows.

Until the Republicans remove ineffective leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, they will accomplish absolutely nothing and only set the stage for the Democrats to achieve full power once again.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Is It Time For The Senate To Ditch Mitch? appeared first on The Hayride.

The world is witnessing a political mutiny that is unprecedented in the annals of American history. Donald Trump was duly and overwhelmingly elected President of the United States on Tuesday November 8, 2016. He received the votes of almost 63 million Americans, the highest total ever for a Republican Party presidential candidate. Through a remarkably targeted campaign, he won electoral votes in 31 states, destroying his opponent in the Electoral College. For any other President, his opponents would have given him a “honeymoon,” and allowed his administration to get started and implement his agenda.

Unfortunately, these traditional American political norms do not apply to Donald Trump. Despite his legitimate victory, Trump has been the subject of an unrelenting and unparalleled number of deceitful attacks from his disgruntled opponents. Immediately after his victory, a sinister network of deep state operatives, Obama holdovers in the bureaucracy, “Never Trump” Republicans, Democrats, and biased liberals in the media joined forces to achieve one goal, overturning the election results.

The reason this corrupt cabal is trying to invalidate the will of the American people is that President Trump’s agenda is a severe threat to their livelihoods. The “sultans of the status quo” view the President’s plan to put “America First” and “Drain the Swamp,” as a call to political arms and a battle for their survival.

To protect their power, Trump’s many opponents have tried everything from challenging the presidential vote totals in certain states to intimidating the members of the Electoral College. When that failed, the next step has been to manufacture the “Russian collusion” nonsense, which has led to the precarious situation which exists today.

Sadly, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the horrible mistake of recusing himself from the investigation, which set in motion the process that created the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, who is trying to find a crime to tie to President Trump. There is nothing in in the “Russian collusion” story, so Mueller is now scrutinizing the complicated financial dealings of the President and his business empire.

Although the President has expressed his displeasure with this “witch hunt,” if he attempts to fire Mueller, Congress will try to impeach him. According to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), “any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.” With Republican “friends” like Graham – who is certainly in on the mutiny, the President certainly does not need enemies. To bolster his threat, Graham is working on legislation to prevent the President from firing Mueller without “judicial review.”

The actions of Graham and several other GOP Senators illustrate how the Republican led Senate has abandoned President Trump. For example, the Senate, along with the House, overwhelmingly passed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia and preventing the President from easing them. It is the equivalent of Congress usurping presidential authority and since he has few Capitol Hill allies, the President was forced to sign the bill. A veto would have surely been overturned in an embarrassing display of presidential weakness.

Although Obamacare has been an unmitigated disaster and Republicans in both houses of Congress have promised for eight years to offer relief to the American people and “repeal and replace” it, Senators left for a month-long recess without taking needed action. The President exhorted Republican Senators to pass a bill before leaving for an undeserved vacation, but they ignored his protests and scurried out of D.C. anyway. The major promises of the Trump agenda such as healthcare reform, tax cuts, infrastructure spending and building a border wall are now in total jeopardy.

One of the chief problems has been the lack of support for President Trump in the Republican led Congress. These turncoats are working with Democrats to not only stop the Trump agenda, but also to empower and protect Robert Mueller.

If congressional Republicans cared about the agenda of President Trump and his 63 million supporters, they would be doing something to investigate the misdeeds of the former administration, Hillary Clinton and the unprecedented number of leaks coming from moles within massive federal bureaucracy. President Trump has been battered by 126 leaks in the first 125 days of his administration. The latest embarrassment involved the leaking of transcripts of his conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia. These leaks are undoubtedly federal crimes, which should be investigated by both the Justice Department and Congress, but it seems all the focus is on the “Russian collusion” conspiracy.

This administration faces threats on many sides, but the most severe danger comes from the Special Counsel. Over the last few weeks, Mueller has assembled a Democratic Party mutiny dream team of 16 attorneys, including eight who gave contributions to liberal candidates such as Hillary Clinton. Mueller is also compromised because he has close ties to former FBI Director James Comey, who clearly engineered the investigation by leaking his infamous memos.

In any other administration, Mueller would be fired, but President Trump’s hands are tied. If he fires Mueller, he will be impeached and the resulting firestorm will make Watergate look like a day at the park. So the mutiny continues.

As President Trump watches Mueller expand his staff and his mission and impanel a grand jury, he is surely asking himself why he wanted this job in the first place. Along with his attorneys, his family and his “deplorable” base of supporters, President Trump is alone in a sea of killer sharks working overtime to deliver a political death blow.

At this point, it is reassuring to know that a Bible study has been started in the White House. Prayers may be the only thing that can save President Trump as his legions of enemies conspire to destroy him. The mutiny on the Potomac has begun, and the fate of the captain of our ship, President Trump, hangs in the balance.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Mutiny On The Potomac appeared first on The Hayride.

For months, the liberal news media has been championing New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020.

Landrieu was praised for his “courageous leadership” in taking down four Confederate monuments in New Orleans earlier this year. Never mind that it was an issue manufactured by Landrieu to create racial division and publicity. In the end, the monument removal cost $2.1 million dollars, precious funds that were needed elsewhere.

First and foremost, the Mayor should have been giving more attention to the crime problem in New Orleans. The murder and violent crime rate has been increasing in recent years as the number of police officers has been declining. The Mayor appointed the Police Superintendent and has overall responsibility for the operation of the police department and the safety of the citizens of New Orleans. Clearly, he has not fulfilled his responsibilities in this critical area.

This week, the damaged reputation of Landrieu took an even greater blow when his administration lied to the people of New Orleans about the causes of massive flooding. On Saturday August 5, some areas of New Orleans received over nine inches of rain, a significant amount that was made worse due to inoperable drainage pumps. The resulting damage to homes, businesses and automobiles negatively impacted thousands of New Orleans residents.

New Orleans is prone to large rainfall events during the spring and throughout hurricane season. The city sits below sea level and is protected by a complex system of drainage pumps operated by the Sewerage and Water Board. After Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans in 2005, the federal government sent billions of dollars to New Orleans for improved flood protection, better drainage systems and enhanced levees. In the aftermath of the flood Saturday, there needs to be an accounting of how all of those dollars have been spent.

At first, the administration blamed the flooding on “climate change,” which was a ludicrous and pathetic dodge. Cedric Grant, the Executive Director of the Sewerage and Water Board, floated the “climate change” excuse to cover up his own ineptitude. While assuring residents that the drainage pumps were operating at full capacity, in reality, many were undergoing maintenance at the time of the storm. At first city officials claimed that 8 pumps were not operating, then it was announced that 14 were not in service and now they are finally admitting that 16 pumps were off line while the storm battered New Orleans last Saturday.

The President of the Sewerage and Water Board is Mitch Landrieu. His administration hired Cedric Grant, a career bureaucrat, to lead the agency. Grant was selected over engineers and hydrologists with years of pertinent experience. In the aftermath of this debacle, Grant announced his retirement, but he will continue to collect his $220,000 per year salary until the end of hurricane season in November. Don’t shed any tears for Grant, for he will retire with a $175,000 per year pension that also includes full health benefits.

Landrieu also forced two other Sewerage and Water Board officials to resign as well as his Director of Public Works. He blamed these officials for their lack of candor with the public and their poor response to the storm, but at least they were in New Orleans while the catastrophe was occurring. Last Saturday, Landrieu was attending a “security conference” at the Aspen Institute and did not bother to address the people of New Orleans until two days after the flooding ravaged the city.

In effect, Mitch Landrieu placed his Aspen Institute conference above the citizens of New Orleans. He is nearing the end of his second term and the Aspen Institute is looking for a new President and CEO. This would be a perfect platform to collect a generous paycheck, generate publicity and launch a presidential bid. Was Landrieu participating in a glorified job interview?

Regardless of his intent, any true leader would have taken an immediate flight back to New Orleans to direct the city government’s response to the flood. Instead, Mitch Landrieu hid behind his administration officials and when they failed to meet expectations, he blamed them, fired them and tried to convey to the citizens a false image of engaged leadership.

This episode totally exposed Mitch Landrieu as a fraud. He is a self-serving elected official looking for his next political position, while failing to serve his constituents who he was hired to represent.

From the rising crime rate to the third world street conditions to the flooding woes, New Orleans is generating the worst kind of national publicity. The rest of the country has now been exposed to the real Landrieu record. Even left wing Democratic Party voters will not be foolish enough to trust their presidential nomination to someone who cannot keep his city safe from either criminals or flood waters.

Sadly, for the Mayor, as the flood waters finally drained away, so did his presidential ambitions.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Mitch’s Presidential Ambitions Go Down The Drain appeared first on The Hayride.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Trump impeachment, the Russia story has vanished. Despite months of hyperventilating about the President being involved in nefarious “Russian collusion,” no evidence was actually produced. Despite a biased media, a biased special counsel and a legal team selected from the donor roll of the Democratic Party, Donald Trump is still President and still claiming that the whole campaign is a “witch hunt.”

With the Russian story going nowhere, the anti-Trump media, along with their deep state and political establishment colleagues, have found a new “cause celebre,” the President’s response to the Charlottesville, Virginia riots of last Saturday.

Twice this week, the President specifically denounced the violence, bigotry and hatred of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who were involved in the “Unite the Right” rally last Saturday. He also condemned the loathsome behavior of “both sides” who were involved in the riot. Not surprisingly, this balanced approach has been greeted with intense criticism as his many detractors are looking for any opportunity to denounce him.

On CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and other media outlets, the President’s comments were labeled racist, with some commentators opining that he was a virtual white supremacist. Such criticism is total nonsense, but it is the type of commentary masquerading as journalism that is presented on a daily basis by the national news media.

In response to his supposedly controversial statements and with cheerleading from the President’s enemies, all of the members of the presidential arts commission resigned, as well as 15 members of the President’s economic advisory council. This coordinated display of politically correct outrage led the President to disband the economic councils altogether.

Democrats are joining the media is focusing their rhetorical fire on the President. In fact, one Democrat Missouri State Senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, went way too far by commenting on social media that she hoped “Trump is assassinated.”  In previous years, such comments would have warranted a visit by the Secret Service or an arrest, but Chappelle-Nadal, is receiving support from fellow Democrats. An online petition defending the State Senator has been started. While some Democratic Party leaders have called for her resignation, Chappelle-Nadal refuses to apologize. When asked whether she will resign, the Trump assassination advocate claimed, “Hell no.”

With leaders in the Democratic Party and overrated Hollywood stars calling for the President’s assassination, it is shocking that almost no one in the Republican Party has come to the defense of Donald Trump. To the contrary, numerous GOP Senators, such as Marco Rubio, John McCain, Bob Corker and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), have joined Democrats in condemning the President’s post-Charlottesville comments.

The GOP Trump bashing continued this morning as the spokesman of establishment Republicans, Mitt Romney, demanded that President Trump “apologize” for his comments about the Charlottesville riots. Romney wants the President to “State forcefully and unequivocally that racists are 100% to blame for the murder and violence in Charlottesville.”

The problem with this demand is that it is factually incorrect. In Charlottesville, there were neo-Nazis, white supremacists and KKK members among the “Unite the Right” rally. All of these hate groups were rightly denounced by President Trump for they are despicable and hold views which are antithetical to American values.

What Romney, the business leaders, establishment politicians and all of the other Trump critics refuse to acknowledge is that the other side in the protest were not angels carrying flowers. The leftist protesters included members of the notorious hate group Black Lives Matter, Antifa (anti-fascist) thugs and members of organizations affiliated with the Communist Party.

As numerous photographs document, the left-wing protesters used bats and pepper spray to attack the “Unite the Right” rally-goers. In addition, these “angels” also hurled bags of urine and feces at them. With police nowhere to be found, there was significant violence on both sides.

President Trump was right to condemn violent participants on both sides of this riot. The fact that his opponents are attacking his reasonable response is very telling. It shows that there is an organized movement underway to not only undermine his agenda, but also to remove him from office.

The problem with this obviously deceitful and nefarious campaign is that Donald Trump legitimately won the 2016 presidential election and he has not committed any crimes or misdeeds that would in any way warrant his removal.

These anti-Trump forces are trying to negate an election result and destroy a President that they despise. They hate his agenda, his temperament and his 63 million supporters; however, they are not being honest about their true motivations.

If this confederacy of cowards is successful in removing a duly elected President from office, there will be a response from his supporters that will make the events of the past week look like child’s play. It will be reminiscent of what Ronald Reagan said as he began his second term as President, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Instead of such madness, let’s hope sanity prevails. In the meantime, all Americans should pray for the success of our President and, most importantly, the well-being of our countrymen and our beloved country.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Trump’s Enemies Are A Confederacy Of Cowards appeared first on The Hayride.

President Donald Trump is attacked on a daily basis by his enemies in the media, the political establishment, and the deep state. He is under unrelenting assault, more so than any other U.S. President in recent history.

Usually, even a besieged President can count on support within the ranks of his top advisers. While they may disagree in private, top administration officials have an obligation to present a unified front to the American people. However, when a President starts getting attacked by a member of his own administration, it is time to fire that untrustworthy individual and demand loyalty of everyone else.

If the appointee is not fired, he should have the decency to resign if he cannot publicly support the President. A principled letter outlining the reasons for his resignation is what National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn should have delivered to President Trump.

Cohn, a former Democrat, was dissatisfied with the President’s balanced criticism of “both sides” in the aftermath of the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia. Instead of keeping his complaints private, Cohn gave a controversial and utterly unhelpful interview to the Financial Times blasting the President while inferring his own moral superiority. According to Cohn, “This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities.”

Of course, Cohn was referring to the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who attended the initial Charlottesville rally. He is right, the groups must be vigorously denounced, which is why the President condemned them multiple times. How many more times must the President criticize the hateful beliefs of these groups before it satisfies Cohn and the liberal media?

What really upset Cohn and all of the other Trump critics is that the President also criticized the “Alt-Left” groups who participated in a counter-rally in Charlottesville.  In the Financial Times interview, Cohn laughably said “Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK,”

The “Alt-Left” protesters in Charlottesville included people who engaged in a variety of violent activities such as throwing bags of urine and feces and using pepper spray and bats to assault people. They also attacked innocent journalists, a photo journalist for a local TV station and a reporter for The Hill, who were trying to cover their activities.

The “Alt-Left” counter demonstrators in Charlottesville included anarchists, socialists and communists who subscribe to a deadly ideology that has caused the death of untold millions of people around the world. It is an ideology of evil that should be criticized by President Trump and everyone in his administration, including Gary Cohn.

Instead of telling the truth about the “Alt-Left” protesters, Cohn decided to launch a public attack against the President, who has been unfairly criticized by his enemies in the liberal media since the day he entered the presidential race on June 16, 2015.

The leftist angels that Cohn believes were just “standing up for equality” have been assailing Trump supporters at rallies for two years. The latest incident occurred in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday night. The protesters even chucked rocks and water bottles at police. Eventually, they had to be dispersed with tear gas.

These “Alt-Left” groups are spearheaded by the notorious band of thugs known as Antifa (anti-Fascist). While Cohn and his liberal colleagues in the media and the Beltway think the group is fighting for “freedom,” a growing number of Americans strenuously disagree. In fact, a recent White House petition demanding that the Pentagon label Antifa a terrorist group “on the grounds of principle, integrity, morality and safety” has accumulated over 302,000 signatures in only eight days.

The petition states, that terrorism is “the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims” and that the definition applies to both “ISIS and other groups” as well as Antifa. It affirms that Antifa “has earned this title due to its violent actions in multiple cities and their influence in the killings of multiple police officers throughout the United States.” As noted in the petition, the record of Antifa violence, harassment and intimidation is well documented at events throughout the country – they’re enemies not just of the president but of law and order and American society as a whole. As the President courageously declared, their violent behavior undoubtedly contributed to the chaos and turmoil in Charlottesville. Sadly, Gary Cohn does not want to admit this reality for he prefers the illusion of political correctness.

Reportedly, in the aftermath of the President’s Charlottesville comments, Cohn was under intense pressure from his Wall Street friends (Trump’s enemies) to resign from the administration. He should have done the President and the country a big favor by succumbing to the pressure.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

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On August 29, 2005, monster Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi. In the catastrophe that resulted, over 80% of New Orleans was flooded and 1,836 people in Louisiana and Mississippi died. The storm caused over $150 billion in damages and forced thousands of New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents to relocate, some permanently. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the population of New Orleans was 484,000, while today only 391,000 people live in the city. It forever scarred a 300-year old city that has faced a number of challenges, but none greater than Hurricane Katrina.

Before the disastrous storm hit the city, President George W. Bush was at his ranch in Crawford, Texas enjoying a four week vacation. On the day Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Mississippi coast, Bush took a brief break from his vacation to visit Phoenix, AZ to promote his Medicare prescription drug legislation. He also presented a cake and posed for pictures with U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who was celebrating his 69^th birthday.

Incredibly, after the McCain visit, Bush went back to his ranch to continue his vacation for another two days. He did not return to Washington D.C. until August 31^, a full two days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. In an infamous photo that captured his disengaged response to the storm, Bush was pictured looking at the hurricane destruction from his Air Force One window as he flew over the region before returning to the White House. Bush later realized that the photo was a “huge mistake” because it conveyed the impression he was “detached and uncaring.”

While Bush seemed disinterested, the response of FEMA was initially very slow and inadequate. Even though people were still dying and the world saw televised images of chaos at the Convention Center and flood victims being rescued from rooftops, no significant aid reached New Orleans until Friday September 2, four days after the hurricane hit.

At the time, FEMA was led by Michael Brown, a political appointee without any emergency management experience. Brown did a woeful job of preparing FEMA to tackle this unprecedented challenge. Unfortunately, at press event in Mobile, Alabama, as aid had still not arrived in most of New Orleans, Bush astonishingly praised the inept FEMA Director by claiming “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

Of course, “Brownie” was a complete failure and was forced to resign on September 12, 2005, the day after President Bush made his first visit to New Orleans for an on-site inspection of the catastrophic damage.

After an initially weak federal government response, President Bush did make numerous visits to New Orleans and clearly displayed a true interest in the recovery of the city. However, a negative image was already cemented in the minds of Americans and President Bush never recovered politically. After Hurricane Katrina, his approval numbers collapsed and continued to be poor for the remainder of his presidency.

Almost 12 years later, another monster storm, Hurricane Harvey, hit the United States. This time, the federal government was ready. FEMA, which is now led by Brock Long, a component professional with 16 years of relevant experience, deployed over 9,000 emergency personnel to the Texas. In the last week, local and state officials have been working closely with the Trump administration in all aspects of the response.

Instead of waiting almost two weeks to inspect the damage, President Donald Trump made his first visit to Texas while the hurricane was still in the state. His visit was well received by storm victims and he was given a hero’s welcome. While petty critics blasted the footwear of Melania Trump, the people of Texas were happy to see both the President and the First Lady.

In another display of the administration’s commitment to bolster recovery efforts, Vice President Mike Pence, along with several Trump cabinet officials, visited Texas on Thursday. On Saturday, President Trump will return to Texas, visiting visit the hardest hit area, Houston, as well as Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was also inundated with rain.

The administration is preparing an initial aid package of almost $6 billion for Harvey recovery. Understandably, full recovery will be incredibly expensive and take years of concerted determination, but, at least the storm victims know that their President is concerned and involved as they endeavor to rebuild.

Sadly, former President George W. Bush did not adequately convey that message to Hurricane Katrina victims. It is clear that President Trump followed the advice of U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) who warned him not to make the “same mistake” President Bush did after Hurricane Katrina.

President Trump is not only cheer-leading for the people of Texas; he is also personally contributing to their recovery by donating $1 million to relief efforts. In fact, to provide an even greater assist to the region, the President declared Sunday a National Day of Prayer for the victims of the hurricane.

In many different ways, President Trump is demonstrating a sincere interest in the well-being of Hurricane Harvey victims. For people who have been ravaged by such a catastrophe, this encouragement, coupled with a tangible action plan for recovery, is welcome news indeed.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Trump Learned The Lessons Of Katrina appeared first on The Hayride.

This week, the country will have to deal with another hurricane disaster as well as a national disaster, the unveiling of Hillary Clinton’s new book, What Happened. In the book, the former First Lady and Secretary of State blames a variety of culprits for her upset defeat. She is clearly a woman who is bitter and has not accepted her loss to a political novice, Donald Trump.

In the presidential race, Clinton had almost every advantage. Throughout the campaign, she outspent Trump by almost a two to one margin. With almost four decades of political experience and a husband who served as President, Clinton should have easily defeated the maverick businessman. In addition, Clinton was supported by almost all of the national news media. She was given very favorable media treatment, while Trump was regularly savaged by reporters who clearly hated him.

Despite her many advantages, Clinton lost to Trump in an overwhelming manner. The Donald won 304 electoral votes in 30 states, winning an electoral vote landslide over Hillary Clinton. While she had a 3 million popular vote edge over Trump, he did garner 63 million votes, the highest total ever for a Republican presidential candidate.

What happened to Hillary? In the book, Mrs. Clinton blames NBC “Today Show” host Matt Lauer for asking tough questions at the first televised forum of both candidates. Clinton states that she was “almost physically sick” that Lauer focused on her email scandal. Of course, Lauer had every right to emphasize an issue that was a raging controversy. Clinton mishandled top secret communications and deleted over 30,000 emails. She also told a variety of lies about the email scandal and had very little credibility on the issue. Lauer was actually doing a respectable job as a reporter digging for the truth and probing the insincere Hillary for answers.

The entire episode should have resulted in Hillary being indicted and convicted for a serious breach of national security. Instead, she was exonerated by former FBI Director James Comey; however, that did not satisfy Hillary Clinton. She was still upset that Comey criticized her conduct as “extremely careless.” She also was unhappy that the issue was resurrected toward the end of the campaign when Anthony Weiner’s laptop emails were discovered. Yet, Hillary Clinton has no one to blame but herself for none of this would have been a problem if she had handled her email communications properly.

In What Happened, Clinton does not spare her former U.S. Senate colleague, then Vice President Joe Biden. Clinton was enraged that Biden criticized her lack of appeal to middle class voters. Ironically, if Clinton would have taken Biden’s advice she may have won the Rust Belt states on Election Day and been elected President of the United States.

Not surprisingly, Clinton also blasts former President Obama, her 2008 opponent for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Their relationship was always uncomfortable and never close and during the campaign she felt that Obama put her in a “straightjacket” when he asked her to help unite the Democratic Party and not criticize her opponent Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT).

This was a difficult request for Clinton did not care for Sanders either. She claimed that her former rival for the nomination did “lasting damage” to her campaign. She wrote that the Senator’s socialist ideas were “pie-in-the-sky” proposals that were not realistic. She also felt that many of his male supporters were outright sexists. In reality, Clinton was upset that Sanders had the audacity to challenge her. However, without the unfair help of the Democratic National Committee, Clinton may have actually lost the nomination to the Vermont socialist.

For good measure, Hillary also blamed the press, the Russians, and the Democratic National Committee for her loss. She does not spare her opponent, Donald Trump, who she likened to a “creep” because he loomed over her during the second presidential debate.

While this experience may be cathartic for Clinton, it is also an exercise in pure fantasy. The main person responsible for Hillary Clinton’s loss can be found the next time she looks in the mirror.

Hillary Clinton is a robotic, inauthentic, lying politician who was tainted by corruption and did not relate to average Americans on a variety of crucial economic issues. If she did a better job of campaigning and presenting her ideas she may have won. Instead of admitting that truth, she cast blame in many other directions. While it may make her feel better, in actuality, it is just another Hillary Clinton lie.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

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In a hectic world, millions of Americans enjoy the pastime of watching football on the weekends. It is a nice distraction from the pressures of everyday life, and sports has become a big enough business that CBS, NBC and Fox all have their own dedicate sports channels – and ABC’s parent company has a whole network of channels under the ESPN umbrella. Unfortunately, it is becoming more difficult to just enjoy a game any longer as, sadly, politics has entered the world of sports in a big way. This season, NFL players are continuing to protest police brutality and racial discrimination by sitting, kneeling or giving a “black power” salute during the National Anthem. This has infuriated patriotic Americans who view these protests as disrespectful toward their country. It is no doubt a contributing factor toward the declining ratings of the NFL this season.

As NFL ratings have deteriorated, one television network that is particularly suffering is ESPN. In the heyday of cable television, ESPN was considered one of the star networks. It featured great sports programming, compelling hosts and powerful interviews with athletes.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the network has turned away from strictly sports programming and transformed into a bastion of political correctness. Several weeks ago, the network made the asinine decision to remove Robert Lee, an Asian, from his position as broadcaster of a University of Virginia football game. The geniuses at the network believed that the broadcaster would be ridiculed for sharing the same name as, Heaven forbid, Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Instead, it was ESPN that was universally mocked for believing such a ridiculous move “felt right.”

Last week a new controversy has engulfed the troubled network. One of their daily show hosts, Jemele Hill, launched a nasty Twitter tirade against President Trump labeling him a “white supremacist,” an “idiot,” and a “moron.” For good measure, she also claimed that those surrounding the President, presumably including African American HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, were also white supremacists.

After an outcry, the network met with Hill and released a weak statement calling her comments “inappropriate.” She was not suspended, fired or even censured. In fact, Hill did not even apologize for her outrageous and inaccurate comments. In a statement Hill only expressed “regret” that her comments “painted ESPN in an unfair light.”

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that Hill’s remarks were a “fireable” offense.  On Friday, in response to additional questions on the topic, Huckabee Sanders noted that ESPN is very inconsistent in how it treats their personalities who make political statements. In 2016, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was fired by ESPN for an online post protesting laws allowing transgender individuals the right to use the bathrooms of their choice.

Thus, at ESPN, a conservative sports commentator was fired for expressing his political views on social media, whereas a liberal host was allowed to viciously insult the President and his advisers and retain her high paying position. This type of bias is certainly understood by ESPN viewers and is surely one reason why millions of Americans are “cutting the cord.”

In a Fox News interview, Schilling labeled Hill a “racist” and said that ESPN and its parent company, Disney, support “liberal racism.” Clearly Schilling is right and the President agrees as well. On Friday morning, he tweeted that ESPN was “paying a really big price” for their liberal political views. He also noted that customers were “dumping” ESPN in massive numbers and demanded that the network “apologize” for the “untruth” of calling him a white supremacist.

This criticism fell on deaf ears at ESPN, which did nothing. Hill continues to host her show and the network’s liberal bias will not be changing anytime soon. As a result, it is time for more Americans to boycott the network. If people want political commentary, there are much better networks to watch than ESPN. While those looking for strictly sports programming will have to switch channels as well.

The ESPN of today is a poor imitation of the network that was a cable television trailblazer. Sadly, it turned to liberal advocacy and decided to insult viewers of different political viewpoints.

Ideally, ESPN should offer viewers an escape from ongoing political debates. The network should be solely focused on sports coverage. Until ESPN returns to its core mission, the reason for its existence in the first place, viewers should stay away.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: Boycott ESPN appeared first on The Hayride.

For most of their 50 years, the New Orleans Saints have been a losing professional football franchise. It took 20 years for the team to make the playoffs and other another 13 years to secure their first playoff victory. It took 42 years for the team to finally win the Super Bowl.

Through the suffering, the great New Orleans Saints fans have remained loyal to their beloved team. However, that loyalty is being threatened by the actions of selfish players and the inappropriate comments of the Saints ownership and Head Coach Sean Payton.

Last Friday night, in a rally in Huntsville, AL, President Trump blasted NFL players for disrespecting the National Anthem. He called on NFL owners to fire any player who refused to stand for the National Anthem. Instead of following his advice, owners backed the actions of over 200 players who disrespected the National Anthem on Sunday.

Among the protesters were ten Saints players, who sat during the National Anthem. In another gesture surely aimed at President Trump, Saints Wide Receiver Brandon Coleman raised his fist in the air after a touchdown. This black power salute brought back uncomfortable memories of the 1960’s Black Panthers terrorist organization, not exactly what fans want to see in the end zone on a Sunday afternoon.

The Saints organization did not discipline any of the players, instead team management criticized Donald Trump. In a prepared statement, the Saints called the President’s criticism of the National Anthem protesters “disappointing and inappropriate.” The team also supported the players and stated that they “should be allowed to share or express their feelings.”

On Friday, team owner Tom Benson issued a statement offering “support and resources” to help resolve the “issues of social injustice.” Benson did not identify what demands the players are making or the type of bias being faced by millionaire Saints players, who make more each week than the average American family earns in a year.  Are the players protesting police misconduct or treatment of minorities in America? Certainly, pampered NFL players are not the victims of discrimination, so it is unclear what the players are protesting. Is it police conduct or treatment of minorities in America? Or is it just an anti-Trump protest?

To make matters worse, Coach Payton questioned the wisdom of President Trump and said he was “dividing the country.” Last year, Payton made headlines for anti-Second Amendment comments in the aftermath of the murder of former Saints player Will Smith. In fact, the Coach praised “England, where even the cops don’t have guns.”

Sean Payton is the most successful head coach in the history of the New Orleans Saints. He led his team to the playoffs five times, including one NFC championship and one glorious Super Bowl. Clearly, his mastery of his craft is unquestioned and his coaching tactics have been emulated by other NFL coaches. However, after three straight losing seasons, it might be a better idea for the coach to focus on football rather than bashing the President or advocating gun control.

After last Sunday’s game, Saints Quarterback Drew Brees spoke in favor of standing for the National Anthem, but criticized the President’s comments. For this Sunday’s game, Brees announced that the players will first kneel in unison and then stand for the National Anthem. According to Brees, this compromise will “show respect to all,” but, in actuality, it will only perpetuate this divisive protest movement, which has never been clearly explained.

All of these political comments and protests are having negative ramifications for the Saints. Several Louisiana legislators are now questioning the funding the team receives from the state budget. Benson, the billionaire owner, who is the richest man in Louisiana, has received over $165 million in state benefits, including an extensive renovation of the Louisiana Superdome and the annual payment of office rent at his building in downtown New Orleans.

Rather than bankroll a billionaire, legislators have identified more pressing needs in Louisiana such as infrastructure, coastal restoration and higher education. If Saints players continue to be disrespectful toward symbols of our country, and receive support from coaches and management, it may be difficult to convince legislators to continue the subsidies.

If the anthem protests don’t immediately stop, both the NFL and the New Orleans Saints are threatening their solid support base among loyal fans. Already there are signs that the Saints have crossed a line with local fans. For example, a Slidell, Louisiana Mardi Gras Krewe has rescinded an invitation for two players to serve as Grand Marshals in the next parade.

In Chalmette, Louisiana, the management of WOW Café and Wingery announced that the restaurant will not air Saints games for their patrons until the players start showing appropriate reverence for the National Anthem.

While it might not be a full-scale fan revolt, the negative reaction is unprecedented in the annals of Saints history. As some Saints fans burn their jerseys, others are selling their tickets online and promising not to attend another game. Overall, the team has lost 20,000 “likes” on their Facebook page, which is significant for Saints fans are die-hard supporters. Even during the 1980 season, in which the Saints finished 1-15, fans still attended the games, but with bags over their head.

Unless corrective action is taken, the Saints are on the verge of destroying the tremendous loyalty and support among fans that has been developed over 50 years. This is all being threatened due to the ill-advised actions and comments of the entire organization, not just the ten players who sat during the National Anthem.

For the remainder of the season, all players should stand for the National Anthem and show proper respect to not only a country that has given them so much. It will also properly recognize the fans who served in the military and made sacrifices that have guaranteed all Americans the right to enjoy our God given constitutional freedoms.

All Saints fans are the “customers” of the team and no group has been more long suffering and loyal. These people deserve better treatment from the organization. The fans need to be respected first and foremost. Unfortunately, the Saints, in a bid to show solidarity with a protest movement, have forgotten their fan base. Let’s hope and pray they come to their senses.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

The post CROUERE: The Saints vs. The Fans appeared first on The Hayride.

Hillary Clinton refuses to accept reality and is desperately trying to cling to political relevance. She has enjoyed a lifetime of political privilege as a First Lady, a United States Senator, a Secretary of State and a presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Sadly, she was awarded all of these prestigious positions because of her husband, not due to her own merit.

On her own, Hillary Clinton is a disastrous loser. In fact, she is the most famous two-time presidential loser in U.S. history who should have received a clear message from the American people. The voters of this country do not want her to be President of the United States.

In 2008, she lost the Democratic Party nomination to an unknown and unproven United States Senator. In 2016, as the infamous email disclosure proved, Clinton was the beneficiary of a corrupt Democratic Party nomination process. Despite having a Democratic National Committee giving her every advantage, and CNN giving her advance notice of debate questions, Hillary Clinton barely defeated an elderly socialist Senator for her party’s nomination. In the general election, she lost the presidency to a political novice, Donald Trump, who was facing incredible disadvantages.

Clearly, Hillary Clinton cannot move past her election loss and will not “go quietly into that good night.” She is a bitter loser, who is mad at the world and especially livid at the American people. As part of her media tour promoting her new book, “What Happened,” Hillary was recently interviewed for the Irish television program, “Late, Late Show.” Hillary claimed that the loss was “excruciating.” She admitted that she did not even prepare a concession speech and that the loss left her in a “state of shock.”

Obviously, Hillary and her campaign team were overconfident. They believed the phony polls and the false praise from the leftist media. They were facing a candidate, who was derided as former reality television star and was being destroyed on a daily basis by a hostile media.

While Clinton had a united Democratic Party supporting her, Trump had to deal with a divided Republican Party. In the campaign, Hillary spent almost twice as much money as Donald Trump and was advised by an experienced team of professionals, as well as her husband, who was elected President of the United States twice.

Despite his many disadvantages, Trump handily defeated Clinton in the Electoral College, winning 304 votes in 30 states. While Hillary can claim to have won the popular vote, she knows she lost the electoral vote in a landslide. It is no surprise that in her non-stop quest for attention after her defeat, Hillary has proposed an array of radical ideas such as abolishing the Electoral College.

Such a drastic change would move the United States from a constitutional republic toward a direct democracy. Sorry Hillary, the Founding Fathers brilliantly created a country that has not only survived, but prospered, in the last 241 years. It would be foolhardy to change how this country elects Presidents just because one loser is angry.

She told the Irish interviewer that in the days after the election, she would regularly “scream into the pillow.” Hillary felt that by losing to such an unconventional candidate, she not only “let my country down,” but she also “let the world down.”

In reality, many world leaders were probably overjoyed not to have to deal with Hillary Clinton as President. Certainly, they witnessed her horrible record as Secretary of State, the scandalous international fundraising activities of the Clinton Foundation and her lifetime record of corruption, including a FBI investigation into her e-mail communications.

By losing, Hillary did the American people and the world a huge favor. In contrast, she feels that the world is just heartbroken that she lost. Thus, she mistakenly believes that everyone is anxiously awaiting her comments on the major news stories of the day. For example, in the aftermath of the horrific Las Vegas massacre, Clinton condemned the National Rifle Association and called for more gun control, what a surprise!

She incorrectly claimed that “if the shooter had a silencer” the number of deaths in the Las Vegas shooting would have been much higher. Wrong Hillary, even the liberal political watchdog organization Politifact noted that “Our research shows that a suppressor would not have made a difference in the Las Vegas case, because of the positioning of the weapons and because of the distance of the shooter from the crowd.”

Once again, Hillary Clinton is embarrassingly wrong. Surely Democrats must be tired of her attempts to remain in the political spotlight. Republicans must be hoping that Hillary is laying the groundwork to run for President in 2020. For the GOP, Hillary Clinton is the gift that keeps giving.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

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