The Silence of the Donald – Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos

Here’s a line I’ve never written before: Donald Trump has spent the last couple of weeks doing smart things.

The first smart thing he’s done is shut the heck up. Trump always sounds smarter when he’s not talking. Since the debate he has shown the unusual discipline to not step on Joe Biden’s self-destruction story. He has followed the old political truism that, when your opponent is digging himself a hole, don’t take away his shovel. He’ll break his silence today with a rally near his home in South Florida. It appears to be a sort of audition for Marco Rubio as his potential running mate. So, he’ll run the risk of throwing Biden a lifeline by taking back the headlines, but you couldn’t expect this guy to stay quiet forever. He might explode.

And the second smart thing he’s done (IT’S PROBABLY THE SMARTEST THING ANY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HAS DONE IN HISTORY, I’VE HEARD MANY PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS SAY IT WAS THE SMARTEST THING BY FAR AND IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE!) is to write his own party platform intended to eliminate abortion as an issue.

Trump understands that if Biden is successful in fighting off attempts to replace him on the ticket then about the only thing that could get him reelected is the abortion issue. Ever since Roe was overturned abortion has been the one issue that delivers elections to Democrats. In fact, polls show that it’s the only issue on which Democrats have an advantage. Biden would have to hope that the election becomes a referendum on reproductive choice and not on him.

So, Trump wants to head that off by saying as little as possible about it. I’ve appended the twenty points from the platform below verbatim. It’s notable for what’s not there. No mention of abortion at all.

And the document itself is a brisk 16 pages. It’s written in clear, concise language that everyone can understand. It sounds like Trump literally wrote it himself — lots of CAPITALIZATION in inappropriate PLACES. Lots of hyperbole. In fact I’d say it has more Hyperbole BY FAR than any other Document in History and It’s Not Even Close!

There’s one other thing that is notable for its absence and that’s any reference to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blue print for a second Trump administration. Most notable in that 900 page document (no, I haven’t read it, just read about it) is a proposed ban on abortion drugs. So, if Trump were to endorse Project 2025 he’d be back in the abortion controversy, which I suppose is the main reason he’s distancing himself from it, never mind that people close to him were intimately involved in drafting it.

Here is a list of 20 things from Trump’s party platform taken verbatim (WITH CAPITALIZATION) from the document, which you can read for yourself here.

1. SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION
2. CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY
3. END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN
4. MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!
5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER
6. LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!
7. DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS
8. PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY — ALL MADE IN AMERICA
9. END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
10. STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS
11. REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.
12. STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD
13. KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY
14. FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE
15. CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS
16. CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN
17. KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS
18. DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN
19. SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP
20. UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS