Donald Trump has historically high unfavorable ratings for a president. He is still president. He seems to be having a good time, although I know he is missing his golf courses during this government shutdown.

Nancy Pelosi is so unpopular that every Republican campaign ad or policy position promises not to be “like Nancy Pelosi.” She retook her position as Speaker of the House last week. She seemed pretty happy about it.

Paul Ryan had a 12 percent approval rating when he left the office Speaker Pelosi now holds. He certainly isn’t going to spend the rest of his life penniless and hopeless because he isn’t well liked.

When Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced she was running for president in 2020, the storylines immediately turned to how “unlikeable” she is. In an effort to be likable, Warren is featuring her lovable dog at media events and having a beer with her Instagram followers.

America is a funny place. The most hated people are running the show and somehow people think Warren not being easy to like is a problem for her campaign.

Honestly, her biggest problem is being a woman. I have never met Senator Warren. She is obviously a very smart and successful person. But it was true when I ran campaigns in the early 1990s and it is only slightly less true now, many people – not just men – have an issue with a woman who has authority and asserts it. The problem is amplified when these women challenge a man.

Society has come a long way in its view on women, but there is still a strong negative reaction anytime a woman fills the traditional male role. That is changing, but change takes time.

Donald Trump was considered tough when he bullied 16 other Republican candidates out of the race. If Warren or Hillary Clinton did and said the same things, they would be called shrill or harsh. People would tell them to smile more.

When I ran a state senate campaign for a woman, an older gentleman in Tuttle, Oklahoma, told me he wouldn’t vote for “some power hungry (word that rhymes with something you would scratch.)” That guy is probably dead now, but his ideas aren’t.

That was 1992. You heard the same thing about Clinton in 2016 and you’ll hear it again about Warren and Pelosi and any other woman elected to office who chooses to see herself as an equal to the elected men instead of smiling in the background of press conferences while the big tough men talk to the press.

But I don’t think likability is going to be what keeps Warren from winning the presidency in 2020. That race will be complicated.

It is possible – although unlikely – that Donald Trump could be removed from office due to criminal indictments or impeachment. I would hope that isn’t the platform of any Republican hoping to run in his place or Democrat hoping for a different opponent.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is on pace to wrap up in 2024 as Trump leaves office after a second term – should he win re-election in 2020.

You can already see men like Sen. Mitt Romney, retired Sen. Jeff Flake and Ohio Gov. John Kasich who have left the official Trump mutual admiration society. Romney’s niece, GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel – who gave up the Romney name to please the president – came to Trump’s defense when Romney called him a man of low character who hasn’t risen to the office in his two years in the White House. McDaniel said last Wednesday that her uncle was out of line. In return, Trump tweeted effusive praise for McDaniel Thursday. That is what Trump wants. This is a president who starts each cabinet meeting with members taking turns praising him in various ways. Dissent is not allowed in new America.

While likability isn’t going to stop Warren from winning the White House. Dissent won’t be the big issue either.

I think she is too well-known. Barring a GOP disaster scenario, the Democrats will be choosing someone to run against Trump. Hillary Clinton couldn’t beat him before he was an incumbent. I don’t think Warren could either, now that he is.

This isn’t just a female issue either. Joe Biden won’t win that race. Biden became more beloved after he and Barack Obama left office. He has even been featured in cute memes. Biden missed his chance in 2016. That was when he had his best shot. He is four years older and four years removed from the public eye. I don’t think he comes back around and sweeps Trump out of the White House.

I’m sure Biden, Warren and Bernie Sanders are the betting favorites to win the top of the ticket for the Democrats in 2020, but none of them could come close to picking up electoral votes that Clinton lost.

If the Democrats are to have a real chance against an entrenched Trump who is “unpopular” but enjoys a rock solid base, the winner will be someone who is the answer to a trivia question you don’t know yet.

There were great candidates in Texas for Senate, and Florida and Georgia for Governor. However, all of them lost. They are far enough outside of the mainstream to do better than the old hats, but I don’t think any of them can beat Trump. I think the nominee who can get the win will rise through the newly seated Congress. It needs to be someone new who can accomplish something of their own and still take on the president successfully on other issues.

It’s a longshot, but anytime you try to beat an incumbent, it’s a longshot.

Kent Bush is publisher of Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star and can be reached at kent.bush@news-star.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Likability isn’t important, electability is

Last week, Netflix had to issue a statement urging people not to take part in “The Bird Box Challenge.”

In a nod to the Medusa story in Greek mythology, the horror movie centers on people who have to live blindfolded to keep from seeing creatures that otherwise would drive them insane.

Apparently, real-life folks are imitating the movie by trying to operate blindfolded in real spaces, then posting the videos online. You can guess how trying to drive or walk down a flight of stairs while blindfolded might end.

Last year, Proctor & Gamble had to warn people not to eat Tide Pods.

Who has to be told such a thing? Apparently people looking to become Kardashian-famous.

In years past, there has been the Ingesting Cinnamon Challenge, the Ghost Chili Challenge and the Setting-Yourself-on-Fire Challenge, all of which seem to have the common thread of causing irreparable harm to yourself while your friends laugh.

Bobby Soxers to Beatles

Now, we know that fads are as old as popular culture itself. Every generation has its goofy, quirky moments in which people get caught up doing or wearing things that make no sense.

In the 1920s, it was flag-pole sitting, dance marathons, wing-walking and girls bobbing both their hair and their hemlines.

In the 1940s, “Bobby Soxers” cried and swooned over Frank Sinatra. They grew up to be parents bewildered at the spectacle of their daughters screaming the house down over the Beatles.

In the 1970s, people were late for class because they couldn’t navigate hallways and stairs within three minutes; not while wearing platform shoes.

How is it we’re rarely champing at the bit these days to imitate good stuff?

Remember when all everyone wanted to do was “pay it forward?”

When we embrace good fads, the results can be amazing. In 2014, for instance, the Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) research.

There’s camaraderie in being part of a fad, no matter how silly it might seem to others. Why else did ordinarily rational folks push and shove to get their hands on Cabbage Patch Dolls and Beanie Babies?

What other reason could there be for people who don’t practice yoga to pay $50 for yoga pants?

Baker’s dozens

But wouldn’t it be nice if we endeavored to imitate those who try in all sincerity to live out the tenets of their faith or personal principles? If we tried to pattern ourselves more after those who are kind, who volunteer in their communities, who serve in the military out of sheer love of country?

Last week, after Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield was fined $10,026 by the NFL for allegedly making an obscene gesture at one of his coaches, some fans started a GoFundMe account to pay for it. But Mayfield, who can well afford to pay the fine himself, said he wants the raised money to go to Providence House, a Cleveland-based charity.

While we don’t need more people making obscene gestures, it was a smart way to get fans to follow his lead in doing something good for others.

How much better could America be if we all challenged ourselves to be more thoughtful, more encouraging to one another and less confrontational?

Admittedly, none of the above has quite the sex appeal of staggering through the woods while blindfolded or ingesting laundry detergent.

But it’s worth thinking about. 

Reach Charita M. Goshay at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Let’s try to imitate good stuff

The new year, 2019, is upon us.

What did you do on New Year's Eve? Did you host a party or small get together, or attend a party that had games, singing, dancing? Did you take a New Year's Eve cruise out in Destin Harbor or run down to Walt Disney World to celebrate? Or did you stay home and watch movies as a family?

When we lived in other states we would attend a New Year's Eve reflection service, which was a church service followed by dinner and games.

The service was a time to reflect on the previous year, to allow sorrows and pain to be put into the past, to remember the joyous moments we had throughout the year and look forward to the gifts the Lord has planned for the new one.

Of course, we will always miss our loved ones and think of the joy they brought into our lives, but for those of us who are Christians, we have the hope of heaven and reuniting one day with our beloved family and friends.

I choose to make better choices this year. This includes a choice to eat more vegetables, which I enjoy; to exercise more; to train Abigail, our collie, to spend more time in the yard.

I also would like to spend more time in prayer and in the Scriptures, and to share Christ with those who need His loving salvation. Sending cards to those who can't get around much is also on my heart. We all have different gifts we can use to be kind to others.

What would you like to do better in 2019? Do you have certain areas in your life you want to improve?

Let's also make the time to look for those everyday miracles we each have. Do you look for the blessings that God gives and thank him?

I find comfort in the fact that the Lord gives us a fresh start each year. We can make better choices than we made last year. We have the opportunity to deliberately make different decisions and to do better in our lives.

Welcome 2019! We can't wait for all the possibilities you have in store to be unfolded.

Also, here's a safety tip to consider: Change your smoke detector batteries throughout your house.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: I plan to make better choices in this new year

1. It was another safe year for air travel. One Delta Air Lines jet did slide off the runway, but Delta made up the recovery cost by charging the passengers an exhilaration fee.

2. The Atlanta Braves had a surprisingly good season. They did not beat any attendance records, but at one game 40,000 fans showed up for Free 9-Millimeter Handgun Night.

3. The hyper-political embarrassments from the Obama Administration, James Comey, James Clapper and John Brennan, continued to undermine President Trump. They bragged that they "got" Osama bin Laden, which is true. Government ran an international manhunt for bin Laden for years; then someone came up with the bright idea: "Hey, let's go look to see if he is in his house."

4. Elizabeth Warren will not be getting an Indian casino license. Her epic embarrassment was claiming that her DNA test showing her to be 1/1000 Native American made her affirmative action hire justified. This is the woman who railed against the high cost of college while she taught one class at Harvard and got paid $300,000 a year. Even in the Senate, she made over $1 million last year. So, under Trump, she is doing even better financially.

5. France remained snooty toward the U.S. as its middle class rose up to burn Paris because of the damage done to them by out-of-touch liberal policies. The French showed no respect to the U.S., which has bailed them out of every war they surrendered in (basically, all of them). It was a  teachable moment. If a cowardly country is helped out of being invaded, it will always remember you—the next time it is invaded. The French military have the only Swiss Army knife with a corkscrew.

6. The supposedly "tolerant" left continues to show intolerance of opposing views. Conservatives were harassed out of restaurants. Former Governor  Mike Huckabee’s daughter,  White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, was chased out of the Red Hen Restaurant. What sort of country have we become when a Sanders is kicked out of a restaurant named after a chicken? Obama’s spokesmen always ate at Burger King because it is the Home of the Whopper.

7. Ex-Fox News head Bill Shine became Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. Fox had a great formula: smart women in short dresses reading right-of-center news. For years they made more money than anyone and slept with folks at work all the time. Say what you will, but no one was ever late to work back then.

8. The left tried to sabotage Justice Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. The left was madder than MSNBC’s news room on President’s Day. It’s gotten to where now a Justice’s Senate confirmation hearing is like a fight with your wife. Everything you ever did or she thought you did ends up being criticized and thrown in your face.   

9. For some reason, monopolistic institutions tilt left over time, as it is with our current Pope.  He speaks out against capitalism and a border wall from behind the walls of the Vatican.  We love the Pope but hope he avoids political ideology. Remember, the Gospels are not Matthew, Marx, Luke and John.

10. Evangelicals stuck with Trump in spite of his personal foibles. They’d rather go to a church with a guitar player than vote for a coastal liberal. They like Trump’s policies and overlook the man. Religion has become a modern-day interpretation of the Bible: God did, indeed, create Heaven and Earth, but after that pretty much everything else has been made in China.

11. Hemp essentially got legalized in the Farm Bill about the same time Japan announced creation of a beer that is 100% alcohol-free. That’s bananas.  No one drinks beer for the taste. Drinking beer for its taste is like growing pot for its shade.

12. The country is not as divided on issues as are the politicians who bicker constantly along party lines. Republican and Democrat politicians argue so much that they seem like parents trying to raise their kids (America) while going through a nasty divorce. As Donald Trump’s team found out with all the dishonest prosecutions of them by the "Deep State," it's best not to get too close to Washington for the same reason you do not get too close to the baboon cage at the zoo.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: A Look Back at 2018

Did you get the gifts you desired for Christmas? Did your family get their dream gifts?

It is easy to focus on our immediate family and friends, but perhaps more difficult to think of those who are elderly or shut-ins. Many times, the elderly in our family and churches don't have anyone to visit them.

This week is generally fairly quiet for most of us. It would be a nice time to take some banana, cranberry or pumpkin bread, either store bought or homemade, and go visiting.

Many of us have elderly relatives that get few visitors. What better time than Christmas and the New Year to visit?

I would call and see what days and times suit them for you to visit; some may prefer to have you take them to a restaurant for a cup of coffee or tea rather than visiting in their home.

If you have no relatives to visit, call your church office. There are certainly church members who are shut-ins that would enjoy a visit. There are also people in our assisted living and nursing homes that would love visits. Just check with the staff to find out who would like some company and hours to go there. 

I would bring a small gift. Items such as a tube of lip balm, a small hand cream, hand sanitizer, warm, fuzzy socks, an assortment of teas, or other useful things would be appreciated. Ask the staff of the home you decide to visit what is most wanted or needed.

As we look forward to the new year, do you have any changes planned? Do you want to live a healthier lifestyle, with less processed foods in your diet, more fresh fruits and vegetables? Do you want to spend more time exercising, connecting with friends or learning something new? Begin planning now so that you can start off the year successfully.

The Bible states in Isaiah 43:14, "Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past."

We are looking forward to 2019 and the challenges and blessings ahead.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Looking forward to kindness in the new year

As you saw in part one, there is still so much going on, in and around the bowl games. We have coaches staying with the team until after the bowl game, who then go off to coach another college; and student players transferring to other colleges. 

All the professional sports people are calling all the games very close, other than the college football playoffs. There is a very large win gap in many games. Here are the rest of the Bowl Games.

DEC. 31

Military Bowl: Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Virginia Tech Hokies, Annapolis, Maryland. Tech is one of the few 6-6 teams to make it to a bowl.For this one, they wish they would have stayed home. Bears by 13.

Sun Bowl: Stanford Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Panthers, El Paso, Texas. This is going to be a hard fight, and the Panthers come out with a mouth full of feathers. Pittsburgh by 10.

Liberty Bowl: Missouri Tigers vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys, Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, Cowboys taste good at this time of the year. Tigers by 13.

Gator Bowl: North Carolina State Wolfpack vs. Texas A&M Aggies, Jacksonville. It's the Aggies all day long by 19.

JAN. 1

Outback Bowl: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Iowa Hawkeyes, Tampa. There are many reasons to pick the Hawkeyes to win, but they have never been up against a bunch of mad Bulldogs. Bulldogs by 9.

Citrus Bowl: Kentucky Wildcats vs. Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions, Orlando. Both teams are 9-3. Anyone in their right mind would pick Penn State to win. So, what am I thinking? Lions by 3.

Fiesta Bowl: Louisiana State University Tigers vs. University of Central Florida Knights, Glendale, Arizona. Sorry to say that UCF, the Cinderella team, will end the longest winning streak. Unfortunately, there are way too many odds against them. It’s LSU. Oh what the heck, I love this team and they are underdogs. Knights by 2.

Rose Bowl: Washinton Huskies vs. Ohio State Buckeyes, Pasadena, California. The coach is gone from the Buckeyes. Huskies by 6.

Sugar Bowl: Texas Longhorns vs. Georgia Bulldogs, New Orleans, Louisiana. Talk about some Mad Dawgs, here they are, by 21+.

JAN. 7

College Football Playoff Championship: Santa Clara, California. Who’s in? My pick is Alabama vs. Clemson, with another win for Alabama by 3.

Happy New Year!

Bill Everett is a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He lives in Baker.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Here's the college football playoff and bowl games schedule, part 2

What is the result of years of leftist, nanny-state rule? It has hurt the middle class, and eventually there are riots like we see now in France. French President Macron’s woes should serve as a warning to America’s rising Left.

Through a series of arrogant, tax-and-spend "social justice" laws, gas in France now costs $6.59 a gallon. I recently spent just $1.87 a gallon in Chattanooga, and that had about 50 cents of tax in it.  "Greedy" Exxon, which drills for the oil, refines it into gasoline and brings it to the pump (i.e., provides it) makes 7 cents a gallon, which the feds also tax as profit. So who is really the greedy one?

With U.S. private market leadership, the cost of oil is now down to about $50 per barrel. I’d pay that just for the barrel.

Over the weekend, 89,000 police officers were deployed by the embattled French government  to combat 136,000 or so middle-class protestors — for the fourth consecutive week. An estimated 250,000 protestors took to the streets on November 17th.  Like the French military in history, they tend to start off with a lot of bravado then quickly give up.

They are called “yellow vest” protestors because they wear the yellow vest the French government mandates that they carry in their cars. The actual root of the problem is that the government really should not be telling the French what to wear. Such self-aggrandizing, nanny-states policies never help the average person. They just grow government and taxes and reduce freedoms.

Cowardly President Macron has added to his problems by sending his Prime Minister out to take the blame. But he did raise the French alert level from the usual “run” to now “hide.”

The issues President Macron of France has with the proletariat uprising are why Donald Trump won in America. The Democrat Party, while saying they are "for the working middle class," are in reality a group of pious, self-serving, coastal elites who have done little for the “little people” they purport to help. Tax and regulate a big company?  It lays off workers and leaves town. Almost all leftist policies have the opposite intended effect. Arrogant and out of touch socialist-lite politicians have been on the rise in France, as they now are in America. The result: damage to the average citizen. These protests in France are good.

Keep in mind, the climate change champion and Teen Beat Magazine cover -looking Macron is said by our own leftist media to be very popular. Who would know that Macron had a 23% favorability rating before all this and that the evil Donald Trump has almost double that? Not anyone watching CNN International or any news one might see on the color TV or in print.

We are different from France in so many ways. A Psychology Today study says Americans work long 40-hour-plus weeks, when even a 35-hour work week gets pushback from the French. To be fair, for them it’s about balance; there has to be equal time for work, play and mistresses.

Just the opposite of Trump, Macron married his schoolteacher, who is 24 years older than he. Trump’s wife is 24 years younger. And Macron calls himself French?

That’s probably the reason teachers in the U.S. prefer France's style of socialism. If you have sex with a student in America, you go to jail. If you do it in France, you get to marry the president.

Trump traveled to France for Bastille Day parades, only to be publicly ridiculed by the arrogant Frenchman (although that is redundant) Macron. Trump was so taken by the patriotic parade that he suggested we do the same in the U.S. The idea met  anger from the left, who fear that just one proud, pro-American parade a year might reverse the 190 days of public school "education" our kids get per year.

When Disneyland Paris shot off fireworks in celebration of Bastille Day this year, five minutes into the show France instinctively surrendered.  If the French government continues to accede to the protestors, it could be an historic first: the first time France has surrendered to France.

Obama intervened in the last French election to back the liberal Macron. Trump fought to elect the more conservative Marine Le Pen. That seems about right. It would not be a proper French war if Americans were not brought in to do all the fighting.

Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author. Contact him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Macron: Liar, liar, France on fire

One thing you grow accustomed to when living in Florida, as I do, is seeing out-of-state license plates.

The Sunshine State welcomes more than 100 million tourists annually, and around this time of year, the “snowbirds” — souls fleeing the miserable northern tundra to bask in our warmth — are arriving.

Amid that constant influx of people, I always take note of moving vans with cars in tow. The other day I noticed one from California heading south down the interstate toward Tampa. Why? Despite the earthquakes and wildfires, California supposedly has superior weather to ours. Additionally, it’s a quasi-socialist paradise that, we’re told by our betters, models our undeniable future.

So, motivated by that Californian-turned-Floridian, I queried the U.S. Census Bureau to satisfy a nagging curiosity.

In 2017, according to the government, roughly 566,000 people moved to Florida from another state. The leading feeder state, with almost 64,000, was New York. Following the Empire State was Georgia, California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. (The last three all had roughly the same number of movers, around 28,000.)

This sparked another thought about our country’s internal movement.

Considering the top five states where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump posted their largest margins of victory, in terms of total votes, a pattern emerges.

Hillary’s most overwhelming victories occurred in California, New York, Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. In 2017 each of them saw more departures than new arrivals.

Yet the opposite is true where Trump won “bigly”: Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Oklahoma. Each welcomed more newcomers than wished farewell to pilgrims.

So the next questions: Where did people in the Clinton states go? And from whence did those in the Trump states come?

Census data indicate the largest group in each exodus among Hillaryous states was as follows: from California to Texas; Illinois to Indiana; New York to Florida; Massachusetts to New Hampshire; and Maryland to Virginia.

As for the Trumpster regions, Texas took them in from California; Tennessee from Florida; Alabama from Georgia; Kentucky from Ohio; and Oklahoma from Texas.

Now, proximity obviously matters. People could be expected to stay close to where they were.

But what’s striking is that both tributaries flow into red states — although part of the Hillary group requires some clarification.

Regarding those who left Massachusetts and Maryland, it’s arguable there is little difference because both starting points and endpoints are blue states. But New Hampshire is arguably the most conservative state in New England. Over the past century, for instance, Granite Staters have elected 21 Republicans as governor, compared to six Democrats. Over the past decade, however, roughly 172,000 Massachusetts denizens moved to New Hampshire, whose overall population is 1.3 million. That could help explain New Hampshire’s recent listing to port.

As for Marylanders putting down roots in Virginia, until Barack Obama came along, Virginia had voted for the GOP presidential candidate in 10 consecutive elections. So its rising purple haze is relatively recent.

In other words, Trumpish conservative influence in New Hampshire and Virginia may be diminishing, but it’s much stronger there than in the places their new residents came from.

People in Trump country moving to red states seems rational. But the migrants opting to leave Hillaryland for potential enemy territory are more intriguing.

Take that Californian I passed on the highway. Who was he? A disaffected conservative who saw no hope or purpose in remaining in a bastion of uber-liberalism and seeking a friendlier climate? Or was he a surreptitious interloper still clinging to the ways of his homeland and hoping that one day they could be implemented in his adopted home?

As a Floridian, and in the bigger sense, a Sunbelter, I worry it might be the latter.

In recent weeks President Trump has focused attention on the risk of the immigrant caravans coming from the south. But perhaps we in the South need to be mindful of caravans fleeing Bluetopia’s high taxes, excessive government intrusion, rising cost of living and social-justice warrioring. Let’s hope they, like immigrants of yore, seek assimilation rather than proselytization.

Bill Thompson (bill.thompson@theledger.com) is the editorial page editor of The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Are interstate interlopers fleeing from a socialist utopia or trying to start blue waves?