We'll Always Have Paris

Have you noticed that no one calls him Hitler anymore?

Infused with the magnetism of an electoral landslide, imbued with a comeback so improbable that his is now a story of raw courage worthy of Shakespeare, Donald J. Trump exudes power. Never mind that Joe Biden is still president for another six weeks. Never mind that Biden is still making speeches and giving away money — $1 billion to Africa, billions to Syria, $8.5 billion to Ukraine. As Sec of State Anthony Blinken put it, “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our displosal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20.”

When the president-elect entered the august Notre Dame Cathedral on its re-opening over the weekend, he saw respect, fascination and even fear on the faces and in the body language of world leaders assembled for the occasion. They jumped up to greet him, as if he were already president. First Lady Jill Biden’s admiring gaze led many to speculate that when she went to her polling place in Delaware Nov. 5 wearing a red pantsuit, a nod to MAGA, she voted for Trump.

For his part, Trump put the image of her gazing at him in an ad for his new line of “Fight, Fight, Fight” cologne, with a tag that said, “A Fragrance Your Enemies Can’t Resist.” For Trump, the international reception was redemption on a global scale — these are the same people who mocked him in 2017 for daring to suggest that NATO countries pay their back dues. Still, he is a troller at heart.

More than a month has passed since Donald J. Trump won the White House. Already:

• Justin Trudeau visited Mar a Lago to bend a knee, seeking a reprieve from Trump’s threatened tariffs if Canada doesn’t tighten its border. As Fox News’ Peter Doocy reported, “Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy. Trump joked to him that if Canada can't survive without ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion per year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state, with Trudeau as its governor.”

• Trump issued a warning to Hamas: Release hostages from the October 7 attack on Israel before the inauguration on Jan 20 or there will be “all hell to pay.”

• In Paris, he told both Ukraine and Russia to negotiate a peace treaty. Hundreds of thousands of people are being killed in Ukraine — and “the war needs to end,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It should've never been allowed to happen.”

On the campaign trail and in interviews since, Trump has made no secret of his agenda. Deport the illegals, starting with those who have committed crimes. Close the borders and impose tariffs on countries — Mexico, Canada, China — that don’t cooperate. Get the economy humming by restoring natural energy sources. Ban DEI, CRT and men in women’s sports from federal agencies and policies. Pardon the J6ers.

Behind the scenes at the White House, the miscreants left over from the fading legacy of Democratic rule are throwing food all over the walls, to see how messy they can make it for the man who will be sworn in next month. The Washington Times reports that these apparatchiks are obligating $5 trillion in new spending to delete pockets of money still left in the COVID stimulus package, the infrastructure law and other federal rip-offs. The message to the agencies: spend as much money as possible.

And at the corrupt Department of Justice, headquarters for the weaponization of the law by Atty Gen Merrick Garland, one attorney is so fanatical about reaching 2000 arrests for the January 6, 2021 protests at the US Capitol that he keeps charging people, nearly four years later, amid Christmas, six weeks from the inauguration.

During the Thanksgiving week, US Attorney for DC Matthew Graves had three people arrested. Four trials were to begin this week, and the government is opposing any motions to delay trials because of the need for “the prompt and efficient administration of justice.” In other words, they want convictions before pardons, so they can burnish their resumes and reputations, vicious all. The Gulag Chronicles is sponsoring a Cristmas drive to provide gifts to kids of the J6 prisoners. Donate here.

Many new details about Jan 6 cast doubt on the official story spun by that Democrats and faux Republicans like Liz Cheney. The GOP-led Oversight Subcommittee recently found that the cop who fatally shot unarmed Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, 36, was rewarded with a promotion and a $36,000 bonus. The pipe bombs left at the DNC & RNC, the denial of backup security forces by Pelosi and the TDS-infected generals at the Pentagon, the role of FBI assets in provoking the “peaceful and patriotic protests” into a riot — all this remains to be explored.

But one thing that has not changed — in fact has only strengthened as more facts roll in — is that Donald Trump plans to pardon all the J6ers once sworn in. In the face of Trump’s pledge to his voters, the DOJ’s insistence on persecuting anyone on the grounds — even if they did not breach the walls of the Capitol — is cruel and unusual.

For their part, Democrats are still reeling from the unexpected feeling of defeat.

Barack Obama is in full-meltdown mode, accusing the Republicans of trying “to stack the deck and lock in a permanent grip on power, either by actively suppressing votes, or politicizing the arms forces, or using the judiciary or criminal justice system to go after their opponents.” This is so comical one wonders about his health. It was his party that installed a candidate not nominated by the voters. It was his party that waged a relentless, 94-indictment campaign to try to put their opponent in jail. And it was his party, or anyway its supporters, who tried to assassinate Trump, twice.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who boycotted the Al Smith Dinner that raises funds for Catholic charities and told protestors yelling ‘Christ is King’ that they were “at the wrong rally,” also declined an invitation to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. In 2024, Trump won the Catholic vote in the US election by an impressive 15% margin. It’s hard to see how Kamala can run with that record in 2028.

As Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris.”