Author: Juan B

Trump Could Win If…

Bandolero has to admit that Donald Trump is his own worst enemy. He may think the Democrats in general, and Pelosi, Schumer, and Schiff in particular, and Bloomberg and Cuomo, along with the MSM (Main Stream Media) and Hollywood elite, are his worst enemies; but, he actually does more harm to himself than they do. Notwithstanding all of that harm, President Trump has golden opportunities (oportunidades de oro) coming up with which to show people why they need to vote for him on November 3. To take advantage of these opportunities, however, he will need to make a fundamental shift in how he projects himself. Instead of harping in his typical Twitter fashion about how nasty the Dems have been toward him and crowing about how great he is and how he was ahead of everybody when he closed our borders to travelers from China when COVID reared its ugly head, he needs to take to heart the criticism that he doesn’t present a “presidential” persona. The first thing he needs to do is get lessons on how to do that. He won’t be able to succeed at such a transformation without expert help. Most of the lessons should focus on how to replace narcissism with substance.

Next, he has plenty of room to talk about how the Democrats, instead of doing the jobs they were elected to do in Washington to improve the condition of the country and its citizens, subverted their constituent’s interests in order to oppose everything he tried to accomplish and wasted their time trying to remove him from office, first by trying to advance their lie about Russian collusion and then by trying to impeach him on “trumped” up charges. He can easily make the case that, had the Democrats instead used that misdirected and vindictive time and effort to work with him for the benefit of the country, the country would be a lot better off now. He needs to understand, however, that he can’t win the case with his ego and narcissistic personality. He has to make the case with a presidential demeanor.

On George Stephanopoulos’ recent Sunday morning show voters who voted for Trump in 2016 said they might not or would not vote for him this time because of his personality. Biden’s campaign is making the argument that Trump failed to “grow into the office” of the president, and evidence suggests it could be a successful argument. Bandolero himself has been disappointed with Trump’s failure to do so. Trump needs to understand that he can keep the support of Bandolero and his base on the strength of his positions without having to make a show of his ego-driven narcissistic personality. In order for him to regain enough women and suburban and possibly even under 30 voters, as well as many of Bandolero’s followers, to take the election he has to reign in that ego, confess that it has at times been counterproductive, project a professional and presidential persona, and emphasize the good things that can be accomplished in a second term if the people will, by their votes, show that they disapprove of the dilatory, vindictive and counter-productive time and energy the Democrats wasted by doing nothing during his first term but try to undermine his efforts, instead of doing their jobs. It’s a perfectly reasonable, rational and convincing proposition that if the Democrats would turn their efforts to helping the country instead of undermining him, he would be able to work with them to accomplish great things for the United States. By voting for Trump, the electorate will get that message across to the Democrats and, possibly, save the country from either socialism or anarchy, not to mention saving the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Right to Protest

In light of recent events, Bandolero believes we should take a look at the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It’s amazing how much can be said with so few words!

It has lately been repeatedly said that protesters were exercising their First Amendment rights. Apparently, it is asserted that a “protest” is covered by “freedom of speech”. Bandolero doesn’t see that. A protest seems more appropriately to fall under “petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. In either case, Bandolero cannot find any right to pillage and vandalize property, nor any right to stop traffic, nor any right to throw water bottles and other projectiles at police, nor any right to assault and batter people. Nevertheless, all of these are being embraced as forms of “protest” protected by the First Amendment. It appears that they have overlooked the word “peaceably”. Or, perhaps, they have re-defined the word “peaceably” so that all of those activities are now considered to be peaceful. Bandolero shakes his head in dismay and disappointment. No, they are not peaceful.

Bandolero wonders if there’s any difference between a “protest” and a “demonstration”. In the 1960’s, large gatherings and marches were usually referred to as demonstrations; participants were demonstrators. Their purpose was to publicize things the demonstrators considered to be violations of the rights of, or injustices committed against, certain people, usually black people although native Americans got quite a number of demonstrations. Generally, the demonstrations were done “peaceably”, and served to petition the government for redress of grievances. The recent “protests”, on the other hand, have served to display outrage and express the sentiment, “I’m not going to take it any more!” That may amount to a form of petition for redress. However, there is no Constitutional right to petition for redress by breaking windows, spraying graffiti, throwing hard objects, looting, or assaulting; nor are such activities covered by freedom of speech. They aren’t speech, they are crimes; although, listening to some of the protesters, they seem to be asserting that the commission of a crime is a form of speech. Hmm, Bandolero may need to review his legal history, as he can’t recall whether burning draft cards and/or the flag was finally decided to be a form of speech protected by the First Amendment! Still, those would be victimless crimes, at least! We heard several talking heads assert that the destruction of a few small businesses and the beatings of a few innocent civilians was a small price to pay in relation to the bigger picture of protesting systemic racism in America. As if they never heard the phrase “slippery slope”.

Recently, large noisy rancorous in-your-face antagonistic car-bombing store-looting gatherings of people have been referred to as protests rather than as demonstrations; the talking heads being quick to assert that the violence was insignificant. It seems that the purpose of this shift in terminology serves the purpose of bringing uncivil activities within the scope of what is protected by the First Amendment. This is both unfortunate and dangerous. Nevertheless, it can be seen as an element of the left’s strategy to expand the First Amendment and bring illegal activities within its scope. Bandolero, for one, will continue to oppose this strategy. The First Amendment, and all provisions of the Constitution, must be preserved and protected, not re-defined into meaningless slogans to fit the political correctness of the moment.

Kudos to Kansas

On June 3, 2020, the Kansas Legislature convened in a special session to pass a bipartisan version of the Emergency Powers resolution that was previously sent to Governor Laura Kelly.  The new version, House Bill 2054, prevents the Governor from using emergency powers to seize ammunition or limit the sale of firearms during a declared state of emergency, including for Covid-19.  Governor Kelly said she will support the measure.

Other states and municipalities have taken advantage of “emergency powers” to limit or prohibit sales of firearms and ammunition, brushing aside the Second Amendment of the Constitution. If that’s deemed permissible, then it would be permissible to use “emergency powers” to nullify any other Constitutional guarantees. In fact, it has been used to supersede the First Amendment which prohibits the free exercise of religion. Churches have been prohibited from holding services. It appears that some leaders believe that “emergency powers” can nullify both the First and Second Amendments, without consulting, or obtaining the consent of, We The People.

We are in dangerous times. Be assured that Bandolero will continue to champion the Constitution, its Amendments, and the Bill of Rights. These fundamental precepts of our country were never intended to apply only when convenient, nor without sacrifice. Thousands have sacrificed their lives to protect them and to assure that they prevail over all who would attack or subvert them. Have the people become so complacent that they are no longer willing to stand in support of them? Not El Bandolero! He will always stand in support of our precious rights!