by Matthew Rosen
1. FISA Court Renew
Winner: Big Government
This week, FISA Court operations was renewed through the passage of section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act through the House and the Senate and then signed by President Trump. The Court has many problems when it comes to Fourth Amendment freedoms, as if it is permitted to gather this information from people without a warrant. The FISA Court also has a history of getting American citizens involved in this surveillance without getting a warrant from a judge proving probable cause. Therefore, its passage upholds its ability to break the Fourth Amendment and give more power to government at the expense of certain freedoms. So who wins from this? The winner is big government of course, while the losers from FISA’s passage are Freedom and the Fourth Amendment. The reason for this is that the government allowing the FISA Court to stay running means that companies like Google and Facebook are required to share their data with government agencies so that they can search through it.
2. Government Shutdown
Winner: Congressional Republicans
Most people know that the Federal government recently shut down for almost three days due to the lack of legislation to fund the government. The winners and losers for any government shutdown is usually dependant on which party is blamed. So who is to blame? Most Americans, according to the polls, do in fact blame (and should blame) the Democrats for the shutdown. While more than 90% of Republicans voted yes to the bill to fund the government (which would prevent the shutdown), only 5% of Democrats were on board. What makes the Democrats even more to blame is that they voted no solely because there was no mention of DACA in the proposed bill. Essentially, they shutdown the government for 850,000 illegals, and then voted to reopen the government on an almost identical bill almost three days later, gaining essentially nothing. With midterm elections coming up, the Congressional Democrats are the big losers. With the Dems losing political ground prior to midterms, the Congressional Republicans have to be the winners by default.
3. Immigration
Winner: Nobody
The biggest political debate occurring currently is the debate between President Trump, Congressional Republicans, and Congressional Democrats on immigration. I will cut right to the chase and say that the losers are everybody. Nobody wins from inability to compromise and make a deal. President Trump laid out a deal in which both parties get essentially what they want, as well as what is popular among the population right now. DACA is popular, but increased border security, the end of chain migration, and the diversity lottery program is as well. President Trump said he would sign a bill containing all of these things, but Congress, particularly Congressional Democrats straight up refuse to vote for this plan. Now President Trump laid out a new plan which is so dovish that it is basically a Democratic plan. While the plan should make Democrats extremely pleased as it involves legal status for 1.8 million illegals and keeps chain migration for everybody currently on the waitlist, Democrats still call the plan racist and refuse to consider it. I am personally disgusted that Democrats refuse to compromise at all despite the fact that they are in the minority. The Democrats are losers in this case because they are shown to be obstructionists and would rather play identity politics. The Republicans are also losers in this case because they can’t get comprehensive immigration reform with a majority in both Houses. Most importantly, the American people lose because none of the immigration reform that will benefit the country will get passed. The inability to compromise is frustrating and bad for all of us.
4. Russia Collusion/Memo
Winner: Republicans? Maybe? We’ll see.
Many Republicans have been believing that the FBI conspired against President Trump for over a year to push a fake Russia collusion scandal which involves Trump working with the Russians to win the 2016 presidential election. January has been a winning month for Republicans thanks to new information on FBI operations. This involves a memo regarding illegitimate FISA warrant and texts between FBI agents about taking down Trump. First, there is a memo written by Congressman Devin Nunes which supposedly reveals that the FISA warrant gained to wiretap the Trump campaign, specifically Trump campaign aide Carter Page, was solely based on a dossier and opposition research from Democrats and Fusion GPS. This would be extremely corrupt, as it would imply spying on a Presidential Candidate primarily for political means rather than legal probable cause. The second problem is the 50,000 texts between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that describe the Russian collusion scandal as an insurance policy. These texts were lost by the FBI and have yet to be found. Lastly, former FBI director Andrew McCabe just stepped down over allegations of mishandling the Hillary and Trump investigations. The Russian Collusion Scandal is a big loser, as well as the credibility of the FBI. While all of this is true, we will have to wait to see what the memo says once it is released to the public to see the facts and consequences.
5. Grammys and Fire and Fury
Winner: President Trump
Out of all the topics in this article, the 2018 Grammys is probably the biggest win for President Trump. Music stars decided to politicize another non-political event, only leading to their own downfall. The ratings for the event were down 20% from last year’s already low rated showing. This is no doubt thanks to their trashing of President Trump in such ways as praising “shithole countries” and having Hillary Clinton read the audiobook of Fire and Fury, an anti-Trump book proven to be flawed and largely incorrect. Personally, I believe the talking down to Trump based on nothing is delegitimizing everything they have to say, and people are getting sick of it. Stupid rumors of Nikki Haley and Donald Trump having an affair sparked from the book and just prove that Democrats and their media are the keepers of Fake News. Furthermore, the attacks on Nikki Haley are proving that Democrats are not pro-women, as they attack her over fabricated rumors and for defending herself. Overall, the big Democratic voices are being drowned out thanks to their incorrect rumors and baseless attacks on the President. It is clear that they all have Trump Derangement Syndrome. This will not be good for their public support, as most people are sick of the politicizing of entertainment and media as well as the unsubstantiated attacks on the President. This made Democrats look foolish, making them the losers on this topic. From my perspective, I am very happy about the Republican wins, as now we can close the gap for the midterm elections.