National Security First, Bolton's Back, Trump's Tariffs, Guns Are Good

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: National Security First - President Donald Trump today signed the massive $1.3 trillion spending bill that was approved by the Senate in the wee hours of the night.  He clearly was not happy about doing so.

There are some good things in the bill.

• The Pentagon is getting a significant boost, which it needs as we stare down Iran, North Korea, Russia and China. 
• It also fully funds the largest pay raise for military personnel since 2010. 
• The Taylor Force Act, which cuts off $125 million to the Palestinian Authority due to its subsidies for terrorists who kill innocent Israelis, was included in the bill.

And there are a lot of bad things in it.  In fact, more than 20 Senate Republicans voted against it.

• Planned Parenthood is funded.
• Domestic spending increased dramatically.
• The border wall is not funded.
• There is no money for hiring additional Border Patrol agents.

Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are happy, and they should be.  It is hard to imagine how the spending bill could have been any better for the left.

I understand that major legislation in Washington is often the result of compromise.  But
Rush Limbaugh has been making the point that this spending bill is not a compromise at all.  It is, as he put it, "the Washington establishment dissolving the Trump agenda."

One of things Rush pointed out is that in the additional funding for the Pentagon, there is money to help build border walls for countries in the Middle East.  But there is no money for a wall to secure our border.  That is clearly not reflective of the president's America First agenda.

This morning, President Trump indicated that he was less than pleased.  In a tweet just before 9:00 AM, Trump declared that he was "considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill."  As you can imagine, that set the swamp creatures scrambling.

At a press conference this afternoon, the president explained the situation he faced.  Trump said:

"For the last eight years, deep defense cuts have undermined our national security. . .  They have hollowed our readiness . . . and put America at really grave risk.  My highest duty is to keep America safe.  The omnibus bill reverses this dangerous [lack of defense spending]. . .

"Therefore, as a matter of national security, I have signed this omnibus budget bill.  There are a lot of things that I am unhappy about in this bill. . . [that] we were forced [to have] if we want to rebuild our military. . .

"But I say to Congress, I will never sign another bill like this again.  I am not going to do it again."

The president again urged the Senate to get rid of the filibuster rule so the majority can govern with 51 votes.  He also called for a line-item veto.

What the president didn't say is that between Iran, Russia and North Korea, we could find ourselves in a major war at any moment.  It takes months, and in some cases years, to build and deploy new weapons systems.

Bolton's Back - President Trump announced yesterday evening that former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will replace H.R. McMaster as National Security Adviser next month.  Bolton's appointment is bad news for Iran, North Korea and Russia.

The president has now assembled a very strong team with Mike Pompeo at the State Department, Jim Mattis at the Defense Department, John Kelly as White House Chief of Staff and John Bolton as National Security Adviser.

Needless to say, the left is having fits. It has been humorous watching many of the same liberals who have accused Trump of being too weak on Russia and who have criticized him for elevating Kim Jong Un, now fretting about how much of an "ultra/extreme hawk" Bolton is.

As I noted yesterday, the left is not interested in policy.  It is only interested in creating controversy and panic.

Trump's Tariffs - As you know, President Trump hit the Chinese with $50 billion in tariffs due to their ongoing theft of our intellectual property.  Media commentators lashed out at the president for launching a trade war.

What they don't understand is that China has been waging a trade war against us for decades.  And we've been losing.  Seven million manufacturing jobs have been lost since the 1970s and more than 50,000 manufacturing plants have shut down.

The Chinese have made it part of their national policy to compromise companies that want to do business in China.  They demand to know how our products are made or they just steal the technology.  Meanwhile, the Chinese government is stepping up its infiltration of the United States, especially on our college campuses.

Finally, we have a president who is fighting back!  And he got China's attention.

Beijing announced that it is prepared to respond by targeting 128 American products with sanctions totaling $3 billion. $50 billion vs. $3 billion?  I think we win that fight.  We have the biggest market on the planet.  Where else is China going to sell its products?

At the end of the day, I don't believe President Trump wants a trade war.  I do believe he wants a better deal for American workers.  Now that the Chinese realize we are serious, let's see how the negotiations go.

Guns Are Good - The March For Our Lives takes place in Washington, D.C., tomorrow.  There will be non-stop coverage by the left-wing media as it continues to exploit the Parkland shooting in order to attack the Second Amendment.

But before the left gets too excited by the Hollywood celebs and the speeches denouncing Trump and the NRA, it might want to look at the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

According to this survey 58% of Americans agreed with the statement that gun ownership increased safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.  Just 38% felt that gun ownership reduced safety by allowing too many people to have access to firearms.

So by a 20-point margin, the American people believe that guns are good for safety.

Conservatives shouldn't be afraid of this debate.  Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell should expose the left's extremism by forcing as many Second Amendment-related votes as they can between now and November.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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