There's 'normal' and then there's the 'Swamp'

FPI / March 10, 2021

For Never-Trumpers, returning to the Swamp was their goal for the past four years, according to a recent analysis, but they called it "normalcy".

"Getting back to 'normalcy' was one of the biggest Never-Trump arguments against Trump – and for Biden," a March 8 Techno Fog analysis said.

The analysis cited retired Navy Admiral William McRaven, who said that America needed a leader who would restore civility.

What McRaven was aspiring to was "the normalcy of America to fight wars everywhere in the world," the analysis said.

Michael Gerson, a George W. Bush policy advisor speechwriter responsible for the narrative that paved the U.S. entry into the Iraq War, argued that conservative support for Joe Biden was necessary because “the restoration of institutions often requires the knowledge and skills of an insider.”

A restoration of institutional normal. Is that what the nation needs?

"The institutions were damaged by the institutions well before Donald Trump became president," Techno Fog pointed out.

"The FBI and CIA were disgraced by 9/11. The FBI and CIA were further humiliated by the intelligence failures leading up to the Iraq War. Hillary Clinton’s State Department was self-dealing."

The FBI "broke laws and lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in its efforts to spy on the Trump campaign," the analysis noted.

According to the Never-Trump conservatives, "normalcy" is "platitudes and cliché," the analysis said.

It’s “healing our nation” and “respecting our allies” and “standing up to tyranny.” In other words, a return to politics <em>before</em> Trump.

And, Techno Fog asked, what was presidential (or political) normalcy before Trump?

"Insanity. Policies that were doomed to fail from the outset. Presidents and politicians that said the right words while enacting policies that made their donors rich, killed our troops, and left Americans to deal with the devastating consequences."

That included:

• A corrupt financial system that destroyed the middle class. Socialism for the bankers and capitalism for the rest of you.

• Late term and taxpayer supported abortion.

• A reckless foreign policy that has left hundreds of thousands dead and uses American troops as pawns to justify vague and ambitious US “national security interests.”

• Never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• State-approved discrimination on the basis of race.

• Corporate welfare.

• Immigration undercutting the wages of American labor.

• An unchecked opioid epidemic.

• Rising healthcare costs and rising health insurance premiums.

A Return to Normalcy = Washington as Usual

President Donald Trump’s rhetoric "was especially jarring" because the elite conservatives and Never-Trumpers "were the accused. They live in the fake world of 'nice,' where public statements are supposed to disguise private thoughts. A land where they could pay lip service to the middle class, while enriching themselves and sending jobs overseas. The fraud was up — for a time."

The analysis continued: "Unfortunately, the normalcy these conservatives asked for is here and it came good and quick. It has been approximately 50 days into the Biden administration."

That "normal" includes:

• Jan. 20: Biden cancels the Keystone XL Pipeline.

• Jan. 20: Biden signs an Executive Order on “Advancing Racial Equity,” setting out an “ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.”

• Jan. 20: Biden signs an Executive Order stating that gender identity is protected under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, thus solidifying the Biden administration’s position that preventing athletes from participating in a sport as dictated by their gender identity is unlawful. This Biden Executive Order will eviscerate state-level differences in participation in sports based on gender-identity.

• Jan. 28: Biden signs an Executive Order allowing for U.S. aid for foreign abortion providers.

• Feb. 3: Biden DOJ drops lawsuit against Yale for admissions practices that discriminated against prospective Asian and White students. This was done despite a long DOJ investigation, including a review of years of records and numerous interviews, that led authorities to conclude that Yale had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• Feb. 6: Just over two weeks into the Biden administration, The New York Times announces that “Biden’s first immigration crisis has already begun.”

• Feb. 16: Biden backs citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.

• Feb. 24: The Biden DOJ withdraws government support for a Connecticut lawsuit “that seeks to ban [male-to-female] transgender athletes from participating in girls’ high school sports.”

• Feb. 25: U.S. Airstrike in eastern Syria.

• March 4: Biden expresses his support for H.R. 1 (the For the People Act of 2021), a potentially unconstitutional federal takeover of elections. Not restricted to voting issues, this law would end anonymity in many political ads and chill free speech.

• March 7: Democrats in the U.S. Senate pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. It goes back to the House for approval before Biden’s eventual signature.

"Be careful what you promise — and be more careful what you ask for," the analysis said.

"The mistake the Biden conservatives made was confusing normalcy for good."

Free Press International