STATE OF THE UNION STRATEGY:



There is an obvious strategy for President Trump to take in the upcoming State of the Union: The president should take on the Congress itself.



The Congress is less popular than the president. It took more damage in polling during the shutdown than the president did. They are the reason there isn’t wall funding and they are the reason the government is ticking down to a shutdown once again.



The president should position himself not as the representative of one unpopular party against another, but as the representative of all the people against the unpopular Congress, holding them to account for their failure.



You can see the frame: Congress promised to fix this problem in 1986. But for thirty years it only got worse because they listened to corporate billionaires who want cheap labor in their businesses and in their homes, instead of the people crying out for help.



The American people want illegal immigration controlled and the violent lawlessness at the border brought to an end. The president proposed a wall. The American people elected him to build it.



Democrats said they wanted to reform the legal immigration system. Republicans said they wanted to secure the border. They never did. Just like every other issue, the parties promised, but failed to deliver.



That’s why the American people moved on from traditional Republican and Democrat candidates in 2016 and chose Trump instead. Avoiding responsibility and blaming other people for problems is the mark of the lazy and cowardly Congress - and that’s what Trump was elected to change.



Declaring an emergency would just reward Congress’s cowardly conspiracy against the public. Congress created this problem. Congress is going to fix it. Immediately. Or everything stops.



Going forward Trump should promise to only sign government funding bills one week at a time, and only as long as the House and Senate are working around the clock to find a compromise on the border. Want the government to stay open? Solve this problem. No more recesses. No more foreign trips. And Trump doesn’t have to budge on it, after a week, or a month, or the rest of his term.



THE ECONOMY:



January’s Stock-Market Rally Revives Appetite for Risky Margin Loans. http://vlt.tc/3j7f “Margin debt, which is generally considered a gauge of investor confidence, tumbled more than 90 billion in the fourth quarter to 554.3 billion, the lowest tally since December 2017, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Although the pace of the decline was jarring, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and other firms say the pullback supports the case that the stock market has bottomed and is poised for a rebound—albeit with ongoing spikes in volatility—similar to other recoveries following drawdowns in February 2016 and September 2011.”



China Fears Loom Over Stocks After January Surge. http://vlt.tc/3j7h “U.S. stocks posted their best January in decades, even after fears of spillover from a China slowdown slammed shares of Apple Inc. and other leading companies in the opening days of 2019. While signs the Federal Reserve would slow its pace of interest-rate increases fueled a subsequent rally, investors remain worried that China’s decelerating economy and its trade conflict with the U.S. could derail those gains.”



Mike Crapo Proposes Fannie and Freddie Reform. http://vlt.tc/3j7q “The Idaho Republican’s plan, a three-page paper, does not address several of the trickiest issues that have held up legislation to overhaul the two government-sponsored enterprises since they were taken into government custody in 2008. Nevertheless, it presents a starting point for negotiations between the two parties and the White House to try to resolve Fannie and Freddie’s unusual status as wards of the government.”



NORTHAM REFUSES TO RESIGN:



Virginia Governor Rebuffs Fellow Democrats, Risks Undermining Party in 2020. http://vlt.tc/3j7g “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam met with top aides Sunday night amid mounting calls from fellow Democrats to resign over a racist photograph, an episode that has pressured a party that has promoted a zero-tolerance policy against members who have been accused of bigotry and sexual misconduct.



“No announcements were expected Sunday after the meeting, which included top administration officials of color, a Northam spokeswoman said.



“In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Democrats have been laying the groundwork to draw a bright line between their party and President Trump on issues of racial injustice and sexual discrimination by purging any members accused of wrongdoing.



“But after party leaders urged the governor over the weekend to step down after the photo surfaced from his 1984 medical-school yearbook—showing one person in blackface and another wearing a white Ku Klux Klan uniform—he refused, saying the depiction is horrible but that he isn’t in the photograph. He said earlier that he was in the photo.



“An extended face-off over Mr. Northam’s status risks undercutting a key Democratic message as the 2020 race for the White House gets under way, party officials and advocates said.”



RELATED: Ralph Northam Refuses To Resign, Changes Story On Yearbook Photo. http://vlt.tc/3j8v The Northam Controversy, the Kavanaugh Controversy, and Long-Past Misbehavior. http://vlt.tc/3j86 Northam digs in. http://vlt.tc/3j7i RTD Editorial: Northam Must Resign. http://vlt.tc/3j7r Pilot Online: Northam photo. http://vlt.tc/3j7w Marcus: Northam’s Career Shouldn’t Be Destroyed By His (Awful) Photo In Blackface. http://vlt.tc/3j8w Don’t Let Northam’s Racism Obscure Democrats’ Sick Abortion Policies. http://vlt.tc/3j8n



TRUMP TO FOCUS ON ABORTION IN SOTU:



Trump to throw spotlight on abortion in State of the Union. http://vlt.tc/3j7j “President Donald Trump is telling conservative allies he wants to incorporate firm anti-abortion language into his State of the Union address Tuesday, and potentially include an anti-abortion figure among his list of invitees, according to four sources familiar with his plans



“Trump sees an opening to energize his evangelical supporters and capture moderate voters who administration officials believe may be turned off by widespread coverage of New York’s newest abortion law, which allows for termination of some pregnancies after the 24-week mark for health reasons.



“The issue is one of many the president will address in a Tuesday night speech, which aides say currently clocks in at about one hour. Although it comes amid an ongoing standoff with congressional Democrats over a wall Trump wants to build along the southern border, people familiar with its contents say it will range widely and include a call for bipartisanship.



“Trump is even expected to deliver what one Republican close to the White House called a “warm and fuzzy” overture to his recent nemesis in the border wall fight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will be sitting a few feet behind the president atop the House chamber’s dais.



“Abortion has crested as an issue for conservative legal activists in recent days after New York’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed the late-term abortion bill last Tuesday.”



CONGRESS VOTES TO KEEP WAR IN AFGHANISTAN GOING:



Jesse Kelly. http://vlt.tc/3j8o “The U.S. Senate cannot agree on anything. They are so mired in partisan gridlock, a resolution declaring the sky to be officially the color blue would fail along party lines. But there is one thing and one thing only they agree on: 17 years of our troops dying in Afghanistan isn’t long enough.



“By a 68-23 margin, the Senate decided we haven’t spilled enough blood, broken enough soldiers (mentally and physically), or spent enough money. All for a now-aimless conflict in a part of the world Americans don’t even care about.



“What began as an attempt to hunt down Osama bin Laden has now become a generational conflict where sons are patrolling the same areas as their fathers did. This no longer a war. This has become a hopeless mission to tame a part of the world that has never been and will never be tamed.



“Afghanistan is a rugged, tribal nation with different interests than ours. As with so many parts of the world, the strong will rule over the weak there, and there is precious little America can do about that. That is why we’re now resigned to negotiating a peace deal with the very Taliban we’ve been fighting for 17 years.



“Our troops are the best of us, and they deserve better. They sign up to serve and defend this nation, and their lives should be sold dearly. Go take a long walk through your nearest Veterans Affairs hospital. It is no longer a place full of old men. It is now full of broken, injured, and sick young men walking the halls.”



AMERICA ALREADY ELECTED A CENTRIST PRESIDENT:



Kristen Soltis Anderson. http://vlt.tc/3j7s “How many of you would consider yourselves fiscally more conservative but socially more liberal?”



“As I travel around the country speaking to groups of business executives about public opinion and U.S. politics, I often pose that question to the audience. People look around the room, nodding approvingly, feeling validated that their worldview is shared by so many of their peers. Then I deliver the bad news. They are very much alone. And the United States already got the most viable version of a third-party candidate: He just happened to run as a Republican. His name is Donald Trump.



“The United States’ strong two-party system is an oddity. Unlike the parliamentary systems in other democratic countries, where a multitude of parties present competing worldviews and build coalitions, the Democratic and Republican parties must serve as preexisting coalitions of left and right. Someone who might have fit in nicely as a member of, say, Germany’s Free Democratic Party, a socially liberal free-market party that won about 11 percent of the vote in the 2017 German elections, may find themselves ill-served by both their choices here in the United States but with no real viable alternatives.



“The result is persistent speculation, often from those same business leaders who feel their brand of classical liberalism is absent from our political scene, about a viable third-party or independent candidacy. A look at the data suggests that they should be careful what they wish for.”



THROW TRASH AT IVANKA:



Kelsey Harkness. http://vlt.tc/3j8q “Ivanka Vacuuming” is now a thing in the nation’s capital. Because art, or something.



“The exhibit, on display at CulturalDC’s former Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, D.C., is a piece of “performance art” where an Ivanka Trump lookalike wearing a pink dress with bows and stiletto shoes vacuums crumbs off a plush, pink carpet. To make the spectacle interactive, onlookers are encouraged to take crumbs from a pedestal and throw them at her to vacuum up.



“Inspired by a figure whose public persona incorporates an almost comically wide range of feminine identities – daughter, wife, mother, sister, model, working woman, blonde – Ivanka Vacuuming is simultaneously a visual celebration of a contemporary feminine icon; a portrait of our own relationship to that figure; and a questioning of our complicity in her role-playing,” a press release on the project reads. “The public is invited to throw crumbs onto the carpet, watching as Ivanka elegantly vacuums up the mess, her smile never wavering. This process repeats itself for the entire duration of the performance.”



“The irony, of course, is that the exhibit reflects every stereotype feminists claim to stand against, oversexualizing Ivanka’s body and ignoring her hard work. (One can only imagine the feminist rage if it were, say, Michelle Obama on display.)”



FEATURE:



Hope Hicks, West Wing Alum, Begins Her Second Act on the West Coast. http://vlt.tc/3j7e



BUILD ME UP, BUTTERCUP:



Snow dog. http://vlt.tc/3j7z



JOB POSTING:



Careers at Foreign Affairs. http://vlt.tc/3j69



ITEMS OF INTEREST:



Foreign:



INF Treaty: Democrats should support withdrawal. http://vlt.tc/3j7v



EU countries recognize Guaidó as Venezuela’s president. http://vlt.tc/3j8d



Why Big Brother Doesn’t Bother Most Chinese. http://vlt.tc/3j81



The EU is taking the hardest possible line in the hope of derailing Brexit. http://vlt.tc/3j84



China’s economic slowdown. http://vlt.tc/3j7p



Domestic:



Trump’s State Of The Union Should Put American Families First. http://vlt.tc/3j8p



Trump’s State of the Union pledge: Ending HIV transmissions by 2030. http://vlt.tc/3j8c



Virginia Governor Rebuffs Fellow Democrats, Risks Undermining Party in 2020. http://vlt.tc/3j7g



Tom Cotton book to focus on Arlington National Cemetery service. http://vlt.tc/3j8e



Trump promotes Ronny Jackson. http://vlt.tc/3j83



Virginia Lt Gov Justin Fairfax denies sexual assault allegations. http://vlt.tc/3j89



California restaurant won’t serve anyone with a MAGA hat. http://vlt.tc/3j7b



Schumer aide dismissed over sexual misconduct. http://vlt.tc/3j7o



Concerns about anti-semitism in Democratic caucus. http://vlt.tc/3j7u



2020:



Poll: Democrats have reason to fret Schultz. http://vlt.tc/3j8b



Booker holds court in Newark — and breaks with Harris, Sanders. http://vlt.tc/3j7k



Elizabeth Warren apologizes to Cherokee Nation. http://vlt.tc/3j7n



Media:



Questions Media Should Ask Democratic Presidential Hopefuls (But Won't). http://vlt.tc/3j8j



McClatchy Offers Buyouts to 450 Employees Following BuzzFeed and Vice Staff Cuts. http://vlt.tc/3j7d



Bill Maher Makes Racist ‘Popeyes Chicken’ Remark to Black Congressman Will Hurd. http://vlt.tc/3j7l



Washington Examiner fires reporters, possible shift in news coverage. http://vlt.tc/3j7t



Diary of a laid-off reporter. http://vlt.tc/3j7y



The Weekly Standard Was Wrong About Almost Everything. http://vlt.tc/3j85



Health:



Infanticide Is The Historical Hallmark Of A Pagan Culture. http://vlt.tc/3j8k



Pro-Lifers Can Stop Losing By Refusing To Argue On Pro-Abortion Turf. http://vlt.tc/3j8m



Socialized Medicine Means Crushing Taxes And Denied Care. http://vlt.tc/3j8u



Religion:



Pope to Pro-Life Movement: ‘Politicians should place defense of life first'. http://vlt.tc/3j7m



Ephemera:



Why Do People Tell Me I’m Not Allowed to Write? http://vlt.tc/3j80



Hurting Jared Goff shoulders blame for offensive ineptitude. http://vlt.tc/3j8a



Super Bowl Halftime 2019 Maroon 5: Critic's Notebook. http://vlt.tc/3j8h



Lindsey Vonn retiring from skiing. http://vlt.tc/3j7c



Why Hasn't the Super Bowl Halftime Show Embraced Country Headliners? http://vlt.tc/3j7x



Dabo Swinney Gives Special Needs Team Manager Super Bowl Tickets. http://vlt.tc/3j8x



Russian Doll and Groundhog Day. http://vlt.tc/3j8f



Rami Malek on Bryan Singer’s victims. http://vlt.tc/3j87



Revisiting ‘Batman, The Animated Series’: ‘P.O.V.’. http://vlt.tc/3j8r



Peter Jackson’s World War I Documentary Is A Civilizational Triumph. http://vlt.tc/3j8l



Watch Gladys Knight 'Give The Anthem Back Its Voice' At Super Bowl LIII. http://vlt.tc/3j8s



Up From The Ashes Of Fyre Fest, A Bad Meme Come To Life. http://vlt.tc/3j8t



Dave Portnoy arrest photo. http://vlt.tc/3j88



Bud Light ad is also Game of Thrones ad. http://vlt.tc/3j8g



AOC meme. http://vlt.tc/3j82



PODCAST:



Matt Kroenig: What To Know About U.S Nuclear Strategy And Missile Defense. http://vlt.tc/3j8i



POEM:



Tour of the Labyrinth. http://vlt.tc/3j6o



QUOTE:



“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.” ― Vince Lombardi