Woman Records Very Creepy Visit by the FBI
Joe Biden Is Hitting His Political 'Life Alert' Button With This 2024 Move
South Carolina's Mysterious Bank Account That Has Over $1 Billion in It
Occupied Gaza
Go Touch Some Grass
Biden Administration Locking Up Public Lands from West to East
Baltimore Mayor Raises Eyebrows Over What He Claims Is His 'Purpose in Life'
Only Democrats Get to Lie on NBC News
Donald Trump: The Non-PC Candidate
Ronald Reagan: The Man Who Cut Taxes From 70 to 28 Percent
Republicans Thwart Democrat Scheme to Raise Gas Prices
The Future Looks...Old?
Not Exactly Something Normal
Senate Judiciary Committee Should Prioritize Main Street Over Wall Street with Free Market...
Some Unpleasant Truths About Islam and the West
OPINION
Premium

Donald Trump and 2024

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

President Donald Trump came out into the limelight on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 looking infinitely more presidential surrounded by adoring first responders did than that kid-sniffing scarecrow currently inhabiting the Oval Office. He was in fine form, and he raised questions about what he is going to do in 2024. 

The problem for those of us who want to know the answer is that there is no answer – yet.

There’s this weird ghoulish delight in the alleged deaths of alleged anti-vaccine people from alleged COVID. Remember, they would cheer your death too.

Trump’s Next Steps

Understand that no one knows what Donald Trump will do in 2024, including Donald Trump. Oh, he may have a general inclination, but – as the cinematic Lawrence of Arabia famously observed – nothing is written. He might run. He might not. Ask again in 2023.

But the savvy play – and Trump is nothing if not savvy, despite the fervent insistence of the people he has ridden circles around, is to project strategic ambiguity. “I think you’ll like what I’ve decided,” he told his fans, and he’s right. They’ll like whatever he does – because he will do something they like. Whether he chooses to run, or chooses to play kingmaker, he will do what his supporters want. This is another vanity of the elite – the notion that Trump’s people are in thrall to him. That’s a misreading, though we should not correct our opponents’ mistake. Trump did not create the populist wave; he merely surfed it.

And his people may not want him to run again. Polls show conservatives are split between him and some other as-yet-unnamed rival. This is not because these cons are anti-Trump – though allegedly telling people on 9/11 that the past election would somehow be decertified was not, if Trump actually said it, helpful, and that kind of distraction can be frustrating. You can be fully pro-Trump and assess that he is not the right strategic and/or tactical choice to win in 2024. He has weaknesses, primary among them a committed core of people who know and hate him. His candidacy would revive the wars of the last five years. Those are problems. His big asset is likewise that he is a known commodity; it is now obvious to everyone who is awake that he accomplished a bunch of great things over four years in the face of an unbearable headwind. It’s taken that desiccated old zombie only about eight months to completely screw things up.

Will Trump run? Maybe. He won’t if he thinks he’ll lose, and his instincts are pretty good, though not perfect. My insider info is split, some saying yes and some saying no. I suspect that would make Trump smile – he’ll let us know when he thinks it’s time, and until then we’re all just guessing. 

Cheering on Dead People

There’s a cottage industry among leftists of getting toobinerrific over the alleged deaths of people who allegedly were anti-vaccine or “COVID deniers” or other designated bad people. Apparently, an ironic death is the worst kind of death, and also apparently libs get a pass for celebrating their deaths if the people who are dead have been labeled as unworthy. 

Now, you’ve never quite heard of most of these people, and you can be sure that you never would have but for whatever lesson we are supposed to draw from their demises. The lesson is that Joe Blow died of COVID and he didn’t think everyone should be forced to get an injection! Ta-da!

And this implies…what? That if you actually think freedom is more important than going on living as a serf, you might actually have to make that choice? But this, of course, assumes what no one should assume – that we are provided straight, honest information by the lying, garbage media about what these people actually believed about vaccines, COVID, Q, and anything else. One common element in these teachable moments is their perfection – the facts you are presented with always fit precisely into a framework of support for the establishment narrative. They are too good to check, like the story about the Oklahoma hospitals packed to the gills with horse dewormer ODs. Take it from a lawyer – anyone telling you exactly what you want to hear is probably talking out his Schumer.

But let’s assume that they are true, a big assumption, but let’s go with it. Some rando says, “I would rather risk death than take the vaccine.” Okay, well, then he’s risking death. He knows it, and chose it. Some guys are going to make that bet and roll craps. But about 99.999% are not. 

“This is Donald Duckworth of Ruralville, America. He thinks his immune system is sufficient to stop COVID and refused the vaccine. Last week, he tested positive for COVID, felt bad for a couple days, and is now fine.” Not much of a story, but an infinitely more common one than, “Local COVID denier struck dead for his heresy.”

“This is Sue Quperson. She believes strongly in Q and that the COVID virus was created by the Chinese is association with the Trilateral Commission. She died yesterday after being hit by Rage Against the Machine’s tour bus while the band was headed to play at the world’s crappiest county fair.” Again, not a great story as far as the narrative goes, though it is always import to emphasize just how terrible RATM is.

Hey, even people we trust say that if you don’t take the vaccine you are probably at a higher risk than people who have. Death is a potential consequence. Maybe you choose to face it. Some of you end up dying. That’s why it’s called a “risk.”

And the only thing more tiresome that people pointing out that sometimes when you take a risk you have bad things happen – duh – is the unseemly joy it gives libs to point out this obvious fact. They delight in it, as if this was some sort of cosmic punishment from their weird climate gods inflicted upon sinners for sinning instead of being attributable to the relentless machinations of chance. A certain number of people will get COVID. A very few, relatively speaking, will die. And statistics tell us some of them will be people who harbor unapproved views. But ones with approved views die too.

“Local, oft-vaccinated suburban wine wife who made her kids Kaden and Ashleigh wear N95 masks at the playground and warned many a manager of people walking freely without face thongs dies of COVID after refusing Ivermectin.” That can happen too – we were recently told, by the crusty pervert infesting 1600 PA Avenue, that we need to protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated. 

But to draw some sort of conclusion from this kind of anecdote is both dumb and morally bankrupt. Karen didn’t deserve to die because she was ridiculous, nor did the people the media hold up as cautionary examples deserve to die because the libs think they are ridiculous. They died because there is a pandemic, and people are going to get sick and they are going to die. People who do everything “right” will sometimes die; people who do everything wrong will usually “live.” That’s what happens when the disease kills under 1% of those who catch it.

But just remember the glee the libs show in the deaths of their opponents. And remember that you are their opponent, and prepare accordingly.

The sixth Kelly Turnbull conservative action thriller, The Split, shows what happens when America splits into red and blue countries. Get all six bestsellers, including People's Republic, Indian Country, Wildfire, Collapse, and Crisis!

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos