Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s Recognition Of Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel Will Shake The Middle East To The Core

This is one of the most historic things to happen in the Middle East in decades.  Just a few days ago I reported that Donald Trump would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “in December”, and now we are being told that Trump will make this announcement at 1 PM eastern time on Wednesday.  Administration officials are stressing that this move is a “recognition of reality”, because of course the seat of the Israeli government has been in the holy city for a very long time.  But without a doubt this announcement will shake the Middle East to the core, because Israel’s neighbors are extremely displeased that Trump is doing this.

According to the Jerusalem Post, President Trump phoned leaders all over the Middle East on Tuesday to inform them about what would happen on Wednesday…

US President Donald Trump called the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt on Tuesday to inform them of his intention to move the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, 22 years after the US Congress called on the White House to do just that.

What Trump didn’t say, however, was when the move would take place, something that could provide some maneuvering room for him to try to tamp down Arab anger over the highly contentious step.

The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will be immediate, but the U.S. embassy will probably not be moved for six months.  The following comes from CNN…

The President is expected to make a public announcement Wednesday declaring his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his intent to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv, diplomatic officials and a person familiar with the plans tell CNN. Trump is also expected to sign a waiver delaying the embassy move for six months, citing the logistical challenges of moving US personnel.

By not moving the embassy immediately, administration officials are hoping that this will pacify Israel’s neighbors a little bit.

Unfortunately, that may not work.  One prominent Arab leader has already stated that he believes that Trump is “a pyromaniac who could set the entire region on fire with his madness”, and the Saudis are calling this “a flagrant provocation of Muslims”…

In Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency said that King Salman bin Abdul Aziz had received a call from Trump, as well, and that the two discussed the potential moves. Using the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the king “reiterated that such a dangerous step of relocation or recognition of Al-Quds as the capital of Israel would constitute a flagrant provocation of Muslims, all over the world,” the agency said.

Once Trump’s announcement is made, all eyes will be on the Palestinians, and Palestinian leaders have already planned for protests to begin on Wednesday…

The Palestinian factions said protests will start on Wednesday and last until Friday at the very least. According to Palestinian leaders, marches against the decision are being backed by the Palestinian Authority.

Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Mahisan told Haaretz that Trump’s decision was an inflammatory material that will inspire Palestinians to take to the streets in rage. “The Palestinian people know how to protect their rights and we are in consultations regarding [our moves] in the coming days.”

The three days stretching from Wednesday to Friday are being called “three days of rage”, and it is very likely that we will see widespread violence.  The following comes from the Jerusalem Post…

In a joint statement, the Palestinian “national and Islamic forces” announced three days of rage that would begin Wednesday and end on Friday. “We call on all our people in Israel and around the world to gather in city centers and Israeli embassies and consulates, with the aim of bringing about general popular anger,” the statement said.

The statement added that “a huge protest should be launched in order to reject out of hand the attempts of the US administration to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem or recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. The right of the people and the nation to act in all legal and diplomatic ways within the international community, the international law in the Hague, in order to torpedo this attempt,” the statement said, calling for an emergency meeting of the leaders of the Islamic countries and the Jerusalem Committee to emphasize their rejection of the American moves in Jerusalem.

Some U.S. officials had urged Trump not to make this sort of a move, but it is the right thing to do.  U.S. policy should never be dictated by threats of violence, and I greatly applaud President Trump for refusing to be intimidated.

Hopefully things will not get too crazy over the next few days, but without a doubt U.S. facilities around the world will need to be on very high alert.  In fact, one anonymous State Department official is concerned that U.S. embassies all over the globe could be targeted by violence…

“The impending Jerusalem announcement has me very worried about the possibility of violent responses that could affect embassies,” one State Department official told Politico. “I hope I’m wrong.”

And according to CBS News, U.S. government officials are being ordered to stay away from the Old City and the West Bank for now…

U.S. government employees and their families are being banned by the U.S. from personal visits to Jerusalem’s Old City and the West Bank, including Bethlehem and Jericho, amid the potential for demonstrations. The demonstrations are being planned as President Trump indicated that he intends to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He’s also expected to announce that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that’s inflaming Arab sentiment against the U.S.

It takes a lot of courage to do the right thing even though you know that the other side may resort to violence.

Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is going to tremendously shake the entire Middle East, and nobody is quite sure what will happen next.

Let us pray that peace will prevail, but even if it doesn’t, Donald Trump has made the right choice and for that he should be greatly commended.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

It Is Being Reported That Donald Trump May Recognize Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel In December

Is President Trump about to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?   If so, this would be one of the most historic events to happen in the Middle East in a very long time.  Needless to say, the government of Israel would be absolutely thrilled by such a move, while the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbors would not be pleased at all.  In fact, some Palestinians have suggested that if the Trump administration actually moves the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem that it could spark widespread violence or even war.

But Donald Trump promised that he would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during the campaign, and it looks like he intends to keep his word…

A senior U.S. administration official said on Thursday that President Donald Trump is considering recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel without moving the embassy to the Israeli capital, at least for the time being.

Trump wants the recognition of Jerusalem to be a gift to Israel on the occasion of its 70th Independence Day, and he may even announce this recognition by means of a statement to be made by Vice President Mike Pence, who will visit Israel in December.

Pence will be visiting Israel next month, and he is scheduled to deliver an address to the Knesset.  If the Trump administration is going to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it is believed that it may happen at that time.

Israel became a nation in 1948, and so 2018 will be Israel’s 70th anniversary.  There will be independence celebrations throughout the year, and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as we approach this highly significant time would be considered a great gift to the Jewish people.

For the moment, however, the Trump administration will not be moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.  The White House recognizes that such a move could spark violence in the region, and so administration officials are treading carefully…

President Donald Trump and his senior aides are mulling a plan to eventually move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that could derail Trump’s attempts to restart peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

A leading option under consideration: temporarily keeping the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv while also outlining a longer-term strategy to begin the process of moving the embassy to Jerusalem, according to two administration officials. The plan is meant to strike a middle ground on the politically treacherous issue.

We shall see how this plays out, but Vice-President Mike Pence sure sounds optimistic that moving the embassy will actually happen.  Earlier this week, he posted the following message on Twitter…

While for the past 20 years, Congress and successive administrations have expressed a willingness to move our embassy, @POTUS Trump is actively considering when and how to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Of course moving the embassy would have very serious ramifications, and without a doubt many those surrounding Trump are advising against such a move…

American intelligence circles may caution Trump against the move, warning of the security-related ramifications that could ensue and danger that it could pose to American embassies around the world.

Rumors of Trump’s planned announcement were met with warnings from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who said during a visit to the US that “the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem at this stage will have repercussions in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic scene.”

I will be even more blunt.  If the U.S. embassy is moved to Jerusalem, there will definitely be violence, and it could potentially move us closer to armed conflict in the Middle East.

But U.S. policy should never be dictated by threats of violence.  Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is the right thing to do, and we cannot allow anyone to intimidate us.  In 1995, Congress passed a law that requires the U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem, but ever since then presidents have used “waivers” to delay the move.

The current “waiver” expires on December 1st, and Trump is expected to sign another one at that time.

But even if the U.S. embassy is not moved to Jerusalem any time soon, the truth is that the next major war in the Middle East seems to be getting closer with each passing day.  Just check out some of the things that have happened over the past week…

-Saudi Arabia just intercepted another ballistic missile that was fired from Yemen.  The civil war in Yemen is essentially a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Saudis hold the Iranians directly responsible whenever a missile is fired toward their territory.

-China has announced that they will be sending “elite troops” into Syria to fight alongside the Syrian army in the ongoing civil war that is raging there.

-Just a few days ago, the Pentagon acknowledged that there are approximately 2,000 U.S. troops currently in Syria working with forces that would like to overthrow the Syrian government.

The Middle East is a tinderbox that could literally erupt at any moment.  Most Americans have absolutely no idea how close we are to a major regional war, and let us pray that one does not happen any time soon.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Democrats Have Filed Articles Of Impeachment, But We Aren’t Going To Allow Them To Impeach Trump

On Wednesday, a group of congressional Democrats filed five articles of impeachment against President Trump, and they say that they are doing this “because of great concerns for the country and our Constitution and our national security and our democracy”.  Of course this effort is probably not going anywhere because Republicans control both the Senate and the House, but it shows what could happen if the 2018 mid-term elections go badly.  If the Democrats are able to take back control of both the Senate and the House in 2018, they will attempt to impeach Trump.  And even if they get close to taking back control, they could potentially convince some establishment Republicans to join them in getting rid of the president.

Elections really matter, and just because someone uses the “Republican” label does not mean that they will stand up for Trump when push comes to shove.  For example, state representative Christy Perry just entered the race for the open seat in Idaho’s first congressional district, and she could end up being my most formidable opponent.  Unfortunately, her voting record is very liberal and she would not be someone that Trump could count on at all.  It is absolutely imperative that we fill this seat with someone that will be an ally of the president, and that is why Trump supporters all over the district are getting involved in my campaign.

The future of the Trump presidency hinges on what happens in 2018, because the Democrats have already shown us what they intend to do once they are back in charge.  The following comes from NBC News…

The five articles accused the president of obstruction of justice related to the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and other offenses.

“We have taken this action because of great concerns for the country and our Constitution and our national security and our democracy,” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said at a news conference to announce the effort.

Cohen said he understands that Republicans hold the majority in the House and are unlikely to allow hearings on the impeachment articles. He said the group will hold occasional briefings to explain each of the five articles of impeachment and where they believe Trump ran afoul of the law or committed misdeeds that warrant impeachment.

If 2018 goes very well for pro-Trump forces, the threat of impeachment will go away entirely.

But usually the opposition party makes substantial gains in Congress during the first mid-term elections of a new presidency, and if we allow the Democrats to take back control of the Senate and the House in 2018, President Trump may not even make it to the 2020 election.

If you support President Trump, I hope that you will stand with pro-Trump candidates such as myself in 2018.

The left wants to cut Trump’s presidency as short as possible, but we aren’t going to let that happen.  Instead, we are going to make sure that he wins again in 2020, and we are going to do all that we can to get the Make America Great Again agenda fully implemented.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

One Year Ago A Miracle Happened

On November 8th, 2016 we witnessed the greatest miracle in the history of American politics.  Leading up to election day, virtually all of the experts were boldly assuring us that Hillary Clinton would be the next president of the United States.  Personally, I was quite alarmed about what a Hillary Clinton presidency would mean, because Clinton’s vindictiveness is legendary and my anti-Clinton articles had been seen by millions of people.  When Trump shocked the world by winning the election, it was like an entirely new day had just dawned in America.  If Donald Trump could become president of the United States, literally anything was possible.

President Trump has been visiting Asia this week, but on Wednesday he took a few moments to thank those that voted for him last November…

President Trump marked the anniversary of his 2016 presidential election win by remembering the “deplorables.”

“Congratulations to all of the ‘DEPLORABLES’ and the millions of people who gave us a MASSIVE (304-227) Electoral College landslide victory!” he tweeted Wednesday, featuring a photo of him and some of his aides aboard Air Force Once.

It has been 12 months, but it is still hard to grasp what happened on that historic night.  Nobody in the mainstream media seemed to believe that Trump had a chance, and his shock victory took almost the entire nation by surprise.  The following is an extended excerpt from an article that I published on the day after Trump’s victory entitled “Do You Believe In Miracles?”…

—–

After it was all over, I kind of stumbled around my home lost in my thoughts. I was happy, confused, hopeful, stunned and pensive all at the same time. Like so many others, what I thought I knew about politics turned out to be wrong. But in other ways, the election of Donald Trump has confirmed so much of what I know to be right about America.

Ultimately, it was the American people that decided this election, because the elite were doing their best to absolutely bury him.

Never before has the mainstream media been so openly biased against a major party presidential candidate. For months on end they dumped sewage on Trump, but it didn’t work.

Never before has a major party presidential candidate faced a civil war in his own party on the eve of the election. A whole host of big names in the Republican Party publicly announced that they would not vote for Trump, but it didn’t work.

Never before have we seen a bigger October surprise than the lewd tape from 11 year ago that came out and shocked the world. That would have instantly killed the campaign of any normal politician, but it didn’t kill Trump’s campaign.

From the very beginning it seemed like Trump was at war with almost everyone, and somehow he came out on top in the end.

He beat the Bushes and the Clintons.

He beat the Republicans and the Democrats.

He beat Hollywood and the mainstream media.

He beat the pollsters and the pundits.

He beat the never-Trumpers and the billionaire donors.

He beat Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Beyonce, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Lebron James.

He beat the forces of globalism, elitism and political correctness.

He beat CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and Barack Obama.

He beat them all.

—–

Millions of us that had worked so hard to get Trump elected were absolutely jubilant, but of course there were millions of others that were bitterly disappointed.  If you want to take a walk down memory lane, watch this YouTube video that shows a whole host of liberal talking heads melting down in the aftermath of Trump’s win.  They also knew that something had just fundamentally changed in America, and they were not happy about it at all.

Sadly, many Republican politicians have still not embraced Trump, and that is a huge mistake.

For example, many believe that Ed Gillespie’s huge loss in Virginia happened because he distanced himself from the president…

“Republican Swamp Thing Gillespie Rejected,” Bannon’s Breitbart News declared in a headline.

Gillespie “did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted from Asia.

The rush to destroy Gillespie — who borrowed some tactics from Trump but kept his distance from the president — points to an escalating fight within the party over whether candidates are better off courting Trump and his loyal base or keeping them at arm’s length.

As for me, I am proud to stand with President Trump, and pro-Trump voters all over the nation are getting involved in my campaign for Congress.

Of course Democrats are hoping that the Trump era will be over as soon as possible and that things will then go back to normal.

But that isn’t going to happen.  We are here to take our country back, and the Trump movement is only just getting started.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

On November 4th The Antifa Insurgency Against Donald Trump And His Supporters Will Begin

Are we about to see chaos in the streets in major cities all over America?  Antifa and other radical leftist groups are promising that a series of protests will begin on November 4th that will never end until “the Trump/Pence regime” is “removed from power”.  And as you will see below, Antifa has openly and publicly embraced violence and the Department of Homeland Security says that they have engaged in domestic terrorism.  Hopefully these “protests” will fizzle out after a few weeks, because political organizations that believe in “the necessary use of violence” have no place in our society.

Amazingly, there are still some out there that are claiming that the radical left is not planning anything for November 4th.  The following comes directly from refusefascism.org, which is one of the key websites for Antifa and other radical leftist groups…

ON NOVEMBER 4, 2017:

We will gather in the streets and public squares of cities and towns across this country, at first many thousands declaring that this whole regime is illegitimate and that we will not stop until our single demand is met: This Nightmare Must End: the Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

Our protest must grow day after day and night after night—thousands becoming hundreds of thousands, and then millions—determined to act to put a stop to the grave danger that the Trump/Pence Regime poses to the world by demanding that this whole regime be removed from power.

Our actions will reflect the values of respect for all of humanity and the world we want—in stark contrast to the hate and bigotry of the Trump/Pence fascist regime.

Our determination to persist and not back down will compel the whole world to take note. Every force and faction in the power structure would be forced to respond to our demand. The cracks and divisions among the powers already evident today will sharpen and widen. As we draw more and more people forward to stand up, all of this could lead to a situation where this illegitimate regime is removed from power.

That sounds pretty serious to me.

Hopefully they are not able to back up their words with actions.

I have seen various lists of cities were Antifa protests are planned floating around the Internet, but I felt that it was important to go right to the source.  According to refusefascism.org, this is the official list of cities where activists will be gathering on November 4th…

Austin
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Minneapolis
New York City
Omak
Philadelphia
Pittsfield
Portland
Salem
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson

Let us hope that none of these events become violent, but we have seen violence from Antifa on numerous occasions since the election, and this is an organization that says that “the use of force is intrinsic to their political philosophy”.  The following comes from a startling article in the Hill…

Anti-fascist activists, or “antifa,” increasingly mobilized in the wake of President Trump’s election, are unapologetic about what they describe as the necessary use of violence to combat authoritarianism.

While both experts on the movement and activists within it emphasize that not everyone who participates in anti-fascist activism engages in violence, they say the use of force is intrinsic to their political philosophy.

Needless to say, the Hill is not exactly a conservative publication.

At this point everyone knows what Antifa is all about, and my hope is that Republicans and Democrats will stand united in denouncing their violent tactics.  For example, just consider what happened at a recent event in Minnesota…

Hundreds of masked protesters at the University of Minnesota recently conducted a violent protest against a speech by conservative activist and YouTube commentator Lauren Southern.

Fights erupted outside the event, forcing police to intervene. Members of the conservative group Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), which hosted the event, say they were “tagged” and set upon by masked antifa activists who spat on them, hit them, shoved them off bicycles and maced them.

These crazed lunatics actually believe that Donald Trump is a modern day version of Adolf Hitler, and therefore they believe that the use of violence is justified in order to prevent a new “Nazi regime” from taking over America.

Of course that is complete and utter nonsense, and in their zeal to attack conservatives Antifa is actually becoming what they say that they hate.  If anyone can be characterized as “brownshirts”, it is the Antifa thugs that are willing to use violence against those that would dare to disagree with their radical leftist agenda.  According to Politico, their increasingly violent tactics have caused the Department of Homeland Security to officially classify their activities as “domestic terrorist violence”…

Federal authorities have been warning state and local officials since early 2016 that leftist extremists known as “antifa” had become increasingly confrontational and dangerous, so much so that the Department of Homeland Security formally classified their activities as “domestic terrorist violence,” according to interviews and confidential law enforcement documents obtained by POLITICO.

Are you starting to understand how dangerous these guys are?

And there is actually evidence that radical leftists have been cultivating ties with Islamic terrorists in the Middle East.  The following comes from a report that was published by the Daily Mail…

A secret FBI investigation of the violent ‘resistance’ movement on college campuses against President Trump has led to an alarming discovery—the collusion between American anarchists and foreign terrorists in the Islamic State and Al qaeda, according to a confidential ‘Informational Report’ by FBI field offices.

‘There is clearly overwhelming evidence that there are growing ties between U.S. radicals and the Islamic State, as well as several [ISIS] offshoots and splinter groups,’ stated the FBI field report, which was delivered to Acting Director Andrew McCabe on July 11, 2017, and which is being published for the first time in my new book All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump.

An atmosphere of violence and fear creates an environment in which many conservatives are afraid to speak out.

In fact, a survey that was just released discovered that 58 percent of Americans “believe the political climate prevents them from sharing their own political beliefs”…

The Cato 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey, a new national poll of 2,300 U.S. adults, finds that 71% Americans believe that political correctness has silenced important discussions our society needs to have. The consequences are personal—58% of Americans believe the political climate prevents them from sharing their own political beliefs.

Democrats are unique, however, in that a slim majority (53%) do not feel the need to self-censor. Conversely, strong majorities of Republicans (73%) and independents (58%) say they keep some political beliefs to themselves.

But this is not what our founders intended.  Freedom of speech is in the Bill of Rights for a reason, because without it we would be in a world of trouble.

As the radical left becomes more violent, we need to become bolder than ever.  As for me, I will continue to speak out about what we need to do to turn this country around…

No matter how crazy they get, we can never allow Antifa to intimidate us.

We are in a battle for the future of America, and the fate of our children and our grandchildren is hanging in the balance.  The radical left must not win, because if they do they will transform our society into a totalitarian socialist “utopia” that will look nothing like the nation that our forefathers originally founded.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

How The Elite Dominate The World – Part 4: They Buy Politicians, And Incumbents Almost Always Win

Once we wake up to how the game is being played, then we will have a real shot at changing things.  For decades, the elite have been pulling the strings behind the scenes in both major political parties.  That is why nothing has ever seemed to change very much no matter which party has been in power.  The agenda of the elite has always seemed to march forward, and ordinary people like us have always been frustrated that we can’t seem to make a difference.  But now a shift seems to be taking place.  Donald Trump took on the establishment in both major parties, and he miraculously won the presidency.  Down in Alabama, the elite spent more than 30 million dollars to defeat Roy Moore, and he still defeated Luther Strange.  A political awakening is taking place, and I can’t wait to see what happens during the mid-term elections in 2018.

In Part I and Part II of this series, I talked about how the elite use debt as a tool of enslavement.  In Part III, I went over how the elite use the colossal media corporations they own to control what we think.  Today, I want to talk about their influence in the realm of politics.

In Washington D.C., it is well understood that the game of politics is all about the money.  If I win my election, and online polling suggests that there is a ton of enthusiasm for my campaign, I will be expected to spend most of my time on the phone raising money.  As a freshman member of Congress, at orientation it will be explained to me that I am supposed to spend approximately four hours a day doing fundraising, and that is why the House and Senate floors are so empty most of the time.

By law, members of Congress cannot make fundraising calls from their offices, and so both parties have huge call centers just across from the Capitol.  Especially around lunch and dinner times (because those are some of the best times to reach people), those call centers are packed as members of the House and Senate run through lists of potential donors.

And it isn’t just about raising money for their own campaigns.  As a freshman member of Congress I would be expected to raise at least $200,000 for the NRCC (the National Republican Congressional Committee).  If I don’t pay my dues, I would get into big trouble with party leadership.

But you know what?  I have already pledged that I am not going to participate in this very corrupt system.  If I am sent to Congress, I am going to spend my time doing the job that the people of Idaho sent me there to do.

So will Paul Ryan and the others in leadership get very upset with me for not “paying my dues”?

Of course.

But it is time for some of us to take a stand and do what is right.  Congress has become a cesspool of filth and corruption, and it is time to flush the toilet.

Because if we don’t fight this corrupt system, the influence of money in politics will just get worse and worse.  Today, the elite pour millions upon millions of dollars even into small campaigns, and in 2016 it took an average of more than 10 million dollars to win a U.S. Senate seat…

While the White House may not have gone to the biggest spender, an awful lot of House and Senate seats did — as usual. And it was pricier than ever to win them.

This election cycle, an average winning Senate candidate had spent $10.4 million through Oct. 19 (reflecting the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission). That’s a $1.8 million increase over the same period in the 2014 cycle. By the end of last cycle, the number rose to $10.6 million, and a similar uptick is expected this time once post-election and year-end reports are filed.

Once you win, the pressure to raise money for your next campaign never ends.

The elite know this, and they use this pressure to influence votes.  Prior to a big vote, lobbyists will make it abundantly clear how they want certain members of Congress to vote, and if they vote the “right way” those members of Congress will be rewarded.

Just across from the U.S. Capitol there are clubs where fancy receptions are regularly held.  If you vote the “right way” on a particular bill, you may be invited to one of these receptions, and there will be big, fat donation checks waiting there for you.

Of course most members of Congress have learned how to play the game, and this is why it is nearly impossible to defeat incumbents.  Over the past six decades, the re-election rate for members of the House of Representatives has consistently been well over 80 percent, and according to the UVA Center for Politics incumbents actually did far better than that in 2016…

This election cycle, 393 of 435 House representatives, 29 of 34 senators, and five of 12 governors sought reelection (several of the governors were prohibited from seeking another term). Of those, 380 of 393 House members (97%), 27 of 29 senators (93%), and four of five governors (80%) won another term. These members of Congress and governors not only won renomination, but also won in November.

Since World War II, the overall success rate for Senate incumbents has been 84 percent, and the overall success rate for House incumbents has been 94 percent.

Incumbents are almost always armed with huge war chests and most of them have tremendous name recognition, and so toppling them is not easy.

Fortunately, there is no incumbent in my race because Raul Labrador is running for governor.  So the race is completely wide open, and right now my campaign has the most enthusiasm by far.  If you would like to help me flush the toilet in Washington, I would encourage you to visit MichaelSnyderForCongress.com.

If we don’t fight back, we will never break the stranglehold that the elite have on our political system.

Every generation of Americans has had to stand up and fight for liberty and freedom, and now it is our turn.  This particular battle will not be fought with guns and bullets, but rather with ideas, values and principles.

We are part of a movement that is sweeping the nation.  Good men and women are rising up to run in federal, state and local races all across the country, and it is absolutely imperative that we all get behind them and support them.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

This Is The Closest That The U.S. Has Been To Nuclear War Since The Cuban Missile Crisis

Are we on the verge of a nuclear war with North Korea?  It has now been confirmed that North Korea has successfully created a miniaturized nuclear warhead, and last month they tested a missile that can reach at least half of the continental United States.  Since 1994 the U.S. has been trying to stop North Korea’s nuclear program, and every effort to do so has completely failed.  Last September, the North Koreans detonated a nuclear device that was estimated to be in the 20 to 30 kiloton range, and back in January President Trump pledged to stop the North Koreans before they would ever have the capability to deliver such a weapon to U.S. cities.  But now the North Koreans have already achieved that goal, and they plan to ultimately create an entire fleet of ICBMs capable of hitting every city in America.

Right now, North Korea and the Trump administration are locked in a game of nuclear chicken.  Kim Jong Un’s regime is never, ever, ever going to give up their nuclear weapons program, and so that means that either Donald Trump is going to have to back down, find another way to deal with North Korea, or use military force to eliminate their nuclear threat.

And time is quickly running out for Trump to make a decision, because now that North Korea has the ability to produce miniaturized nuclear warheads, the game has completely changed.  The following comes from the Washington Post…

North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment.

The new analysis completed last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of another intelligence assessment that sharply raises the official estimate for the total number of bombs in the communist country’s atomic arsenal. The U.S. calculated last month that up to 60 nuclear weapons are now controlled by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Some independent experts believe the number of bombs is much smaller.

The truth is that nobody actually knows how many nukes North Korea has at this point, and they are pumping out more all the time.

Yes, the Trump administration could order an absolutely devastating military strike on North Korea.  But if the North Koreans even get off one nuke in response, it will be the greatest disaster for humanity since at least World War II.

But at this point Trump doesn’t sound like someone that intends to back down.  In fact, on Tuesday he threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” if they keep threatening us…

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump said from the clubhouse at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J. “He has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said they will be met with the fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

In response to Trump’s comments, the North Koreans threatened to hit Guam with a pre-emptive strike…

If Trump thought that his bluff would be sufficient to finally shut up North Korea, and put an end to Kim’s provocative behavior, well… bluff called because North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported moments ago that not only did N.Korea escalate the tensions up another notch, but explicitly warned that it could carry out a “pre-emptive operation once the US shows signs of provocation”, and that it is “seriously considering a strategy to strike Guam with mid-to-long range missiles.”

Most Americans appear to be completely oblivious to the seriousness of this crisis.  Once we hit North Korea, they will respond.  A single nuke could potentially kill millions in Tokyo, Japan or Seoul, South Korea.  And the North Koreans also have some of the largest chemical and biological weapons stockpiles on the entire planet.  If things take a bad turn, we could see death and destruction on a scale that is absolutely unprecedented.

And if the North Koreans launch an invasion of South Korea, we will instantly be committed to a new Korean War and thousands upon thousands of our young men and women will be sent over there to fight and die.

There is no possible way that a military conflict with North Korea is going to end well.  If things go badly, millions could die, and if things go really badly tens of millions of people could end up dead.

But members of the Trump administration continue to insist that “a military option” is on the table…

In an interview broadcast Saturday on MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt Show, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said the prospect of a North Korea armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs would be “intolerable, from the president’s perspective.”

“We have to provide all options . . . and that includes a military option,” he said.

Of course letting North Korea construct an entire fleet of ICBMs that could endanger the entire planet is not exactly a palatable option either.  The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations all kicked the can down the road year after year, and now we facing a nightmare problem that does not appear to have a good solution.

Unfortunately for Trump, time has now run out and a decision has to be made…

“Today is the day that we can definitely say North Korea is a nuclear power,” Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, told USA TODAY. “There is no more time to stick our heads in the sand and think we have months or years to confront this challenge.”

Let us pray that a way can be found to derail North Korea’s nuclear program that does not involve us going to war.

Because the moment that U.S. forces start striking North Korea, the North Koreans could literally unleash hell if they are inclined to do so.

It appears that we are now closer to nuclear war than we have been at any point since the Cuban missile crisis.  A nuclear holocaust was avoided back then, and hopefully a way will be found to avoid one now.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

Did A Novelist From The 1800s Warn Us In Advance That Donald Trump Would Be ‘The Last President’?

I am about to share with you one of the strangest things that I have come across in a very long time.  In the late 1800s, author Ingersoll Lockwood wrote a series of novels which appear to have striking parallels to events happening today.  In his first two novels, The Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulgar and Baron Trump’s Marvelous Underground Journey, an extremely wealthy little boy with “a very active brain” named Baron Trump is guided on a series of extraordinary adventures by a man known as “Don”.  And if you can believe it, little Baron Trump’s adventures actually begin in Russia…

For starters, the main character’s name is the same as President Donald Trump’s son, albeit spelt differently. Trump’s adventures begin in Russia, and are guided thanks to directions provided by “the master of all masters,” a man named “Don.”

Before leaving for his voyage through the unknown, Trump is told of his family’s motto: “The pathway to glory is strewn with pitfalls and dangers.”

Illustrations from the novels depict Trump dressed in lavish, old-fashioned clothing and jewelry as he departs from Castle Trump and begins his voyage, heading to Russia to locate an entrance into alternate dimensions.

That is strange, right?

Subsequently, Lockwood wrote another novel entitled “The Last President” in which the election of a very unpopular “outsider candidate” sparks huge mob riots by “anarchists and socialists” in New York City.  The following comes from the Daily Mail…

The story opens in a New York City in turmoil. It’s early November right after the election of an enormously opposed candidate.

The East Side of the city, which is where the Women’s March began the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, is in a ‘state of uproar.’

The 19th century book says police officers shouted through the streets as ‘Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of anarchists and socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years.’

‘The Fifth Avenue Hotel will be the first to feel the fury of the mob,’ the novel continues. ‘Would the troops be in time to save it?’

Of course anarchists and socialists would not be rioting if a Democrat was elected, so obviously the president in this particular story would be a Republican.

And today Trump Tower actually stands on Fifth Avenue.

I don’t know if there is any special significance to any of this.  I just found these parallels to be absolutely fascinating, and I thought that I would share them with all of you.  Some people out there believe that Ingersoll Lockwood was trying to warn us about our future, but others are downplaying the parallels that these stories have with modern day events.  For example, this is how Snopes concluded their article on this matter…

Although these books contain some seemingly bizarre coincidences, they are not evidence that Donald Trump has access to a time machine. Time travel conspiracy theories such as this one pick and choose material that supports their conclusions while ignoring everything else. For instance, these books also contain giant turtles, alternate dimensions, a battle with a big white crane, a dog named Bulgar, and a little smiling man frozen in time. Since these aspects have no clear connection to the Trumps, they are omitted from the conspiracy theory.

Before I end this article, let me share with you another “amazing coincidence” that I just came across.

By now, all of you have probably heard about the remarkable solar eclipse that is going to take place on August 21st.  Well, it also turns out that the path of this solar eclipse will almost entirely cross areas of the country that voted for President Trump…

A Boston Globe article attempting to make a connection between the solar eclipse and President Trump supporters is being widely mocked on social media.

The article by Globe reporter Matt Rocheleau, titled “The solar eclipse path will overwhelmingly pass over Trump Country,” starts off by asking the question, “Is the eclipse throwing shade at Clinton supporters?”

In fact, of the approximately 240 counties that this eclipse will cross, a whopping 92 percent of them voted for Trump last November…

He said the path is roughly 70 miles wide and spans about 240 counties — 92 percent of which swung in Mr. Trump’s favor, “while fewer than two dozen counties voted for his opponent, Hillary Clinton.”

The article points out that Mr. Trump himself was born on June 14, 1946 — the same day there was a total lunar eclipse, “though it wasn’t visible from the United States, NASA records show.”

To me, that is rather remarkable, but once again many are pointing out that this could potentially be “just a coincidence”.

When it comes to Trump, there seems to be so many of these “coincidences”.  For instance, on his first full day in office Trump was 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old, and that just happened to take place in year 5777 on the Hebrew calendar.

And here are some more extremely strange numbers that I discussed in a previous article…

-Israel was 77 days old exactly 777 days after Donald Trump was born.

-Israel’s 70th birthday will come exactly 700 days after Trump’s 70th birthday.

-Donald Trump won the election on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 7th year, 7th month and 7th day in office.

I don’t know what special significance all of these facts may have, but I do know that we are living in highly unusual times.

All of human history has been leading up to the times that we are moving into, and I believe that we are going to see great chaos and upheaval.  But there is no other time in human history when I would have rather lived, and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

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