As 2019 ends, the positive economic news regularly astounds financial experts. The stock market continues to reach new highs, while unemployment is at an historic low level. Consumer confidence is soaring, and Americans spent record amounts for the Christmas season.
Under President Donald Trump, onerous regulations and taxes have been cut, and Americans have used the extra money to energize the economy. This has happened while inflation and interest rates are at low levels and wages are increasing.
He’s been running for the 2024 nomination since the day he was sworn in as a senator, aiming to win over Trump’s base by picking fights with populist enemies like Big Tech. This move won’t hurt his chances.
Constitution says House has power to impeach, Senate has sole power to try impeachment cases. For 1st time in history, Dems trying to obstruct an impeachment trial. Senate should update its rules to dismiss these (bogus) Articles if House Dems refuse to try their case
Dr. Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP), made bold predictions for the stock market and the U.S. economy in 2020 this week, saying that both are poised to have big years due to the Trump administration’s policies.
On Tuesday, Navarro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he predicts “at least 32,000 on the Dow” in 2020.
"I’m seeing at least 32,000 on the Dow" in 2020, says White House adviser Peter Navarro pic.twitter.com/J960Wre9Ay
Speaking Thursday on Fox News, Navarro made further predictions for the U.S. economy, saying that a number of factors that are coming together are going to make for a strong U.S. economy in 2020.
“Hey, my forecast streak is on the line here. the day after the election, i said $25,000 on the Dow, everybody said I was crazy,” Navarro said. “July, I said 30,000 on the Dow if we got USMCA passes and interest rates down. 330 points today, we are getting closer to that.”
“I am bullish and the reason why I’m bullish is because of the underlying strength of the GDP growth engine. It’s one of the four things that drive this economy: consumption, investment, government spending, and exports,” Navarro said. “Every one of those under President Donald J Trump is hitting on all cylinders. You know, the consumer low unemployment, rising wages, high optimism, that’s going to be the anchor of 2020, but we also have five trade deals that are going to kick in and force in 2020 with Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, and China. Score that for exports.”
WATCH:
Dr. Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP), highlights how strong the Trump economy is right now. pic.twitter.com/JGwwJJBFPg
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 3, 2020
“Here’s my sleeper, there wasn’t enough attention paid to passage the appropriations bill and National Defense Authorization Act a couple weeks ago, that is a built-in beautiful fiscal floor for growth in 2020,” Navarro continued. “And of course, investment which lacked a bit in 2019, it’s coming in the greatest economy in the world right now and the trade policy encourages it to come here because people know they want production here and if we don’t get it they get tariffs.”
Navarro later weighed in on “smart money” saying that increased government spending was a “ticking time bomb,” saying, “Until you see the bond market tell you it’s a ticking bomb, it ain’t a ticking time bomb. It’s basically putting in a beautiful fiscal floor to grow. And, you know, as the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, I’m particularly heartened by the nature of those expenditures because we got a really solid defense budget now. And, you know, I go around the country, places like the Philly Shipyard or the combat vehicle plants in, like, Lima, Ohio or York, Pennsylvania, the shipbuilding up in Marinette, Wisconsin, these are the places where line item by line item in the defense budget, the blue wall states. The Midwest is absolutely booming.”
Navarro later predicted that American businesses are going to “unleash” in their spending in 2020.
“I think they’re going to unleash. I think what turned things around, Charles, was that jobs report, that blow-out jobs report, which basically finished off any doubt that we were going to have a good 2020,” Navarro said. “And again, you know, the smart money is going to look at what I told you about with that government spending with the appropriations bill.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton appeared on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on the Fox Business Network to discuss the Inspector General’s report on the #SpyGate targeting of Donald Trump.
Pornographic magazine Hustler sent Christmas cards to members of Congress over the holidays that depicted a cartoon of President Trump being shot dead.
The card showed the smiling shooter holding a smoking handgun up in the air as onlookers smiled and cheered over Trump’s bleeding corpse. The back of the card shows the shooter with a speech bubble next to him that reads: “I just shot Donald Trump on Fifth Avenue and no one arrested me.”
The line is a reference to Trump’s comment during the 2016 presidential campaign, in which he bragged that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”
Politico reported that Hustler sent the card to multiple congressional offices. The magazine said: “The card was sent by HUSTLER and was our official holiday card for 2019.”
Washington Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti said on Thursday the most recent political fundraising numbers show the American people are continuing to reject establishment politicians.
"The top fundraiser in your graph is a nationalist and the second fundraiser in your graph is a socialist," Continetti said during an appearance on Fox News’s Special Report. "What that says to me is the American people are continuing to reject establishment politicians. They are continuing to reject politics as usual."
Continetti added that voters are looking for candidates who are outside the political mainstream.
"They’re looking for candidates who are outside the mold and have brands that are distinctive from Washington," Continetti said. "If the Democrats end up nominating a typical politician, in Joe Biden say, that is trouble for them in the general election."
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign led all presidential contenders with $46 million in campaign donations over the final three months of 2019. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) led Democratic candidates with $34.5 million. Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg (D.) said his campaign raised $24.7 million, followed by Biden with $22.7 million. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has not released her fundraising numbers as of Thursday night.
Sanders addressed Biden’s candidacy in an interview with the Washington Post. He said that Biden’s record is "so weak that it just cannot create the kind of excitement and energy that is going to be needed to defeat Donald Trump."
The next Democratic debate will be held on Jan. 14 in Iowa. Five candidates have qualified so far: Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.).
Documents have emerged proving that former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, whom President Donald Trump fired, lied to the FBI about a leak he authorized in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
The FBI documents, released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the left-wing group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), show that McCabe first told FBI investigators in May 2017 that he did not authorize a leak to the Wall Street Journal in late 2016 that the agency had opened a probe into Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. The October 30, 2016, Wall Street Journal story, from Devlin Barrett, revealed that the agency was in an “internal feud” over the Clinton probes.
McCabe in May 2017 denied that he was the source of the leak — but later fessed up, angering bureau investigators who had been spinning their wheels trying to identify the source of the leak. The documents, which the FBI released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, include transcripts of McCabe’s conversations with investigators, who were frustrated after wasting their time on the probe. On Aug. 18, 2017, FBI officials grilled McCabe again to try to unravel what they said was ‘conflicting information’ they had gathered about the possible leak to the Journal, The Daily Beast reported.”
During that later interview in August 2017, McCabe admitted he did indeed authorize the leak. From the New York Post story summarizing the documents:
“I need to know from you, did you authorize this article? Were you aware of it? Did you authorize it?” an agent asked McCabe,
The agent then described his response: “And as nice as could be, he said, ‘Yep. Yep I did.’”
The investigator then said that “things had suddenly changed 180 degrees with this” after McCabe’s admission, which turned his initial denials into a potential crime.
“In our business, we stop and say, look, now we’re getting into an area for due process,” the agent said.
“I was very careful to say… with all due respect, this is what you told us. This has caused us some kind of, you know, sidetracking here now with some information other people have told us,” the agent said, growing increasingly frustrated.
“I remember saying to him, at, I said, ‘Sir, you understand that we’ve put a lot of work into this based on what you told us,’” the agent said.
“I mean, and I even said, long nights and weekends working on this, trying to find out who amongst your ranks of trusted people would, would do something like that.’ And he kind of just looked down, kind of nodded, and said ‘Yeah I’m sorry.”
Technically, it is a crime to lie to the FBI. But McCabe has not been charged with any crime.
A White House official told Breitbart News it is a travesty that McCabe has not yet been charged with any crime.
“Andrew McCabe, while serving as Deputy Director of the FBI, lied to the FBI,” the White House official told Breitbart News. “Then he lied about lying. He has thrown thousands of men in jail for lying to federal investigators. This hypocrisy cannot go unpunished.”
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), a leading voice in the House GOP conference, also blasted McCabe for this saying that he committed a crime and should face the consequences anyone else caught lying to the FBI would face:
This is a crime. People go to jail for this. When the Deputy Director of the FBI is the guilty party, it’s even worse.https://t.co/cMdyKpffgC
Fredericks, in the New York Post, described McCabe’s and his lawyers’ responses to the revelations that he lied during the investigation as simply he was unprepared for the question:
McCabe’s lawyer has said his story changed because in the first interview he wasn’t prepared for the question, and that he was soon distracted by President Trump’s firing of FBI chief James Comey, whom McCabe replaced as acting director.
McCabe, who said he was confused when first questioned, was fired in March 2018, two days before he was expected to retire on orders from President Trump, who called his ouster a “great day for democracy.”
McCabe served briefly as acting director of the FBI when President Trump fired former FBI director James Comey. Trump later fired McCabe, too, days before he was set to retire. McCabe has since joined CNN as a contributor.
CLAIM: Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says California had an “incredible” decade because it stood up for “our values” and took on “big issues.”
VERDICT: Mostly false. California’s economy recovered, but it lags behind in other areas.
Newsom tweeted on New Year’s Day: “What an incredible decade. We’ve accomplished so much in CA by standing up for our values and taking on some of the biggest issues — from healthcare to gun violence to climate change.”
Curiously, Newsom did not cite the state’s economic or fiscal progress, but its “values.” That is because much of what Newsom and the Democrats value in California has to do with good intentions, rather than real-world results.
California’s only “achievement” in health care is extending “free” benefits to illegal aliens. Despite gun control, it led the nation in “mass slayings” last year. And its effect on global climate is negligible, as its energy costs climb.
When Breitbart News asked Newsom last month how he would defend his state against conservative criticism, he cited California’s economic recovery, and noted that the state now runs a budget surplus, rather than a deficit.
But these trends, while commendable, are inseparable from the recovery of the nation as a whole. Though the state remains a hothouse for high-tech and media startups, thousands of companies left the state due to its high taxes, heavy regulations, and litigious environment.
Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, once said: “We’ve got a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes … But smart people figure out how to make it.”
That attitude sums up California’s economic development over the decade: incredible, and growing, wealth at the top, among the tech elite and the well-connected — while the poor grow, and the middle class stagnates, or leaves.
As Leo Tolstoy said, by way of Isaiah Berlin: “The leaves of a tree delight us more than the roots.” And the roots of California’s progress have rotted over the past decade, under both Brown and Newsom, by a variety of measures.
Middle-class exodus: From 2007 to 2016, California lost a net million residents — some 2.5% of its population (which still grows due to births and immigration). The high cost of living — driven by high taxes and the shortage of housing — is a major factor. With homeowners and small business owners — the Republican base — leaving, Democrats and their policies become entrenched, though the state may lose a congressional seat after the Census.
Power shortages: The state that leads the nation, and the world, in technological innovation cannot keep the lights on any longer — not since the Pacific Gas & Electric Company began shutting off the electricity last year during high winds to prevent wildfires and protect itself from liability. After focusing on “green” energy and letting nuclear plants go dark, the state government was unprepared for the basic task of making sure California had enough power.
Homelessness: The most visible change in California over the past decade has been the surge in homelessness — 16.4% in 2018 alone, which “entirely” accounted for the nation’s overall 2.7% rise. Tent cities are becoming a common sight in the big cities, and even in rural towns. The state has done nothing to address the root causes of homelessness; it keeps offering generous welfare benefits and asking the federal government for housing money.
Drought: California suffered one of the worst droughts in its history for much of the decade. The effects were made worse because the state has failed to invest in new water storage infrastructure for decades. Though politicians point to climate change (inaccurately) as the cause of recent wildfires, poor forestry management — state and federal — plus restrictions on logging and poor residential planning have turned natural variation into man-made disasters.
Infrastructure: The state suffers from a massive backlog in infrastructure spending. Democrats recently provided more funding for the state’s roads — through an unpopular, regressive gas tax hike rather than spending cuts on less urgent priorities. But one of Newsom’s first acts as governor was to cancel much of the state’s high-speed rail plan, which had already sunk billions of federal dollars into plans for a rural segment no one had any interest in using.
Education: The past decade saw California schools continue to underperform. Reform movements, championing school choice, public charters, merit pay, and other proven innovations, gained support in minority communities and even won in local school board elections — only to be crushed, repeatedly, by teachers-union-backed candidates at the state level. For California’s children, a decade of underachievement in public schools could have lifelong effects.
Crime: Though crime remains at historically low levels, the past decade saw periods of increased crime in many areas, thanks in part to ill-conceived prison reforms such as Proposition 47, which focused on reducing sentences and downgrading many crimes. Notorious crimes committed by illegal aliens — such as the killing of Kate Steinle in 2015 — became national symbols of the lack of immigration enforcement and a general decline in the rule of law.
As this article was about to be published, Newsom added more claims about California’s success:
Spending some time looking back on 2019. CA made some serious “first-in-the-nation” and big moves…
Noticeably absent: any mention of results, aside from the low unemployment rate, for which President Donald Trump can also claim credit.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Thursday was the U.S. stock market’s first day of trading for the 2020 election year and as Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier said on Special Report, “stock markets picked up the new year where they left off in 2019” by setting new record highs, yet again. It was a great way to kick off the new year but as they’ve done with much of the positive economic news since President Trump took office, the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) completely ignored it during their evening newscasts.
As 2019 ends, the positive economic news regularly astounds financial experts. The stock market continues to reach new highs, while unemployment is at an historic low level. Consumer confidence is soaring, and Americans spent record amounts for the Christmas season.
When laws seem not to apply to those who create or enforce them, skepticism can turn into cynicism. 
