Why I’m Endorsing Donald Trump for President

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

These are the words of Mike Huckabee, a former Governor of Arkansas and the father of today’s Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders—who may be a political force nationally in the years ahead.[2].  His comments appear in their entirety as follows, and are worth reading:

We’re almost 2 years away from the next Presidential election, but it’s already in full swing. Candidates are announcing in both parties, and the media has already started their worthless, meaningless, and clueless speculating and pontificating on who’s up, who’s down, and who won’t make it to town!

Donald Trump was my 2nd choice for President in 2016. My first choice was ME! When I didn’t make it, I endorsed, supported, and campaigned for Donald Trump. As President, he exceeded my expectations in implementing the America First policies that were long overdue to truly Make America Great Again. I surprised most of my friends and some of my enemies in supporting Trump. He often said things that were cringe-worthy, and some of the labels he affixed to political opponents and the media were harsh, if not accurate and incredibly funny. I didn’t like all his Tweets or his comments from the podium. And when people asked how I could support him I said it was like choosing a doctor to do surgery on a member of my family. If my choice was between a kind, loving, praying surgeon who had the bedside manner of a pastor but who had never successfully done that particular surgery or a surgeon who was gruff, bombastic, and impatient, and who had the bedside manner of a schoolyard bully but had successfully done that surgery hundreds of times, I’d pick the guy with the questionable personality but the experienced and skillful surgical hands.

Voting for a President is not like being on a church pulpit committee and hiring a pastor. Ideally, I’d love to have people in office who share my political views as well as my personal views and my personality. But in the same way I choose someone to work on my car, fly the plane I’m on, repair my home air conditioner, or dry-clean my suits, I select people to work for me who are the best at what they are hired to do. There was a reason that people were lined up on the sidewalk to get soup from “Soup Man” that we all saw on Jerry Steinfeld. The soup was good, even if “Soup Man” was an insufferable grouch.

There are going to be some very fine people running for President in 2024 and some who could prove to be as worthless as a milk bucket under a bull, but I will again personally support President Trump so he can finish what he started during his first term. He accomplished more to make America Great Again than any President in my lifetime—and that goes back to Eisenhower. There were Presidents who were more articulate and had a more engaging sense of humor, such as Kennedy and Reagan. There were some who had great legislative savvy, such as Lyndon Johnson. Some were truly decent and kind human beings, such as Jimmy Carter and George Herbert Walker Bush. But no President helped the country get steered away from the insanity of socialist economics and insane polices on energy, the military, and the proper role of the courts as did Donald Trump.

His tax and regulatory reforms put more than $4000 in the pockets of working-class families. His energy policies provided us with affordable energy for our cars and homes and made us energy independent over Middle Eastern countries who hated us for the first time in 75 years. His “tough love” to European nations who were derelict in paying their agreed-to dues for NATO actually saved NATO. He was the first President since Reagan to NOT get us into a war, yet he advanced the pay and benefits of our military and focused on our armed forces being lethal instead of being woke. In 2016, I introduced him in New York to 1000 pastors and said I wasn’t sure he could find John 3:16 in a marked New Testament, but NO President ever did more for religious liberty than Donald Trump. NO President was ever as pro-life as he was, not just in what he said, but what he actually DID. And he had the guts to move our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognize it as the rightful capital of the Jewish state, and enact the ground-breaking Abraham Accords.

Maybe there are other conservative candidates for President who would do well, but who else could take and endure the relentless hate he faced and the never-ending persecutions and prosecutions of the demonic deep state?

Donald Trump is far from perfect, but then so am I. And so are you. But I love my country and I don’t want it to be in second place or third. I want it to be FIRST. And I’ll put up with a personality that can be at times vain and vulgar in order to make America Great Again and that’s why I will support him again for President.[3]

I have considerable respect for Mike Huckabee—and his daughter—and share many if not most of his views with respect to Trump.  Watch the former President’s speech in Waco, Texas, in its entirety.[4]  He is not the raving lunatic that his Leftist opponents describe him to be.  Quite to the contrary, he is a true American patriot, which may be among the reasons why they have tried to destroy him since he began his quest for the presidency in 2015. 

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© 2023, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=E1898527-D0F3-469A-A299-3519D0E7FC5B&s=1L83; see also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee (“Mike Huckabee”) and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Huckabee_Sanders (“Sarah Huckabee Sanders”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/governor-sarah-huckabee-sanders-delivers-the-state-of-the-union-speech/ (“Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders Delivers The State Of The Union Speech”)

[3]  See https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=E1898527-D0F3-469A-A299-3519D0E7FC5B&s=1L83

[4]  See https://www.rsbnetwork.com/news/watch-live-president-trump-holds-first-2024-campaign-rally-in-waco-tx-3-25-23/

All Of The January 6 Committee Members Should Be Imprisoned In The DC Jail

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

As I have written before, lots of us began as Democrats; however, many are very ashamed to admit it today.[2]  Nothing is more repulsive than what the so-called “January 6 Committee” of the U.S. House of Representatives did to target former President Donald Trump and distort what happened that day, more than two years ago.  Perhaps it is best summarized by Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and the father of Arkansas’ present governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders:

Tucker Carlson’s Monday night presentation on the “new,” previously hidden January 6 video caused the predictable uproar from the left, who just can’t stand that you got to see anything they didn’t want you to see.

Before we get into Tuesday’s installment, here are some highlights — and lowlights — from the reaction to Monday’s show…

First, Officer Brian Sicknick’s family is outraged that Tucker used video to show that he was not murdered by J6-ers but rather, as was later determined, passed away from natural causes the day after. Of course, they’re calling for Tucker to be “silenced.”

Recall that the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEW YORK TIMES had wrongly reported that Officer Sicknick was beaten to death on January 6 with a fire extinguisher blow to the head. Though they later retracted this, the idea that he was “slain” became part of the J6 lore that many still believe. After the medical examiner determined that he’d died of natural causes — two strokes — his family still maintains that his death resulted from a beating, and/or pepper spray, when there was no evidence of this and the officer seemed fine in video taken later that day. Also, he wore a helmet.

We’ll never know if the stress of that day indirectly contributed to his medical problem. But even that is a far cry from the lie about insurrectionists beating him to death.

The family has released a lengthy statement, a vicious diatribe against “Supreme Leader Trump” (“as corrupt and evil as Vladimir Putin”), Tucker Carlson (“delusional”) and FOX NEWS (“like Pravda”; “the propaganda arm of the Republican Party”), berating those who present Ashli Babbitt (“a criminal”) as “some kind of martyr for being shot in the process of breaking into the Capitol building.” Ashli was a petite, unarmed woman who had not broken into the Capitol building. We’ve covered the details of her tragically unnecessary death at length.

If they’re upset that the Capitol and DC Metro Police were “incredibly outnumbered,” they might want to ask why House leadership allowed that situation. Tucker was NOT “downplaying the horrid situation faced by the…police,” as they claimed. Just the opposite: he denounced the shameful lack of back-up security that day. Do they even know President Trump approved the deployment of 20,000 National Guard troops and that Nancy Pelosi turned his offer down?

Tucker is right to say this was not an insurrection. There was violence in the crowd at certain entrances to the Capitol, but the building is so huge and sprawling that many hundreds of peaceful protesters had no idea it was even happening. To acknowledge that most protesters were peaceful in no way excuses the violence.

Sicknick’s family members are speaking from a deep well of grief and don’t understand we need the full picture of what really happened. It doesn’t make him any less of a hero in anyone’s eyes. And if this fine officer actually had been killed with a fire extinguisher, Trump supporters would want to know and would be just as horrified as anyone else.

What concerns us is that Democrats scrimped on security for Trump’s event — I believe deliberately — and then exploited Officer Sicknick’s death for propaganda purposes. The story that he was “slain” by a “deadly insurrectionist mob” was a politically useful lie.

https://nationalfile.com/capitol-cop-sicknicks-family-is-outraged-after-j6-security-footage-proves-he-wasnt-murdered/

And here’s a piece of information you won’t find just anywhere: as THE NEW YORK POST reported three days after his death, Officer Sicknick’s friend Caroline Behringer said he’d been a Trump supporter who’d even written to his congressman to oppose Trump’s impeachment. This opinion piece by Matthew Schmitz includes snippets of letters he wrote, offering insight into why he supported Trump instead of government insiders. Perhaps Sicknick’s family is not aware of his views.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/10/what-the-left-wants-to-ignore-about-slain-capitol-police-officer/

Moving on…Tucker’s producers determined that the J6 Committee added those sounds of crowd mayhem — shouting, screams — to the video they played in their hearings. There’s no debate about this; the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) was video-only, no audio recording at all. The NEW YORK POST called this a “deceptively edited primetime drama, produced by a former ABC NEWS president for maximum emotional impact.”

https://notthebee.com/article/the-j6-committee-apparently-added-audio-including-screams-and-other-crowd-mayhem-sounds-to-silent-cctv-footage

President Trump is now calling for the release of J6 detainees, some of whom are still being held pending trial over something that happened over two years ago. He praised Tucker and called this new evidence one of the “biggest scoops” in American journalism. “’Trump’ and most others are totally innocent — LET THEM GO FREE, NOW,” he posted on Truth Social.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109979573523540265

Now let’s turn to reactions from Senate Republicans, most notably Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Sadly, this news is not good. As Tristan Justice reports in THE FEDERALIST, “Senate Republicans condemned blockbuster reporting from FOX NEWS’ Tucker Carlson Tuesday, based on Democrat talking points.”

Regarding Tucker’s presentation, McConnell said, “I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol Police about what happened on January 6th.” Chief Tom Manger had sent a memo to his department calling Tucker’s coverage “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer (who misquoted Tucker), South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds and South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham were also dismissive. Mitt Romney compared Tucker to INFOWARS’ Alex Jones.

I think McConnell, and apparently Chief Manger, both fail to understand that we’ve already seen the violence. That video was presented over and over. We know about the violence. THIS is the video that until now we have NOT seen. This is “the rest of the story.”

https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/07/senate-republicans-cave-to-dem-propaganda-over-j6-tapes/

Commentator J. D. Rucker said Tucker did “a very good job of highlighting some of the deception” surrounding January 6. He suggested four things that need to happen now:

1. (echoing President Trump) Release all political prisoners. In this, Rucker goes farther than we might, saying to release them ALL because “events that led to those crimes were manufactured…coordinated for the sole purpose of building the insurrection narrative.” True, but, as we’ve said, that doesn’t excuse actual violence and vandalism.

2. Make the tapes public. That would be a YES.

3. Investigate, charge, arrest and prosecute everyone complicit in the January 6 lies. What say you? Jail time for the likes of Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Adam Schiff and, as Rucker says, “their merry bank of evildoers”? Well, falsifying evidence is a crime, and it seems the committee did that. We’re not attorneys and neither is Rucker, but prosecution is something to explore. Also civil litigation.

4. Keep the flow of information coming. Rucker doesn’t want this to be “a nuclear attack followed by a press release.” Make documentaries. Drop bombshells. We have to counter “two years’ worth of gaslighting and propaganda that have brainwashed most Americans into thinking the mostly peaceful events that occurred on January 6, 2021, were somehow on par with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor,” he says.

Rucker has some great ideas for being “patriotic in public” and I hope you read them. As he says, “One episode of Tucker Carlson isn’t going to make a dent.”

https://discernreport.com/four-things-that-need-to-happen-following-drop-of-january-6-tapes/

Moving to Tucker’s presentation Tuesday night, he first reminds us that in some cases, the DOJ didn’t share exculpatory evidence with attorneys for J6 defendants, violating their constitutional rights. Here’s his opening monologue, which also reviews major points from the previous night.

https://rumble.com/v2c61h6-tucker-carlson-asks-the-questions-that-must-be-answered-about-the-jan.-6-fe.html

“In free countries,” he said, “governments do not lie about protests as a pretext to get more power for themselves. They don’t selectively edit video for propaganda purposes and then lie about them in fake hearings and show trials. But that’s exactly what happened, and every member of Congress should ask WHY that happened.”

Rather than asking why, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the censorship and demanded that FOX NEWS stop Tucker from running “a second segment of lies.” Schumer ominously said, “Conduct like theirs is just asking for another January 6 to happen.”

Needless to say, Tucker’s show went on as planned.

Tucker also brings up Sen. McConnell’s objections, along with those of the other GOP senators mentioned above. “So it’s actually not about left and right,” he says, “not about Republican and Democrat. Here you have people with shared interests…” It’s a club, he said, and they’re all showing their membership cards.

https://rumble.com/v2c64me-tucker-blasts-mcconnells-collusion-with-democrats-on-phony-jan.-6-narrative.html

Finally, Tucker addresses the utter lack of preparedness for this huge event, despite ample warning of potential disturbance. Apparently, the front-line officers on duty were not aware of this situation and were overwhelmed. This failure of communication “has never been explained.”

He goes to an interview he did with former Lt. Tarik Johnson, a 22-year veteran of the Capitol Police who on January 6 was responsible for security during election certification. Now, here’s something strange: the Committee never called him to testify, even though he really wanted to and prayed they would ask him. “I guess the focus was on Donald Trump,” he said, “and not the failures of the Capitol Police.”

He told Tucker that on January 6, nobody answered his numerous pleas for help over Capitol Hill Police radio frequencies, even after protesters began entering the Capitol. He’s still baffled as to why. Assistant Chief (in charge of intel operations) Yogananda Pittman, he said, kept needed information about the protest from front-line officers. When he just couldn’t raise anyone to give him authorization to evacuate Senators, he made the judgment call to go ahead anyway.

As Tucker explained, he wasn’t rewarded for his quick thinking. Instead, he was punished because outside the Capitol, he was photographed wearing a MAGA hat that someone in the crowd had handed him. He says he put it on to help him get through the crowd while trying to rescue fellow officers who were trapped inside the building. It was for de-escalation — smart thinking! But “for the crime of wearing the Trump hat, Johnson found himself suspended. Ultimately, he resigned from the force and lost his pension.”

He now has a part-time job moving furniture. Yogananda Pittman, on the other hand, was rewarded two days after the riot for her apparent ineptitude. She got promoted to acting chief of the Capitol Police. Just last month, she moved to a prestigious job as head of security at UC Berkeley, “which is right outside Pelosi’s congressional district,” Tucker notes.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/02/01/its-official-uc-berkeleys-new-police-chief-is-sworn-in-today/

Johnson told Tucker he was “shocked” by the partisanship he saw within the Capitol Police after January 6. Historically, they’ve always been neutral, but no more, it seems.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6322106979112

Be sure and also see Tucker’s interview with Julie Kelly, who wrote the book JANUARY 6, as she talks about the situation faced by current J6current J6 detainees, some of whom have been jailed for 26 months. She says the federal judges in DC are “the real villains here.” Tomorrow we’ll talk more about the fate of these political prisoners.[3]

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6322115708112

Why confine the January 6 Committee members and their co-conspirators to jail in the District of Columbia, one might ask?  Because the conditions are apparently so bad there that the January 6 prisoners have asked to be transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where they believe the conditions are better.[4]

And yes, former President Trump is correct: the January 6 Committee members should be tried for treason.[5]  But that applies equally to their co-conspirators.

Berkeley, where I went to law school, is a hotbed of wokeism today, and shameful.  The idea that Yogananda Pittman was rewarded for her conduct by being named as head of security on the campus is outrageous.

Lastly, GOP Senator Mitch McConnell is a total disgrace, and should be jettisoned from the party along with other RINOs like Mitt Romney.

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© 2023, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/the-democrats-are-so-out-of-touch-that-they-would-elect-a-cadaver/ (“The Democrats Are So Out Of Touch That They Would Elect A Cadaver”)

[3]  See https://govmikehuckabee.substack.com/p/january-6-video-the-truth-is-out ; see also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/governor-sarah-huckabee-sanders-delivers-the-state-of-the-union-speech/ (“Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders Delivers The State Of The Union Speech”)

[4]  See, e.g., https://www.npr.org/2022/10/07/1127481476/capitol-riot-detainees-request-guantanamo-transfer-dc-jail-conditions#:~:text=Jan.-,6%20detainees%20request%20transfers%20to%20Guantanamo%20Bay%20over%20D.C.%20jail,bad%20food%20and%20filthy%20laundry.  (“Jan. 6 detainees request transfers to Guantanamo Bay over D.C. jail conditions”)

[5]  See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11835065/Trump-demands-January-6-committee-tried-TREASON-Tucker-Carlson-videos.html (“Trump demands January 6 committee members are tried for TREASON”)

The RED WAVE is NOT Guaranteed

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

This is a warning issued by Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016[2], which states:

While I was in Israel recently, I was asked by Israeli friends how the elections would turn out in America this fall. My response was that Republicans will win in a blowout unless they fail to come up a cohesive message other than, “Hey we aren’t THOSE guys who doubled your gas prices, jacked up groceries by 20%, and who opened the borders to illegals but busted the supply of baby formula.” The policies of the leftist Democrats have finally become untenable for common-sense loving Americans who unlike Joe Biden’s recent nominee to the Supreme Court DO know what a woman is. The Democrats have gone into a wild irrational rage about abortion, calling it “health care for women,” even though at least one person dies every time there is an abortion. They claim that 4 and 5 year old children ought to be taught about gender fluidity before they learn their numbers, colors, and letters of the alphabet. Most Americans know that’s not just bad policy, it’s insanity. And working-class Americans have grown tired of the elitists from Hollywood and Washington lecturing about climate change and carbon footprints when the same hypocritical snobs fly around the globe in fuel-sucking, carbon emitting private jets and upon landing, ride in long black limousines while owning 4 or 5 homes.

The demands to tax more don’t go over well with anyone who owns a business or is trying to get kids to school each day and feed them each evening, but Republicans need to focus on what they will stand FOR if given the majorities in the House and Senate. Keep in mind, that even if the GOP takes both houses, they won’t be able to pass legislation because Joe Biden isn’t likely to sign anything that makes energy cheaper, houses more affordable, or our borders more secure. Biden’s party still wants to pursue truly crazy policies like Critical Race Theory that indoctrinates schoolchildren to believe that all white children are evil oppressors and that our nation is systemically racist and bad, despite it being the ONE place on earth where people of every color risk their very lives to get to because they believe America is still a great country where freedom and opportunity awaits.

Republicans should tell America that if elected, they will pursue the following things and force Joe Biden to either sign the legislation or explain to struggling American why not:

1. We will finish the border wall, enforce immigration laws, and stop the flow of deadly drugs and human trafficking of small children to become sex slaves for the drug cartels.

2. We will support our military by giving them leaders who believe that a military being deadly is more important than being diverse. That means people are promoted because they are the best, not because they are the right color, gender, or sexual identity.

3. We will value all life from conception because we don’t think any human life is disposable or expendable.

4. We will work toward a completely different tax system like the Fair Tax in which we pay taxes on what we consume and not what we produce. We would get rid of the death tax and capital gains taxes because we shouldn’t punish productivity.

5. We will follow the Constitution and allow the states to govern themselves without the federal government mandating the minutia.

6. We will not tolerate violent crime and letting killers and thugs back on the streets to repeat their attacks on the law-abiding public. We all should have an expectation to walk in our neighborhood, ride a subway or bus, or get from their car to the front door of a grocery store without being assaulted.

7. We will renew energy independence by re-starting the Keystone XL pipeline, drilling on federal lands, and extracting the oil and natural gas under our own feet and re-starting a long-term nuclear energy capacity.

The country is in a mess and while Biden and the Democrats blame Putin, Trump, or anyone but themselves, we all know they OWN the results of their policies.

But we the people own the elections with our votes. And the country doesn’t belong to the politicians but the people. Always has; always will![3]

Governor Huckabee’s words need to be heeded, not ignored.  Lots of us began as Democrats, but left the party years ago when it veered so far to the left that it was unrecognizable.  We became Independents, and proudly so, or Republicans.

We are the inheritors of a great nation, consisting of Americans of different colors, religions and ethnicities.  However, with few exceptions, we want America to survive and prosper for the rest of our lives and that of our loved ones.[4]

And yes, Vladimir Putin’s war is raging in Ukraine, and courageous Ukrainians have shown the world that freedom is precious and worth fighting for; and they are an inspiration.[5]  China threatens Taiwan, while North Korea is engaged in sable-rattling.  The Coronavirus pandemic continues to raise its ugly head, while many Americans wish it was long gone, and act accordingly.

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© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Huckabee (“Mike Huckabee”)

[3]  See https://www.mikehuckabee.com/latest-news?id=13D707E3-0425-48C3-87BF-30AA660E4D98

[4]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/america-a-rich-tapestry-of-life/ (“America: A Rich Tapestry Of Life”)

[5]  There are traitors in our midst such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who believed that the United States was in decline, and that his job was to ease that decline and fall from grace.  Needless to say, Ronald Reagan came along and won the Cold War, and the former Soviet Union was no more.  For Kissinger to be counseling Ukraine to give in to Russia’s vicious killer Putin is absurd.  Kissinger is a foreign-born pathetic relic of a bygone era, if that much.

See https://finance.yahoo.com/news/henry-kissinger-warns-against-defeat-174812366.html (“Henry Kissinger: Ukraine must give Russia territory”)

Sarah And Todd Palin: The Big Winners?

By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

The biggest winners in the 2010 American elections may prove to be former Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and her husband Todd.  She became the darling of the Tea Party movement, which energized the moribund Republican Party and may decide its future—and that of its “establishment.”  While there is a long list of other potentially-strong GOP candidates, the often-outspoken Sarah Palin has “caught fire” and connects with her audiences like few politicians can.[2] Barack Obama did this prior to the 2008 elections, but he has lost his luster and credibility, and faded.[3]

Palin has established herself as a force to be feared and reckoned with in Republican politics, and is formidable.  As Michael D. Shear noted in the New York Times:

Ms. Palin wasn’t on any ballot. But the self-described “Mama Grizzly” had plenty at stake  . . .  as she sought to bolster her credentials as the Republican Party’s most powerful kingmaker and the voice of the newly empowered Tea Party movement. Ms. Palin was anything but timid in the midterm elections, endorsing dozens of candidates, including in some of the most high-profile races.[4]

Indeed, most candidates won whom Sarah Palin had endorsed—resulting in “plenty of victories that Ms. Palin and her allies have already begun to point to as evidence of her political prowess and her ability to shape and direct the unwieldy frustration that is fueling American politics.”[5] A political analyst for CBS News, Nicolle Wallace, stated: “My observation of Sarah Palin is that she is one of the shrewdest political figures in our country at this moment.  She’s also one of the most electric.”[6]

Germany’s SPIEGEL ONLINE observed:

“If there was one true victor on election night  . . .  it was the Tea Party movement. . . .  What matters now is whether the Tea Party can manage to establish itself as an independent power in Washington, as a voice of dissent next to the Republicans—in order to profit even more from the wave of dissatisfaction that is sweeping the land.”

“Then anything would be possible in two years. Even the prospect of the former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as the first female president of the United States.”[7]

If Sarah Palin is a winner, one might ask: why include Todd Palin too?  Because he is a man’s man; and for many men such as yours truly, the Palins are running as a team—as they did in Alaska—and Todd adds legitimacy to Sarah Palin’s candidacy and potentially brings in male voters.  For far-Left and mainstream Democrats alike, especially women, Hillary Clinton provided legitimacy to Bill Clinton’s runs for the presidency, amidst almost non-stop allegations of peccadillos, adultery and worse.

As the 2012 elections loom, and as Barack Obama’s presidency effectively ends[8], Hillary and Bill Clinton represent a team to which many Democrats may flock once again.  For members of the Tea Party movement and Republicans and “disenchanted” Democrats, the Palins represent a breath of fresh air too.  Indeed, it is not beyond the pale to believe that two women might face off for the American presidency in 2012, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, which would be historic!

© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, which specializes in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/naegele_resume.html).  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., http://www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2] Right after the 2010 elections, the Rasmussen polling organization released the following results, looking ahead to the 2012 elections:

On the Republican side, it’s a dead heat between the ex-governors—Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Sarah Palin of Alaska, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary voters.

Asked who they would vote for if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 20% say Romney, 19% Huckabee and another 19% Palin. . . .

Romney and Palin are tied among male GOP voters, while Huckabee has a slight edge among female voters.

In October 2009 when Likely Republican primary voters were given a choice of five potential presidential nominees, Huckabee led with 29% support, followed by Romney with 24% of the vote and Palin at 18%.

Rounding out the list of seven candidates chosen by Rasmussen Reports for the question, with their levels of support, are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (13%), Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (6%), Texas Congressman Ron Paul (5%) and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (3%).  Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

See http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/november_2010/gop_voters_like_three_candidates_best_for_2012

Thus, Sarah Palin has moved up in the polling results; and the full effects of Tea Party-supporter voting in the GOP primaries may not be reflected in the Rasmussen polling data.

[3] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/the-end-of-barack-obama (see postings beneath the article as well)

[4] See http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/palin-proves-that-mama-grizzly-has-bite/

[5] See id; see also http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-11-12-1Apalin12_CV_N.htm

[6] See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/03/earlyshow/main7017707.shtml

Among the winners whom Palin endorsed: John Boozman of Arkansas for the U.S. Senate; Rand Paul of Kentucky for the Senate; Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire (which holds the first presidential primary) for the Senate; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania for the Senate; Susana Martinez of New Mexico for governor (who may prove helpful with the growing block of Hispanic voters); and Nikki Haley of South Carolina for governor (who may be helpful when Palin’s presidential campaign moves to South Carolina).

As the New York Times’ Michael D. Shear points out, there were losers too:

In Delaware, Ms. Palin all but created the Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell, helping thrust the young woman onto the national political stage over the strenuous objections of the Republican elite in Washington. And in the end, Ms. O’Donnell never had a chance, handing what most likely would have been a Republican Senate seat to Democrats.

And in Nevada, Republican celebration was muted when their top target—Harry Reid, the Senate’s majority leader—handily defeated Ms. Palin’s chosen candidate, Sharron Angle, to return to Washington.

In Ms. Palin’s home state, Alaska, political turmoil still reigns thanks to her support of Joe Miller, the Tea Party favorite who defeated Senator Lisa Murkowski in the state’s  Republican primary this year. But with “write-ins” leading Mr. Miller, Ms. Murkowski may retain her seat.

Still, as potential 2012 presidential contenders begin lining up support and cashing in chits, Ms. Palin will have plenty of places to look for support. In addition to the Senate and governors’ races, there are dozens of lesser-known House candidates who had earned her blessing.

See http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/palin-proves-that-mama-grizzly-has-bite/

[7] See http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,727235,00.html

[8] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/the-end-of-barack-obama (see postings beneath the article as well)