By Mike Huckabee
May 18, 2022
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Blessings on you and your family, and from all the Huckabee staff! Today's newsletter includes:
- Tuesday Primary results
- Madison Cawthorn loses
- Biden takes the low road
- And much more
Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee
1. DAILY BIBLE VERSE
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Psalms 91:1-2
If you have a favorite Bible Verse you want to see in one of our newsletters, please email [email protected].
2. Documentary film 2,000 MULES in wide theatrical release
When my writers tried to see the documentary film 2,000 MULES in a theater in advance of its streaming premiere, the showings for that week were already essentially sold out, across the entire Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. They had to wait until the weekend and watch it streaming at home.
They assumed it was too late to ever see it in the theater, with a crowd. But this movie has been doing so well that filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza is announcing a return to theaters!
Starting this Friday, May 20, 2,000 MULES is, as they say in the movie biz, “going wide.” Around 400 theaters will have a typical wide release, with ticket sales for showings throughout the day.
This is a great way for groups to get together and see the film. D’Souza says they’ve been “bombarded with people trying to organize groups.”
Would you like to see 2,000 MULES in a movie theater? I know that’s what my writers will be doing this weekend.
3. Summer of '22 energy bills will break records
Remember how the Obama-Biden Administration kept declaring the “Recovery Summer” that never seemed to arrive? Well, between record high gas prices and now, electric bills that will soon be higher than 4th of July skyrockets, we may all be lucky if we survive this summer, much less recover from it.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/energy-bills-summer-2022
4. Day 2 of Sussmann trial: DC jury will be a challenge
On Day 2 of the Michael Sussmann trial, federal prosecutors under the direction of special counsel John Durham gave an opening statement accusing Sussmann of using the FBI as a “political tool” to create an October surprise against 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.
As Trace Gallagher on FOX News reported, they said it was “a plan that used and manipulated the FBI. A plan that the defendant hoped would trigger news outlets and trigger an FBI investigation. A plan that largely succeeded.”
It succeeded because, even though the claim was false, Trump and Russia were “forever linked in the court of public opinion.”
Assistant Special Counsel Deborah Brittain Shaw told the jurors, “He told a lie that was designed to achieve a political end, a lie that was designed to inject the FBI into a presidential election.”
Perhaps deliberately using a term that resonates with the left, she said, “This is a case about privilege...the privilege of a lawyer who thought that for the powerful, the normal rules didn’t apply, that he could use the FBI as a political tool...The defendant lied to direct the power and resources of the FBI to his own ends and to serve the agendas of his clients.”
Given that this DC jury is likely biased against Trump, Shaw addressed what she called “the proverbial elephant in the room,” the political context that threatens to influence jurors: “Some people have very strong feelings about politics and Russia,” she told them, “and many people have strong feelings about Donald Trump and Russia. But we are not here because these allegations involved either of them, nor are we here because the client was the Hillary Clinton campaign.”
“We are here,” she said, “because the FBI is our institution that shouldn’t be used as a political tool for anyone --- not Republicans, not Democrats, not anyone.” She urged them to keep their own political views out of the decisions they make in the courtroom. I’ve rarely known a leftist who could keep politics out of ANY decision, but maybe Durham found some.
“Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, whether we hate Donald Trump or love him, we have to believe the government is above politics,” the prosecution said, and that “the government should never be used as a political pawn.”
I would add, “...even though some in government –- Strzok, McCabe, etc. –- were happy to oblige.”
Legal analyst Andrew C. McCarthy told Brian Kilmeade on FOX News that in Washington DC, “the most political town in the country,” Durham’s biggest challenge will indeed be this jury. “This is not a home game for him in Washington,” McCarthy said. But Durham had no choice but to bring the case in Washington because that’s where the alleged offense took place.
McCarthy was impressed that they seated a jury in one day, but he does take that as a sign that this judge wants to move things along, not let Durham take time with a lot of “joint venture” testimony. So I suspect we might have to wait for the special counsel’s final report to see all the dots officially connected.
Moving to the defense, attorney Michael Bosworth argued that Sussmann is “a good man, a family man” who never tried to hide anything from the FBI, and that they knew he represented the Clinton campaign. (It appears, though, that they did NOT know he came to them specifically with the Alfa Bank story because Clinton was paying him to do it. He told them the opposite.)
Bosworth said it was known that Sussmann represented the DNC after their servers had been hacked by Russians. (Not that hacking by Russians has ever been proved.)
Bosworth called the charge “nonsensical” and said the lie would be “impossible to prove,” since neither man took notes at the meeting (NOTE: isn’t that, in itself, curious?) and Baker can’t possibly have a strong recollection of what was said after five-and-a-half years. He told the jury that Baker’s memory was “clear as mud.” Never mind that the jury will also see the same lie turn up in Sussmann’s text message to him.
Bosworth also asserted that Sussmann’s action didn’t benefit the Clinton camp in any way.
Now wait just a minute. Hillary still managed to lose the election, but considering that the bogus Trump-Russia story dominated the headlines literally for years; gave Hillary a bogus excuse for losing (one of many); cast a dark shadow on Trump’s presidency; and wasted his administration’s time, attention and money with the Mueller investigation, I’d say it was still a gift to her.
Bosworth insisted that Sussmann was motivated by national security, not politics. He said, “If [Sussmann] wasn’t motivated by an actual interest in national security, why did he go to the CIA, months after the election? He had a genuine interest in national security and doing the right thing.” But this reasoning makes no sense. If someone didn’t like the outcome of an election and wanted to get a President impeached, and he had an “in” with the CIA, he certainly might take them an allegation like this and try to get some action.
Of course, you’re familiar with “the” text that Sussmann sent to FBI general counsel James Baker, who was a friend of his, to get the meeting: “Jim – it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company –- want to help the Bureau. Thanks.”
If Durham hadn’t obtained that revealing text, and also the Perkins Coie billing records that show Sussmann billed the Clinton campaign for that meeting, this would just be a matter of whom to believe. But Durham has the proof he was lying, RIGHT THERE.
He didn’t get to the Marc Elias testimony today, as some observers had thought he might, so we’re still waiting for that, and also for James Baker to take the stand.
But in the meantime, Durham called FBI Supervisory Special Agent Scott Hellman, who testified that it took him and another agent “less than a day to ascertain that data and ‘white papers’ on two thumb drives Sussmann gave Baker did not support the Trump-Alfa Bank ‘secret connection’ allegation.” After examining the materials for evidence of hacking, he did a technical review, he said, and cross-referenced them. He said it became clear that “whoever had written that paper had just come to some conclusions not supported by the technical data.”
Also, “the methodology was questionable,” he said, and it didn’t make sense that a candidate for President would put his own name on a “supposedly secret domain name.”
https://dailycaller.com/2022/05/17/fbi-less-than-day-sussmann-trial-alfa-bank-bogus-russia/
So –- at long last –- all major news networks led their evening broadcasts with the blockbuster story that the FBI had debunked in ONE DAY the evidence for what turned out to be a coordinated attempt to frame Donald Trump before the 2016 election.
Just kidding; I made that up. ABC, NBC and CBS all ignored the story completely. They did cover the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, however.
5. Tuesday Primary Results
Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania is still undecided, and it might take a few days yet. As of early Wednesday morning, Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz is leading HuckPAC-endorsed David McCormick by only about 2500 votes (each has about 31%), with tens of thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots still to be counted. Kathy Barnette’s late surge wasn’t strong enough; she’s in third place with 24.7%.
In the Democrat primary, John “Don’t call me a ‘progressive,’ call me a ‘populist’” Fetterman drew nearly 59% of the vote, easily defeating Conor Lamb, whom many analysts saw as less radical and more electable. Provided nothing else changes, Republicans need to hold that seat to keep the Senate from becoming immune even to Joe Manchin’s moderating influence. So all eyes will continue to be on Pennsylvania through the election. And I hope a lot of those eyes will be focused on any unattended ballot drop boxes.
6. Madison Cawthorn loses
The other big story of the night was in North Carolina’s House District 11 GOP primary where state Sen. Chuck Edwards narrowly defeated first-term incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn. Cawthorn could have demanded a recount and dragged this out, but to his credit, he showed class and conceded gracefully.
I feel sympathy for Rep. Cawthorn, who’s been on my TBN show. He’s overcome a lot of obstacles to become one of the youngest members of Congress. Unfortunately, his youth and inexperience in the shark tank of politics has made him a lot of enemies, and he’s been hit by scandals involving embarrassing old photos. I have no doubt some of these things were unfair attacks and taken out of context. Trump urged voters to give him a second chance.
But it appears that the Republican base has no more patience for second chances. They see America under assault daily by the radical left, they believe it’s an existential threat to the nation, and they don’t want anyone who’s going to be distracted from the vital task of stopping the left, reversing their hideous policies and repairing the extensive damage they’ve caused.
That’s one very good lesson that all GOP candidates should take away from this race.
The link below has the latest numbers on all the races in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Idaho, Kentucky and Oregon.
7. Biden takes the low road
Yesterday I wrote, more in hope than in expectation, that President Biden’s trip to Buffalo to address this weekend’s mass shooting could be an opportunity for him to finally fulfill his promise to be a bipartisan healer and for him to rise above the politics of division, the cynical exploitation of tragedy to score cheap policy points, and efforts to blame the actions of a deranged murderer on his political rivals. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, or at least the opportunity to act like a statesman. Privately, I expected him to take the low road, but I honestly hoped he’d surprise me. How did he do? Let’s just say I was not surprised.
His speech was a cringe-inducing mess of garbled Teleprompter misreadings and blatant attempts to smear Republicans as murderous, racist extremists. Like unconscionably trying to associate January 6th with a mass murder, as if they were in any way comparable (the only person shot to death on January 6th was unarmed pro-Trump protester Ashli Babbitt, killed by a Capitol cop who was hailed by Democrats as a hero.) Biden once again recited his well-worn Charlottesville story, only this time conspiculously retrofitting it with a new alleged quote from the neo-Nazis to try to reinforce the Dems’ latest “Great Replacement Theory” attack strategy. And he was so eager to blame every problem in America on rightwing “white supremacy” that he included a shooting in Dallas where a black man allegedly shot three Korean women.
(Incidentally, attempts to exploit mass shootings to push strict gun control bills are not going to pass the Senate, and not just because of Republicans.)
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2022/05/18/manchin-ruins-gun-control-plans-n2607433
Unable to defend their own failed policies that have brought nothing but misery onto this nation, the Democrats are now engaging in a mass brainwashing effort to try to convince the public that the simple intellectual exercise of disagreeing with their garbage policies means you’re a dangerous, racist, rightwing extremist. They’re run so far to the left that the only way to try to look normal is to claim that they’re somehow the middle now, and those of us who believe in the time-tested values and principles we’ve always believed in are the ones who’ve somehow moved far to the right.
James Carville is trying to help create this illusion and bolster Biden’s laughable “Ultra MAGA” gibberish by declaring that Republicans have “become hypersonic weird.” Unfortunately, he’s noticeably low on examples of his opponents' weirdness. But I'm not.
So he thinks we’re the weirdos, and not them? Not the people in black hoods attacking police, campus speakers and churches? Not the ones in Handmaid’s Tale costumes and female genitalia hats, or the ones insisting that a hulking guy in an oddly bulging women’s swimsuit is a woman, or the ones claiming there’s no such thing as a woman? Not the ones trying to force LGBTQ propaganda into Disney cartoons and hormone blockers and surgery onto pre-pubescent school children? Not the 49 Senate Democrats who voted to abort babies up to the moment of birth? Not the ones threatening Supreme Court Justices outside their homes? And certainly not this person, who was promoting her pro-abortion views by standing outside the Supreme Court and screaming, “Hail, f****** Satan!”
Yep, normal Americans, all! Maybe Biden, Carville and their cohorts should read this quiz by Kira Davis at Redstate.com. It might help them figure out just which party is really the extremist party.
https://redstate.com/kiradavis/2022/05/17/you-might-be-the-extremist-party-if-n566076
I Just Wanted to Say
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