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The ADVANCE, January 10, 2024/Page 6A
Stye Aiiuancg
OPINIONS
“I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his repute for the freedom to think,
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.”
-James Russell Lowell
editorials
In2024, Trump Has the Advantage
By Ben Shapiro
The 2024 elec
tion is coming.
And right now,
it’s Advantage:
Trump.
Former President
Donald Trump is
leading by 2.2% in
the RealClearPolitics
polling average. That
doesn’t sound like a
lot until you realize
that Trump trailed Joe Biden in that same
average on election day 2020 by 7.2% —
and only lost by 4.5%. Or that Hillary
Clinton was leading in that same average
by 3.2% on Election Day 2016 — and only
won the popular vote by 2.1%. Donald
Trump almost always outdraws his polling
number.
What’s more, Biden is stuck in neutral.
Why? The answer is obvious: Biden lied
to voters. He campaigned as a moderate in
the primaries, capitalized on that image in
the general while pushing steadily to the
Left, and then governed from the Left.
Now, says political scientist Ruy Teixeira,
“Biden is polling behind Trump nationally
and in every swing state, with the possible
exception of Wisconsin. Trump is pre
ferred to Biden by wide margins on voters’
most important issue, the economy and
inflation, as well as their second most im
portant issue, immigration and border se
curity and on crime and public safety.
Biden’s approval rating at this point in his
presidency is the lowest of any president
going back to the 1940s, when the era of
modern polling began.”
Biden thinks that Trump-bashing will
save him.
That’s presumably why he’s going to
go on a Trump-bashing tour beginning
this week, labeling Trump a racist and a
fascist. According to the Associated Press,
“President Joe Biden is starting the cam
paign year by evoking the Revolutionary
War to mark the third anniversary of the
deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and
visiting the South Carolina church where
a white gunman massacred Black parishio
ners — seeking to present in the starkest
possible terms an election he argues could
determine the fate of American democ
racy.”
This isn’t likely to work. At all.
It’s unlikely to work because everyone
knows Trump. Everything about Trump is
baked into the cake. Everyone knows that
Trump’s 2020 post-election activities
didn’t change the outcome of the election
— Biden, after all, is president. What’s
more, the pitch that Trump is more racist
than Biden doesn’t work. Biden is the DEI
president, a man who has yammered in
cessantly in favor of racial carve-outs and
staffed his own administration on the ba
sis of intersectional characteristics.
The pitch that Trump is a fascist won’t
work either. As even George Will, a Trump
opponent, points out, “Joe Biden is, like
Trump, an authoritarian recidivist mostly
stymied by courts.” Will gives a litany of
Biden constitutional violations: “the evic
tion moratorium, the vaccine mandate,
the cancellation of student debt,” among
others.
Most of all, Biden’s hope that hatred
for Trump will somehow save him is pred
icated on the idea that heavy turnout
against Trump is a foregone conclusion.
But... what if it’s not? What if the actual
norm is that Trump doesn’t drive Demo
cratic turnout in the way Biden hopes? In
2016, after all, turnout was within histori
cal norms: 59.2% of eligible voters voted
in that year, compared with 58% in 2012
and 60.1% in 2004. In 2020, by contrast, a
whopping 66.9% of eligible voters showed
up. That last number is a massive outlier.
2020 saw a voter increase of 23 million, to
160 million total voters — as opposed to
137 million in 2016 and 129 million in
2012.
That wasn’t because of Trump. It was
because of pandemic-era policies that al
lowed everyone to vote from home
months in advance. Do we really think
that 2020 turnout number will replicate?
If it doesn’t, who will those marginal vot
ers come from: Biden or Trump?
This means that Biden is going to have
to actually succeed in order to win.
The only thing that might save him
would be ... you know, good things hap
pening in America.
But his own policies prevent just that.
Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and
Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro
Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a
three-time New York Times bestselling author;
his latest book is "The Authoritarian Moment:
How The Left Weaponized America's Institutions
Against Dissent." To find out more about Ben
Shapiro and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at www.creators,
com.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM.
2024 Is Different
By Joe Phillips
Dear Me
What's different?
In notes to you
this time of year, I've
shared what I ex
pected in the coming
year. It is usually op
timistic because re
gardless of what pun
dits say, I'm moder
ated by a hope that it could not possibly get
that bad.
I'm not so sure.
In every area of measure, we are less
“well off.” Things have not gotten better.
We're vulnerable.
It is likely that people in power don't
know what the rest of us know. How often
does a Senator's wife shop at a grocery
store or pump her own gas?
I believe national politicians do not
know what they do not know.
My top concern is the unrestrained
flood of people coming across our porous
borders.
According to numbers released by Cus
toms and Border Protection, the number of
“migrants” crossing the southern border
equals one or more army divisions at one
point every day? A “division” is roughly
three to five brigades or 10-15 thousand.
According to the CBP's own figures,
their “total encounters along the southwest
border in November was 242, 418.” That is
like having the city of Boise, ID, come
through in a month.
“USA TODAY” reported that more
than 28 million illegal migrants had en
counters with authorities so far this year,”
as of October.
Then there are the “got-aways” seen on
cameras or chased but not caught. They
number in the hundreds of thousands,
enough to field a couple of Armies.
Last night the national news showed a
sea of people moving north through Mex
ico. They are predominately single men of
military age.
Who feeds those people? Who orga
nizes and directs them? Do they have med
ical teams?
Those who want to see our country
dissolve enjoy a situation they could not
have dreamed of. The opportunities our
enemies have at this time is generational in
nature. The invasion is in progress: We
know about it and lack the will to stop it.
When questioned, members of the ad
ministration say “The border is secure.” It is
an odd kind of security. Illegal drugs pour
through the border, with 73,654 Americans
killed by Fentanyl last year.
“Law and Order” is relative. Starting
with the fiery “peaceful riots” of 2020,
America saw criminal behavior sanctified
as freedom of expression. I am not aware of
anyone convicted of looting, arson, de
stroying property or assault on police offi
cers.
Today, mobs assault stores and just dis
solve away with all they can carry.
It is easy to see how young people learn
that they can get away with anything.
Because they do.
joenphillips@yahoo.com
To Cameron Charles Yarbrough:
Some Advice for the New Year
Dear Cameron:
Well, here
we go again. A
new year and
some more un
solicited advice
from your great
grandpa. We
have been at
this quite
awhile. I hope
these observations have been of some
value to you. A lot of what I want to
share with you are matters I wish
someone had covered with me when I
was your age. Maybe I wouldn’t have
made as many mistakes in my life as I
have.
On the other hand, mistakes can
be a learning experience. We are all go
ing to make them. It is how we react to
them that matters. Don’t let a mistake
create doubt in your mind about your
abilities, and try not to make the same
one twice.
Make a difference. You don’t have
to invent a cure for cancer or write the
world’s next great symphony. Just be
someone who makes this a better place
by being here. Be nice to people even
when they don’t deserve it. Say “thank
you” and “please” and “I apologize”
and mean it. Courtesy never goes out
of style.
Don’t be ashamed to tell people
you love them. For some reason, we
guys find that awkward. It shouldn’t
be. We all like to know somebody
loves us, especially those we love. And
be generous with your hugs. Hugs are
huge.
Be the best you can be at every
thing you do. You won’t succeed at ev
erything you attempt but don’t let it be
from not trying. Never allow yourself
to compromise or rationalize a lack of
effort. Be able to look yourself in the
mirror at night and know you did your
best. Maybe it wasn’t good enough but
it was your best effort. That’s all that
matters.
Which leads me to a hard truth:
Life is not always fair. In fact, life can
be harsh at times and inexplicable. But
it is what it is. Sometimes you will lose
when you feel you deserved to win
while witnessing someone winning
who didn’t deserve it. That’s life. If it
knocks you down, get back up and
keep going. That takes courage. Don’t
lose faith in yourself because of a tem
porary setback.
Be a leader but don’t try to be a
leader. Let me explain. You cannot be
come a leader by saying you are. Lead
ership can’t be manufactured. It must
come naturally. People will follow
those they respect and admire. It is not
what you say that will make you a
leader. It is what you do. Be sure what
you do is the right thing. The right
thing isn’t always the popular thing.
Know the difference.
Don’t let anyone define who you
are. Not your parents, not your grand
parents, not me, no one. You know you
better than anyone else. Be yourself. If
you will allow me a bit of Shakespeare:
By Dick Yarbrough
To thine own self be true. And the re
verse is also true. Don’t try to be some
thing you are not. You are a unique in
dividual. Celebrate that fact.
Believe in God. Have faith that
there is a magnificent order to this
universe and a Creator behind it all.
Let no one get between you and your
God. Most of all, be leery of religious
denominations that have a my-way-or-
the-highway view of religion by inter
pretations they have gleaned from the
Bible to fit their own narrow-minded
view of religion. Ignore them. Focus
on God.
Love your country. I pray your
generation is not the one that lets die
what George Washington called “the
last great experiment for promoting
human happiness.” Human happiness
seems to be in short supply these days.
Instead of focusing on all that is good
about us, we obsess on what isn’t.
Don’t apologize for being proud of be
ing an American. We aren’t perfect,
but who is?
You have been given a unique leg
acy - your name. It has been handed
down over the generations, most nota
bly from your great-great-grandfather,
my father. Please don’t do anything
that would tarnish that legacy. If your
name appears in public, be sure it is for
something good you have achieved
and not something that would embar
rass your family. You owe that to your
great-great-grandfather. You owe that
to me. You owe that to yourself.
In closing, I am very proud of
what you have accomplished thus far
in your life, and I’m excited for the fu
ture. I hope this is your best year ever,
and I pray I am around to be a part of
it.
Love,
PA
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
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Publisher & Managing Editor:
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