Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers, which has gotten a lot easier since November 5 — just put President-elect Donald Trump at the top of the winners list. Time Magazine has named him Person of the Year, and except for Don Lemon, nobody is quibbling about the choice. Trump has essentially taken over as president, both at home and abroad, and nobody seems unhappy about it. Clearly, the Europeans who showed up at Notre Dame Cathedral last week were pleased to see him — as was the longshoremen’s union he met with earlier today.
Trump’s election has ushered in a new era of optimism — even people who didn’t particularly support him are buoyed by the knowledge that the Biden era is over and things are going to change, finally. Here’s who else made my list:
Winner: Whoever Launched the New Jersey Drones
As of Friday morning, nobody seems to know anything about the drones that have been flying over New Jersey every night for the past month. Granted, New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew says credible sources told him they were launched from an Iranian mothership off the Jersey coast, but the Defense Department quickly shot him down, which is exactly what Van Drew wants to do with the drones. Van Drew is a former Democrat who became a Trump Republican in 2020. Trump’s team was essential in getting him re-elected, so if there are “credible sources” who can back-up the Iranian mothership story, you can bet Trump’s people know about it, too.
Van Drew represents several coastal counties in southern New Jersey, not all that far from Grover’s Mill, the site of the Martian landing in the legendary War of the Worlds radio broadcast that panicked the nation into believing America was under attack from Martians in 1938. That was 86 years ago, but the people of New Jersey will not be fooled again. No one in the Garden State has panicked. They’ve seen this kind of thing before.
Loser: America’s Defense Capabilities
Perhaps folks in New Jersey wouldn’t feel so confident if they’d seen the report from the House Select Committee on China, which estimates that if the United States got into a war with China over Taiwan, we’d run out of anti-ship missiles in a week and long range missiles in a month. No estimates on how we would fare if the Jersey shore were attacked by aliens from outer space, but we are behind China in virtually every aspect of warfare capability. Rebuilding America’s defenses is a top priority of the incoming Trump administration, and if you look at this report, it’s clear that dramatic change can’t come soon enough.
This point was underscored on Wednesday when the Department of Defense released a statement stating that it was dealing with climate change as the top security concern in Africa. The statement precisely captured what is wrong with our national defense effort and why Americans voted for something dramatically different.
Winner: Pete Hegseth Gets Cornyn’s Support
It’s also one reason why prospects for President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, are now looking up. Momentum for Hegseth rebounded over the last week, with an assist from a number of grassroots and policy groups and a Hegseth pledge to at least one senator that he would stop drinking if he got the job. Texas Sen. John Cornyn said that he would support Hegseth this week. Texas’ other senator, Ted Cruz, had previously announced he would back him. Hegseth is a decorated combat veteran and is clearly committed to getting the Department of Defense back on mission.
Winner: Daniel Penny Found Not Guilty
Daniel Penny’s victory in court was not just a victory for him, it was a victory for the people of New York and for our country, a sign that safety is again a priority for our communities. Penny, who subdued a man on the New York City subway who was threatening to kill his fellow passengers, is a Marine Corps veteran who said his only motivation was to protect others. Penny is white and the man threatening the passengers was African-American so black leaders across the country have condemned the jury, but there’s no indication that most African-Americans feel Penny’s actions were unjust. An African-American woman who was on the train during the trial testified in his support, noting that most of the passengers on the train were also minorities.
Loser: Sen. Elizabeth Warren on UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination
In response to the heinous murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren stated that while violence was never the answer, she understood the murderer’s frustration, having lost faith in the government to solve the health care problem. As the National Review noted, her fellow Democratic Sen. John Fetterman did not feel the need to issue a nuanced statement: “He’s the a**hole that’s going to die in prison,” Fetterman said. The Pennsylvania senator also called the murder “vile,” noting that Thompson leaves behind two children who will grow up without a father.
Loser: “Gender-Affirming Care”
The Washington Post reported this week that so-called LGBTQ+ people are shrinking in fear of what will happen to them once the Trump administration comes in. This story, like many of its ilk, conflates the concerns of the transgender community with gay rights. Several of Trump’s major donors are prominent in the gay community and he just appointed Scott Bessant, who is gay, as Treasury Secretary.
What Trump has pledged to end is the practice of allowing gender-confused children to be prescribed puberty blockers or be subjected to sex-change surgery — so-called “gender-affirming care.” It has nothing to do with gay rights. Britain announced this week that it is banning puberty blockers altogether, following the path of most of Western Europe, which has long acknowledged the danger and ineffectiveness of drug treatments and surgery to treat gender confusion. Britain’s action hasn’t convinced Democrats in Congress, 140 of whom voted against the National Defense Reauthorization Act yesterday because the bill would prohibit the military from providing puberty blockers and other “gender-affirming care” to military kids. Perhaps if those Democrats knew that we’d run out of anti-ship missiles in a week if we have to fight with China about Taiwan, they’d have put the need for more weapons ahead of puberty blockers.
Winner: U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace Takes Stands on Women’s Privacy
Before we leave the topic of gender confusion, we need to acknowledge U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, who was accosted this week by a transgender activist because she has insisted that women’s bathrooms in the nation’s capital be used exclusively by women. Public restrooms exclusively for women have been a key factor for women’s equality throughout history. Before public restrooms were available for women, we were unable to work or participate in community life. Mace is a hero for recognizing that to ensure women’s privacy and safety, we can’t turn our bathrooms over to men. Texas is also mobilizing to reinstate restrictions on men using women’s restrooms.
Winner: Webb County and Judge Tano Tijerina
Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina announced this week that he will become a Republican, reflecting the political change in Texas border counties, which voted overwhelmingly in support of Trump in November. Webb County, which has been reliably Democrat for 100 years, is anchored by Laredo. The fact that this major border city was forced to experience the negative impact of President Joe Biden’s open-border policies clearly had an impact on voters. Judge Tijerina made the right move.
Loser: The Progressive Shoulders Greg Cesar Stands On
The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week musing on the career of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who suggests he may retire in 2031. Throughout his 50 years in politics, Sanders has, among other things, been an apologist for brutal communist regimes in Soviet Russia and elsewhere. Sanders noted that when he was first elected to Congress, he founded the Progressive Caucus with only five people. Last week, the Progressive Caucus, which now numbers more than 100, selected Austin Congressman Greg Casar as its new head, proudly placing him on Sanders’ shoulders. Casar will be carrying out Sanders’ tradition of supporting despots, just like his predecessor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, who has vigilantly praised the Hamas terrorists while calling Israel a racist state. After his selection, Casar held his first press conference with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, by his side. Recall that Omar characterized September 11 as a time when “some people did some things.” Fellow progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, who accused President Joe Biden of genocide last year, was also there.
Loser: Norway is Worse than California
As Fredrik Haga explains in this great Free Press article, 100 of Norway’s top taxpayers have left in the past two years, taking half the country’s wealth with them. To stanch the flow, Norway is now imposing a 38% exit tax on the market value of your assets. Even California hasn’t thought of introducing an exit tax to make it too expensive for people to leave.
One tax policy that is bankrupting Norwegians is an “unrealized gains tax” on all your assets, even if you didn’t sell them. Vice President Kamala Harris had an “unrealized gains tax” on her wish list, had she been elected. That’s one more reason we can be thankful she was not.
Drones have also been spotted in New York and Pennsylvania, but so far, we’ve not seen one blinking light in the sky in Texas. Keep your eyes peeled, and have a great weekend!
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
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