Race Relations Have Improved Dramatically Since Trump Took Office

The election of Barack Obama was seen as a watershed moment in America's history. The question of whether could elect a black man president had been answered, and some saw this as proof that America had moved beyond its past stains of slavery, segregation, and other racial injustices. While many debated the meaning of his election, an overwhelming majority of Americans (70 percent) predicted that Obama's presidency would result in significant improvements in race relations.

But that's not what happened at all. Polls that showed a majority of Americans believed race relations got worse under Obama. Because of Obama's divisive presidency, race relations actually reached an all-time low on his watch.

Obama's record on race relations was so horrible that it seems many have actually tried to blame his failure on Trump. Back in December, a USA Today columnist falsely implied that race relations improved under Obama and have been declining under Trump.

We now have new evidence that shows that Trump's record on race relations is far superior to Obama's as a new Gallup survey shows that satisfaction with race relations has increased 14 percent since Trump's inauguration. America's satisfaction with race relations went from 22 percent in January 2017 to 36 percent in January 2020, a remarkable jump considering the desperate efforts of Democrats and media to paint President Trump as a racist white nationalist.

There's still room for improvement, however. National Review notes that satisfaction with race relations "still remains 8 points lower than it was in 2001" and that a majority of Americans are still dissatisfied with race relations, but it's clear that Trump has been repairing the damage done by Barack Obama.

Americans may be more satisfied with the state of race relations, but Democrat attacks on Trump still have him well underwater with African Americans. According to a Washington Post poll, “more than 8 in 10 black Americans say they believe Trump is a racist and that he has made racism a bigger problem in the country. Nine in 10 disapprove of his job performance overall.” While African Americans may be convinced by the media Trump is a racist, they can't deny their situation has improved since he took office. Under Trump, African American unemployment is at its lowest rate in history. If Trump can adequately get the message out and convince them that he deserves the credit for this, his support amongst African Americans should increase in 2020, making him that much tougher to beat in November.

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SUSPICIOUS: Over 18,000 Extra Names on Iowa Voting Rolls

On Monday, Judicial Watch reported that eight counties in the state of Iowa have registration rates above 100 percent, adding at least 18,658 extra names to the Iowa voting rolls. The Iowa caucuses are to be held on Monday.

Of course, this phenomenon isn't limited to just Iowa. According to Judicial Watch’s analysis of government data, "378 counties nationwide that have more voter registrations than citizens living there who are old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%."

House Democrats Pass Bill to Fight Voter ID Laws Nationwide
These 378 counties have a combined 2.5 million registrations over the 100% mark. This problem is even bigger considering that the Census Bureau estimated in 2014 that that 64.6 percent of eligible adults were registered to vote in 2014. There are many other counties with suspiciously high registration rates.

“Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections and Iowa needs to undertake a serious effort to address its voting rolls,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that states can purge their voter rolls of dormant and invalid voter registrations, in a ruling widely believed will hurt Democrats for the obvious reasons connected to voter fraud.

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Liberal know-it-all billionaires side with insurance companies on surprise medical billing

You may have never heard of them, but there is a new, young billionaire couple determined to leave their mark on society. John and Laura Arnold are not interested in the type of philanthropy that builds libraries and college buildings or feeds, clothes, shelters, and educates the poor. No, like George Soros, the Arnolds are on a mission to “change the country,” whether we like it or not.

When these arrogant elitists are not busy trying to erode our gun rights, promoting abortion, funding spying on citizens, or trying to upend our electoral system, they are busy trying to cut medical professionals pay. Specifically, the liberal power couple wants to address the issue of surprise medical billing by reducing the amount of money that medical professionals are paid for providing out-of-network care to patients.

It is unclear why a guy who made his fortune betting on natural gas prices and a lawyer who worked in the oil industry would feel the need to weigh in on medical billing. But apparently they do. Of course, due to the fact that they are siding with the insurance industry, it does raise questions about whether or not they are invested in any insurance companies and stand to grow richer if their policy wishes are enacted.

To be sure, surprise medical billing is a problem. Even if you go to an in-network hospital for care, you could be treated by an out-of-network doctor and wind up with an unexpectedly large bill. There are a couple main proposals to address the issue.

One proposal, which the Arnolds support, would force out-of-network healthcare providers to accept whatever an insurance company pays in-network providers for their services. It is claimed that this proposal would save insurance companies money and, in turn, reduce costs for consumers and the government. Of course, it could lead to more providers exiting the field, which could be particularly problematic for rural areas that already lack adequate access to health care.

Forcing medical care providers to take whatever an insurance company offers is concerning. If this were to be made an acceptable practice, what would stop the government from arbitrarily reducing prices of anything that it purchases?

Imagine the amounts of money that could be saved if the government required office supply companies and cleaning companies to sell their products and services at cost. While that might seem absurd, is it any more absurd than arbitrarily reducing medical providers’ payments? Just before Enron’s implosion, John Arnold received an $8 million bonus. While he’s happy to suggest that the government should pass legislation that would lead to medical professionals being paid less, one suspects that he would have objected to a law that reduced his bonus even if it saved the government money.

A better proposal would require binding arbitration if a health insurance company and a medical care provider could not agree on pricing. As with the other proposal, insurers and providers — rather than patients — would be responsible for resolving disputes over surprise bills. States as divergent as Texas and New York have already passed such legislation.

For a number of years the Right has been telling “woke” entertainers to kindly “shut up and sing.” Now it is time for the Right to deliver a message to the “woke” billionaires, like George Soros, Tom Steyer, and John and Laura Arnold: “Shut up and drink your champagne.”

Just because these liberal billionaires have been financially successful does not mean that they have any special insight into health care, abortion, law enforcement, or criminal justice policies. If they are not adequately fulfilled by their champagne-drinking and feel the need to give back to society, maybe they should reconsider feeding, clothing, sheltering, and educating the poor – even though they might find it boring or beneath them.

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Trump's Acquittal Won't Stop Democrats' Witch Hunt; More Investigations Are Coming

If you think that after Trump is acquitted by the Senate that Democrats are going to sit in a corner and lick their wounds, you have another thing coming.  Trump's inevitable acquittal won't stop Democrats from trying to find some crime they can pin on him. In fact, Democrats have "a list of inquiries they plan to pursue when the impeachment saga is over," Bloomberg reports.

“The investigations and oversight will continue,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, the chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee. “We’ve got several cases.”

According to the report, "Democratic-led committees in the House will keep seeking a wide range of evidence and testimony as they look into Trump’s administration, his policies and his businesses and finances." They will also continue to investigate his dealings with Ukraine.

Democrats Already Preparing for a SECOND Impeachment of Trump

Democrats have been trying force the release of Trump's tax returns, despite him having no legal or constitutional requirement to do so, or the fact there is no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing on his part.

The House Ways and Means Committee, led by Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts, is still seeking the president’s tax returns from the Treasury Department. The House Financial Services and Intelligence committees, chaired by California Representatives Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff, have been pursuing in the courts information from Trump’s lenders, including Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp.


One of the cases before the Supreme Court involves Maloney’s committee and centers on whether the Constitution prohibits subpoenas issued to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, LLP. The committee wants Mazars to provide non-privileged financial records relating to Trump and certain of his business entities.

Trump sued in April to block the panel’s subpoena for eight years of financial records held by Mazars.

The committee also is pressing in federal court for documents tied to its investigation into the Trump administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The House Judiciary Committee is also attempting to gain access to secret grand jury materials from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Apparently they expect proof of Russian collusion to be somewhere in there, despite Mueller's debunking of the Russian collusion hoax.

House Democrats are undeterred by the risks of voter backlash over their endless investigations. “We’re not going to back off,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

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IN BRIEF

KEEP AMERICA GREAT: Trump's great Alice Johnson Super Bowl ad reminds us he deserves major credit for criminal-justice reform (Washington Examiner)

A BLIND SQUIRREL FINDS A NUT: NFL airs patriotic tribute to the American flag during Super Bowl (The Daily Wire)

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS: Michael Bloomberg's claim about "children" killed by "gun violence" is off by 73% (Reason)

INDIVIDUAL-MANDATE UPDATE: Fifth Circuit declines to rehear ObamaCare severability case en banc (Reason)

CORRUPTION: Ilhan Omar paid additional $215,000 from campaign coffers to alleged boyfriend's firm (The Washington Free Beacon)

INTRAPARTY SQUABBLE, PART I: 2020 Democrats slam party rule change that could let Bloomberg debate (Washington Examiner)

INTRAPARTY SQUABBLE, PART II: Hillary Clinton blames Bernie Sanders for disunity in Democrat Party (Washington Examiner)

"FOREIGN NATION[S] ... MUST SATISFY BASIC SECURITY CONDITIONS": Trump expands travel ban to six new countries (The Washington Times)

DESPITE THE BAN ON "POINTY KNIVES": Just-freed terrorist killed by cops after London stabbing spree (The Daily Beast)

POLICY: The coronavirus is a big economic deal (American Enterprise Institute)

POLICY: Why American scientists take Chinese money (National Review)

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