December 5, 2017 --

Trump Hate's Impact on Stock Market Predictions?

The New York Times, November 8, 20167 (Election Day) cited economic predictions of a stock market drop from 5 to 15 percent if Trump won the election, while there would be a slight gain of "2 percent" if Clinton won. According to Forbes, the S&P 500 has enjoyed an annualized return of about 15% since the Trump inaugural, last January 20.

How Unlikely Was the Trump Election?

Daniel Henninger, in his October 1, 2015 Wall Street Journal column, asserted "The Trump candidacy is pure base, and Mr. Trump has not built out from that base which topped out at about 30%.
Mr. Henninger added, "it is now clear that Mr., Trump is personally incapable of doing what is necessary to expand beyond his early burst of support." The column concluded: "When the primaries arrive early next year, the Trump vote will subdivide further among the other Republican tortoises. If he stays in, Donald Trump becomes another presidential also-ran. With ostentation suitable to his stature, Mr. Trump should retired to a skybox and enjoy what he has wrought."

LPR would note that Mr. Henninger, along with other columnists at the Wall Street Journal (if not all,) has not joined the Never Trump contingent of "conservative" columnists at leftist organs like The Washington Post and The New York Times. Note however that the Trump-hating Bret Stephens quit the Journal for The New York Times. It seems fair to wonder if a "conservative" could continue at The New York Times or The Washington Post, and not be a Never Trumper.

Trump Administration Settles What the Obama IRS wrought.

LPR learned by way of a William McGurn column in The Wall Street Journal, November 21, that the litigation brought against the Internal Revenue Service for wrongly denying tax exemptions to conservative political action groups had been settled, with a multimillion dollar settlement going to plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits.

LPR has learned that approvals have been granted to all the groups that continued to seek tax exemptions. The Wall Street Journal, in an April 10, 2014 editorial, pointed to evidence that the Lois Lerner, then IRS director of the exempt organizations divisions "used her position to single out conservative groups for scrutiny not applied to left-leaning groups." The editorial suggested that the intention was "to crack dfown on the political speech of Administration opponents." And most media organs claiming to be dedicated to the First Amendment? Silent.

And Mr. McGurn, in his November 21 column noted that Ms. Lerner is trying to keep under wraps her testimony in the tax exemption litigation? Could this observation in the Journal's April 10, 2014 editorial have anything to do with Ms. Lerner desire to keep her testimony secret?

There is "new evidence...showing that Ms. Lerner actively corresponded with liberal campaign finance groups Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center...to investigate...conservative groups including Crossroads GPS...."

An Ongoing Theme From the Left.

The New York Times front page, August 3, 2016, carried this headline above the fifth column: "Obama Urges/G.O.P. Leaders/To Snub Trump". The Times reported, in the lead sentence: "In an extraordinary denunciation of Donald J. Trump's temperament and competence, President Obama urged leaders of the Republican Party on Tuesday to withdraw their endorsements of Mr. Trump's candidacy, flatly calling him 'unfit to serve' as the nation's 45th president. LPR advises clicksters to keep in mind this suggestion from President Obama whenever you see news articles reporting, or calling on, Republican leaders to distance themselves from the president.

And from David Brooks in The New York Times

Mr. Brooks, in his April 29, 2016 column, "If Not Trump, What?" reported that he was surprised by Donadl Trump's success in the primaries, indicating that he needs to get closer to the grass roots. In his June 28, 2016 column, "Revolt of the Masses," Mr. Brooks referred to "older people" on the "working class" as "self-disciplined, respectable, and often, bigoted...." This was several months before Hillary Clinton referred to Trump voters as "deplorables." He went on to assert: "The less-educated masses have a different conception of the future, a vision that is more closed, collective, protective and segmented." Apparently, Mr. Brooks decided against getting to know the grass roots better, after all.

By the way.

When does the American people get to know the details of the use of surveillance to undermine the Trump presidential candidacy?