2016 Oct 19^th

Pat Buchanan has a column today telling us that the electoral system is rigged. He quotes Newt Gingrich who claims that, “…without the unending one-sided assault of the news media, Trump would be beating Hillary by 15 points.” Wishful thinking is endemic to Trump and his supporters and this is an excellent example of exactly that. What Gingrich fails to recognize, or if he does recognize it he won’t admit it, is that the ammunition powering this assault is provided by Donald Trump himself. The examples of Trump helping the media to damage his case are surfacing daily. He says that he can grab women by the “crotch” and they won’t object because he is rich and powerful.

He needs a ready supply of tic-tacs because he gets just overpowering urges to kiss attractive women. Apparently, self-control is, for him, unthinkable. Thus does Trump arm the media whom Buchanan demonizes for reporting what Trump has said, done and plans to do..

Buchanan believes that Clinton’s emails should get equal time. That isn’t likely when networks charge by the number of “eyeballs” on their programs. They have a duty to stockholders. Buchanan complains about these media companies, except for Fox News; perhaps he doesn’t know that Fox News is wholly owned by two men, a Saudi prince who has claimed publicly that what harms America is good for Saudi Arabia, and Rupert Murdoch. There are no other Fox News shareholders and these owners are both billionaires who can do as they please,

Then Buchanan leaves his lead to complain about SCOTUS. He says, “Where did these unelected jurists get the right to impose their values upon us and remake America in their own secular image?” Article 2 of the Constitution requires the President to nominate a person whom the Senate can then confirm. The fact that these jurists are unelected comes directly from the Constitution; whether they are “imposing their values upon us” is a matter of Buchanan’s opinion. Nothing in his background qualifies him as a constitutional scholar.

Buchanan claims that SCOTUS has “systematically de-Christianized and paganized American society and declared abortion and homosexual marriage constitutional rights.” Buchanan is a Roman Catholic and believes everyone should share his theological views. He has been very unhappy with Pope Francis’ position on a variety of theological issues because the Pope is too liberal to suit Patrick Buchanan. Maybe Buchanan will start his own really, really Christian splinter church.