Ramaswamy is right: It is not Reagan’s morning in America

After last Wednesday’s Milwaukee GOP debate, political pundits unexpectedly/surprisingly rallied behind former Vice President Mike Pence, who repeatedly invoked Ronald Reagan’s name on the stage and has done so on the campaign trail.

At issue was an exchange between Pence and the star performer of the night, Vivek Ramaswamy, who had earlier called for a generational revolution akin to America’s founding in 1776 to solve the country’s problems.

“We’re not looking for a new national identity,” Pence intoned. “The American people are the most faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic, hard-working people the world has ever known.”

Ramaswamy knew this line of attack was coming and appeared prepared. “It is not morning in America. We live in a dark moment. And we have to confront the fact that we’re in an internal sort of cold, cultural civil war.”

Alarmed by Ramaswamy’s debate performance and overflowing crowds at stops in Iowa afterward, corporate media outlets launched a well-practiced campaign to bring down the new candidate. The press had eight years of knife-sharpening experience to politically isolate former President Trump, so a rookie in Trump’s mold would be no problem.

The New York Times led the charge:

Extolling Ronald Reagan used to be the safest of safe spaces for an ambitious Republican. Yet here was an upstart candidate, with no record of public service, standing at center stage in a GOP debate and invoking Mr. Reagan’s famous 1984 “Morning in America” theme not as an applause line but to mock one of the party’s staunchest conservatives — an original product of the Reagan revolution — as out of touch with America’s true condition.

The Washington Examiner’s editorial board went further, stating,

While Ramaswamy is currently running third on the polls behind Trump and DeSantis, his flip-flopping on matters, his shallow, glib approach to serious and demanding policy questions, and his refusal to support strong allies, such as Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, are disqualifying. He should be a nonstarter.

These characterizations were rather lame. The GOP has veered so far left from the days of Reagan that, as we mentioned in our post-debate analysis, it is indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. Five GOP contenders – Pence, Hutchinson, Christie, Haley, and Scott – have lived off and expanded the public purse for years.

President Reagan ran and governed on the principle that governments are the problem, not the solution. While Reagan engaged in deficit spending to counter the Soviet threat, total United States debt went up by about $1.6 trillion to $2.3 trillion at the end of his second term. Today, the federal debt is nearly 15 times that amount. Both parties are responsible for this run-up in deficit spending, including VP Pence, under whose watch the national debt went up $6.3 trillion in just four years. True, some of this spending was to fight a once-in-a-millennium pandemic. Any excess spending might have contributed to inflation. Pence may claim to be a conservative in the Reagan mold, but spending four times as much in half the time (in non-inflated dollars) is not exactly a modicum of responsibility.

In contrast, it was Ramaswamy who was Reaganesque, promising to cut the administrative state by eliminating the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Education Department. We would have preferred that he promised to streamline these agencies and cut their staff by some percentage – and not eliminate crucial functions of the FBI and IRS – but at least he was on point that the government had become too large.

Pence’s optimism that everything is fine in America does not jell with public polling. Our exclusive TIPP poll on the country’s unity index found that an overwhelming 80% of Americans say the country is divided, with only 20% believing the nation is united. Bidenflation in July was at 16% – we calculated that one needs $1,000 in earnings today to buy what $862 could buy when Biden took office. Most average voters disagree that the Biden policies are turning the economy around, according to our July I&I/TIPP Poll. In an earlier survey, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s direction. Pence put himself in the undesirable position of virtually supporting Biden’s vision and performance to distance himself from an upstart.

Invoking Reagan to draw similarities between America’s fight with the Soviet Union and the present-day Russia-Ukraine war is utterly dishonest. Reagan saw that the communist threat was proving imperial when the USSR invaded Afghanistan, befriended countries in Africa and the Middle East, and developed strong relationships with dozens of countries. Reagan correctly deduced that the peace-through-strength doctrine would leave the USSR scrambling as it could no longer afford to spend billions on its weapons industry when its citizens stood in bread lines. Thanks to Reagan’s brilliance, Glasnost and Perestroika ended nearly 45 years of East-West tensions when the Berlin Wall collapsed without a shot fired.

Reagan always urged us to trust the Soviets but verify. He met President Gorbachev five times in just eight years. Contrast this to current Washington thinking, which Pence favors, which forbids all discussion with the Russians, even at lower levels. Pence has a single mantra for the war, which is almost childish in its simplicity. Russia attacked Ukraine, a free country, and took territory in a blatant act, so America should support Ukraine even if 11 million people are displaced and 500,000 are killed. Pence’s assertions would have made some sense if Russia’s attack was genuinely unprovoked. Russia never attacked when Pence was VP because America under Trump did not provoke Russia; rather than claim credit for it, Pence has gone all Washington-woke.

Ramaswamy spotted these inconsistencies and pounced on Pence. “I have a news flash,” he told Mr. Pence. “The U.S.S.R. does not exist anymore. It fell back in 1990.”

President Reagan would not have believed how far America has fallen under uniparty governance. China has the world’s largest standing defense forces. Russia has a more extensive nuclear arsenal than America. India just landed on the moon’s south pole, a feat that even America has not achieved. The BRICS countries have invited six countries to join the bloc and counter the West: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. America’s inflation continues to rage.

We agree with Ramaswamy: It is not morning in America.

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1. Ukraine Says Forces Reclaimed Village Of Robotyne Amid ‘Fierce Resistance’ – UPI

Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive continued to notch up incremental gains, recapturing a village on the southern front, according to the defense ministry.

Offensive operations had liberated the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region with troops still moving farther to the southeast in the direction of Novodanylivka, Novoprokopivka, Mala Tokmachka, and Ocheretuvate, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Ukrainian television.

2. ‘Dying By The Dozens Every Day’ – Ukraine Losses Climb – BBC

According to new estimates by unnamed U.S. officials, there has been a dramatic rise in Ukraine’s number of dead.

The figures remain classified. But U.S. officials, quoted by the New York Times, recently put the number at 70,000 dead and as many as 120,000 injured. It is a staggering figure from an armed forces estimated at only half a million strong. The UN has recorded 9,177 civilian deaths to date.

3. G20: Putin Tells India PM Modi He Will Not Attend Delhi Summit – BBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a phone call that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would attend the summit on his behalf.

India, which currently holds the G20 presidency, is hosting this year’s summit, which will be held in the capital Delhi from 9-10 September.

The G20 includes the world’s 19 wealthiest countries plus the European Union.

4. South Korea Increases Ukraine Aid To $394 Million For 2024 – Reuters

South Korea has announced financial aid of 520 billion won ($394 million) for Ukraine next year, an eightfold increase on the amount pledged for 2023.

The aid package includes 130 billion won for reconstruction, 260 billion in humanitarian aid, and another 130 billion won through international organizations, according to South Korea’s 2024 budget.

5. U.S. To Counter Growing Size Of China’s Military With ‘Autonomous Systems’ – Al Jazeera

A senior defense official said that the Pentagon plans to field thousands of drones and other high-tech military equipment within the next two years.

The U.S. military turns to “autonomous systems” to counter China’s numerical edge regarding personnel and weaponry. The U.S. goal is “to field attributable autonomous systems at the scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains, within the next 18 to 24 months”, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told a military technology conference.

6. China Extends Tax Breaks For Foreign Workers Until 2027 – Reuters

China will extend preferential tax policies for foreign nationals working in the country through to the end of 2027, the finance ministry said.

The move can help foreign firms struggling to attract talent post-COVID. The government proposed scrapping the provision of nontaxable allowances for foreign workers in 2022 but decided to extend the scheme on a review basis until the end of this year.

7. U.S. And China Expand Talks In Effort To Reduce Trade Tensions – WION

The U.S. and China agreed to undertake frequent talks about commercial concerns and limitations on access to sophisticated technology, the latest move toward lowering tensions.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo said in Beijing that she had an “open” and “pragmatic” talk with China’s trade minister, Wang Wentao, and expressed worries about China’s recent steps against Intel and Micron Technology, two American semiconductor companies.

8. UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly To Visit China – Reuters

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will visit China on Aug. 30, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Cleverly was expected to visit China towards the end of July, but the trip never materialized. He would be the highest-ranking British official to visit China since the pandemic.

9. Japan Says Brick Thrown At Beijing Embassy Amid Fukushima Spat – Al Jazeera

Japan has said a brick was thrown at its embassy in Beijing and that its citizens in China were facing harassment since it began releasing wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific.

China has been the most vocal opponent to the release plan, a key part of Japanese efforts to decommission the plant destroyed in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

10. Japan Hints At Complaint To WTO Over China’s Seafood Import Ban – Kyodo News

Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi said, “We are entering a stage where we should consider countermeasures” against China’s decision to ban all Japanese seafood imports.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also said that Japan will take “necessary steps under frameworks such as the WTO” and underscored the importance of “close communication” between the two countries to maintain a “constructive” relationship.

11. EU’s Michel Proposes 2030 As Enlargement Deadline For States Waiting More Than 20 Years – A.P.

The European Union should make a “bold move” and accept new members by 2030, European Council President Charles Michel said.

Michel said it was time for those states that have been waiting in an EU membership line for more than 20 years to be given “a clear goal.”

12. North Korea’s Kim Visits Navy Command, Calls For Bolstering Naval Forces – Yonhap

On a visit to the country’s navy command, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un denounced South Korea, the U.S., and Japan for stepping up their trilateral military cooperation.

Claiming that the strengthening security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington has made waters off the Korean Peninsula the “most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war,” Kim called for the navy to maintain war readiness.

13. Vietnam’s Vinfast Now World’s No. 3 Automaker As Market Cap Surges – Nikkei Asia

The Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast now has the third-highest market capitalization among global automakers, behind only the U.S.-based Tesla and Japan’s Toyota Motor.

The company’s market capitalization reached $191.2 billion, according to CNBC. The company’s U.S. operations have yet to get fully underway, but the EV boom has led to a rush of purchases by individual investors.

Republished with permission from TIPP Insights