DEMocracy 2020: January 2019 Update (First Impressions)

Presidential elections are one of my favorite things about politics, so I'm excited to see that the 2020 race has already begun! I'm still considering an overall title for this strand of articles. Right now, I'm going with "DEMocracy 2020" because of the emphasis the Democrats will have on this cycle, but I am open to changes for sure.

Anyway, the last time I wrote anything for this blog, Corey Stewart had just won the Virginia Republican Primary for Tim Kaine's Senate seat (Spoiler Alert: Tim Kaine won in a landslide). Since then, Democrats took the House and Republicans surprisingly gained seats in the Senate, ushering in a new era of divided government, which began WITHOUT a functioning government as the 35-day partial government shutdown became the longest in US History. It's extremely apparent that things in Washington have become more polarized than ever before. But, as Oprah Winfrey said back in 2017, "a new day is on the horizon." What is that day, you ask? November 3rd, 2020.

Beginning this month, I will be keeping a close eye on the 2020 Presidential race, which has already begun. Election Day 2020 is only 642 days away (as of 1/31/2019), and we have had many candidates declare either a presidential bid or an exploratory committee. My current plan is that on the final day of each month, I will give a brief synopsis of each newly-declared candidate and my first impressions of them. Once the debates begin and the field is set, I also plan to give "power rankings" of those candidates and how I think they will perform against each other. I will also discuss any headlines that are important to that particular month, such as town halls, debates, gaffes (do those exist anymore?), and such. The Democratic Primary is expected to be even more crowded than the 17 Republicans that ran for their party's nomination in 2016 (I believe the number of Democrats expected to run is closer to 30, but I honestly believe the number will only hover around the 20 mark, which is still a very large field of candidates).

As for MY current scenario: I am open to anything, but the only thing I am certain about is that I have decided AGAINST supporting President Donald Trump in 2020. In fact, I will never vote for him or any other Trump-like Republican ever again. I can explain this in more detail in another post, but the summarized version is that Donald Trump's immaturity, racism, and divisiveness is enough for me to not vote for him. To this day, I still regret voting for him in 2016 because I had absolutely no idea how horrible of a President he would be. Anyway, my current plan is to support a Republican challenger in the slim chance that one emerges (please run, John Kasich!). If a Republican challenger does not emerge, I will most likely support the Democratic nominee. I have always considered myself a libertarian-leaning Republican, but due to the takeover of the alt-right, I can no longer in good faith consider myself a Republican until the Republican Party returns to the roots of less government and economic freedom that were apparent before Trump took over. The current Republican Party is NOT the one I used to associate myself with, and if things keep going in this direction, there won't be a Republican Party for much longer.

I'll start with my first impressions of each of the candidates:

2020 Presidential Candidates: Republican

1) President Donald J. Trump



Currently, the only Republican to declare their candidacy is President Donald J. Trump, which should surprise nobody. It is extremely unlikely that this will change at all unless Trump faces impeachment (which is looking more likely as the days progress). We know that Trump is the clear frontrunner of the Republican nomination AND the General Election; incumbent presidents have a built-in advantage when running for re-election, and I believe that unless something HUGE happens between now and November 3rd, the race will be closer than we think. For some odd reason, Trump's popularity among Republicans is very high at 80 percent while among all voters, his approval rating is 39 percent according to the Washington Examiner.

2) Vice President Mike Pence



I kid...unless Trump is impeached. Then expect him to run.

2020 Declared Presidential Candidates: Democratic

1) Former Rep. John Delaney



Do you know who this is? If not, I don't blame you. This guy has been running for President since 2017 and has little to no name recognition. I fully expect him to drop out before the Iowa caucuses begin next February. There's even a chance he'll only be in one or two debates.

2) Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro



You've probably heard of this guy at least once or twice. He served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama and has often been seen on Democratic VP lists (he was a top contender for the VP position during Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, but as we all know, she eventually chose Sen. Tim Kaine). From his campaign announcement alone, I expect Castro to run as an unapologetic supporter of immigrants coming to the United States. This will be notable if he wins the nomination; he could gather votes by bashing against Trump's border wall and his other abhorrent policies on immigration, such as separating children from their families and locking them up in cages. During his campaign announcement, he framed himself as an "Obama" candidate who supports Medicaid for All, the Green New Deal, and a pathway to citizenship. Even though he is a longshot candidate, I expect Castro to do a lot better than the mainstream media is predicting. Because he is the only Latino candidate expected to run, I think he will gain a fair amount of support and he'll be able to separate himself from much of the pack.

3) Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)



Honestly, Gabbard is one of my favorite candidates to run so far on the Democratic side. The biggest thing I appreciate is her non-intervention foreign policy plan, which means she doesn't want to go to war with every country like many in the Trump Administration do. I think it will be difficult for her to gain any traction, however, because in a Democratic primary, Gabbard is going to have a lot of difficulty addressing her past LGBTQ comments and her meeting with Syrian Leader Bashar al-Assad. She has apologized for her past views to the LGBTQ community and she has defended her meeting with Assad by saying she went through with the meeting because if she can find a solution to end the violent conflict in the country, she will do whatever it takes to bring peace. That's something I can support, and she's my current choice so far until Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders enter the race (if a Republican challenger does not run, I will more than likely support either Biden or Bernie, but it's too early to tell which of the two has my support at the moment).

4) Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)



I believe that Sen. Kamala Harris is the clear frontrunner so far, in my opinion. She was asked by CNN to be the first candidate to participate in a town hall, which I believe helped her gain national attention since it was CNN's most-viewed town hall ever (Trump holds the record for a Fox News town hall because of obvious reasons). She's also a very young candidate who is running off of her record as California's Attorney General and her early Senate years. Oh, and she's also an African-American AND a woman. Based on identity politics ALONE, she has been able to separate herself from the pack even though she's only been in the race for a little more than a week. Announcing on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was also a smart move for her because it was one of the biggest news stories of the day and it paid tribute to Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American candidate for a major party's nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic nomination. Expect Kamala Harris to dominate the news cycle until Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders eventually jump into the race.

2020 Exploratory Committees

Some candidates have not announced their candidacies but have instead announced that they have filed exploratory committees. This means that potential candidates file these committees so that they can continue to coordinate with their PACs, which cannot be done once you file your candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. Basically, these potential candidates wish to raise a ton of money through their PACs before they begin an official run, giving them a bigger war chest to spread their message and attack other candidates once they sever ties with their PACs. We only have three candidates so far with this status.

1) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)



Sen. Elizabeth Warren is by far one of the biggest names in the race. Expect Warren and Bernie Sanders to fight for support once they both declare their candidacies since they are both farther-left candidates. I honestly hope that Warren drops out before the Iowa caucuses and endorses Bernie Sanders because I have a feeling that Bernie has the best chance of defeating Donald Trump in the general election. But anyhow, Warren had an odd rollout once she chose to host a livestream on Instagram soon after her announcement; this was odd because she was drinking beer and hanging out with her husband in her kitchen, which looked like a really bad attempt to appeal to the younger Democrats. It took me back to Hillary Clinton's "Pokemon Go To The Polls" gaffe, which was very cringeworthy and showed that she did not know how to appeal to the younger generation that well. It's very ironic how Bernie Sanders does a much better job than both Warren and Clinton at appealing to younger voters considering he's pretty much an old man; he appeals to them well because he strictly talks policy and doesn't try to act "cool," which is all that the younger generation wants to hear. Anyway, she recently proposed a new "wealth tax" that taxes the top 1% of American families, which actually isn't a bad idea because it will raise trillions of dollars and it could help alleviate stress in areas such as student loans. It also only affects 75,000 households and the odds are if you are reading this post, you will not have to pay this tax at all. Even though I hope Warren drops out to support Bernie, I expect Warren to stick around for a while and be one of the top contenders throughout the Democratic nomination fight.

2) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)



Like Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had an interesting committee rollout. She announced that she was filing an exploratory committee with the full intention of running for President on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which is an odd place to announce that you wish to be the most powerful person in the world (for the record, I think Colbert is one of the funniest and smartest people on television, so anytime Colbert is in the picture, I tend to enjoy whatever is going on). Soon after her announcement on Colbert, the reaction was mostly negative because people were still angry at Gillibrand for being the first person to pressure Sen. Al Franken to resign when he had his time under the #MeToo spotlight. Franken was widely expected to be a frontrunner in the 2020 Presidential Election until this scandal, which basically ended not only his presidential hopes but his political career altogether. It was a slightly hypocritical move for Gillibrand to pressure him to resign because in America, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and Franken had to resign in shame even though he was never proven guilty (in Gillibrand's defense, there were pictures of Franken groping another woman, but the move nevertheless creates a horrible precedent for the #MeToo movement). I expect Gillibrand to talk about the #MeToo movement a lot during her campaign, and I expect it to blow up in her face. I do not think Gillibrand will be able to separate herself from the pack all that well because she is seen by many as another Hillary Clinton, which is exactly what the Democratic Party does NOT want right now.

3) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend, IA)



I'm going to be completely honest about Pete Buttigieg. I like him a lot. I don't know much about him at all, but he seems like a genuinely good guy who wants to make America a better place. I plan to write a separate post about each candidate's records once I am able to research them, but from what I have heard, Buttigieg has done a good job running a city of about 100,000 people. It is also important to note that he would be the first openly gay president in the slim chance that he was to win the election. He would also be the youngest president ever and once he announces, he will be the youngest in the field at 37 years old. Buttigieg's committee announcement was barely covered by the mainstream media, so I hope they do a better job at covering his official candidacy announcement whenever that may be. I look forward to learning more about him and I hope he sticks around for a long while. Considering he is the first ever openly gay Democratic presidential candidate, I have a feeling that he will be a dark horse in the race.

Headlines



These are just a few quick headlines regarding the election that caught my eye in the month of January.

1. Richard Ojeda becomes the first presidential candidate to drop out of the race. He was only in the race for about two months, but he decided to end his campaign because he was not getting any coverage and he did not want people donating to a campaign that would not get off the ground. I'm sad that he dropped out because he promised to be a different voice within the party; he tended to care about teachers more than most of the other candidates, making it one of the central topics of his campaign. I hope he endorses Bernie Sanders once he announces. 
2. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announces that he is considering an independent run for President. I seriously hope that he reconsiders, as this move splits the Democratic vote and  hands the election over to Trump. His best move would be to either run as a Democrat or not at all. I hope he chooses the latter because he has received nothing but hate from most people since the 60 Minutes interview. 
3. Former Sen. Jeff Flake announced that he would not be challenging Trump in the 2020 Republican Primary, but he hoped that someone will. I hope that someone does, too, because the President and the Republican Party both need wake-up calls that say that the party's current route is a bad one and that they are killing off any hopes of gaining younger voters with their bigoted and racist policies. I hope John Kasich runs because he has the highest name recognition of all of the prospective challengers. Also, we only need ONE candidate to challenge Trump because we will repeat 2016's mistake if there are more than one, meaning that multiple challengers will split the vote amongst each other and Trump will win the nomination easily. 
4. Hillary Clinton was rumored to be mulling another run, but as of January 30th, her old campaign manager John Podesta put those rumors to rest by announcing that she will not be running again. Good. We don't need her anymore; the Democratic Party needs something different, and it will be up to the Democratic voters to determine what that will be. 

I hope you have enjoyed my take on the 2020 Presidential Election thus far! I can't wait to see how this cycle unfolds. It will be one of the most consequential ones for sure. Feel free to let me know what you think; I'm always happy to hear other's opinions!

In Liberty,

Jacob Stech 

Virginia Has a Roy Moore Problem: How Do We Deal With It?

As always, these views are my own unless otherwise noted. They should not be associated with any candidate or PAC. 

This might seem weird to some, but the Republican Party of Virginia inherited a Roy Moore problem on Tuesday night. For those who are unaware, Corey Stewart won the Senate nomination on Tuesday night, defeating both libertarian-leaning Delegate Nick Freitas and Bishop E.W. Jackson. Because of Stewart's self-made connections to white nationalists and the Confederacy, Virginia Republicans have all but conceded the Senate race to incumbent Senator Tim Kaine.

Before we get into the meat of the argument, we need to backup a little bit. For those who are unaware of Roy Moore, he was the Republican nominee in Alabama's special election this past December to replace Senator Luther Strange, who lost the Republican Primary to Moore after Jeff Sessions became the current Attorney General. The eyes of the nation were on this race when Moore was accused of sexual misconduct during the height of the #MeToo movement. His allegations were especially shocking because some of them involved girls as young as 14 years old. After these allegations came to light, Senate leadership in Washington struggled over whether they would allow him to be sworn in if he won, but a decision ultimately did not need to be made because Alabama voted for Doug Jones, Alabama's first Democratic Senator in 25 years.

You might be asking, what does Roy Moore have to do with Corey Stewart? Well, first of all, Stewart defended Moore when the allegations first came out and he even traveled to Alabama in the final days of the campaign to help him win the race. Stewart did not condemn child sex abuse when everyone else around him did; while most called for Moore to drop out of the race, Stewart rushed to his side and supported him.

Fast-forward to current time and Corey Stewart finds himself in the same situation as his former friend. The National Republican Senate Committee said Wednesday that they do not have plans to endorse Stewart in his race against Kaine. Prominent conservative organizations such as Americans for Prosperity have announced that they will not be supporting Stewart in the general election because of his history of tax increases.

Many Republicans are refusing to support him because of his ties to white nationalism and the Confederacy. A week before the primary, Delegate Freitas' campaign pushed a video that showed Stewart with Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semitic figure who ran against House Speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin, at an inaugural party for Donald Trump. Stewart calls Nehlen his "personal hero" in the video, which the Stewart campaign deleted from his YouTube page shortly after the scandal began. Nehlen is a controversial figure because he has tweeted anti-Semitic and said anti-Muslim things during his political career. The Stewart campaign made the argument that the video was made before Nehlen publicly outed himself as an anti-Semite, but Nehlen had stated during his Wisconsin primary campaign that he wanted to deport all Muslims from the United States in 2016, long before Trump was sworn in as President. In addition to Nehlen, Stewart also had made an appearance with Jason Kessler, the man behind the August 2017 Charlottesville riots that killed one counter-protester, in February 2017 during Stewart's gubernatorial run. Stewart also tweeted at one time that he did not believe that Barack Obama's birth certificate was real, echoing the sentiments of Trump's birther movement. Speaking of Trump, he endorsed Stewart's run soon after his win Wednesday morning.

When Freitas' campaign told voters in an email that it was "time we defeat the hate mongers" such as Stewart, John Whitbeck, the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, posted a letter on Facebook that criticized Freitas for making the claims rather than making Stewart condemn his comments about Nehlen like he should have. By slapping Freitas on the wrist instead of forcing Stewart to step aside, Whitbeck put blame on the wrong person and showed that Stewart's behavior was welcomed within the RPV. The RPV could have avoided this situation by forcing him to drop out, but now they have to deal with Stewart and his behavior for five more months. Whitbeck now is asking for unity, but I am not sure if he will get it this time around.

So, how do we deal with our problem? Along with many other Republicans, I say that our best plan is to ignore Stewart completely and focus on the House races across the Commonwealth. Candidates such as Scott Taylor (2nd), Denver Riggleman (5th), Ben Cline (6th), Dave Brat (7th), and Barbara Comstock (10th) face very tough races with legitimate Democratic challengers, and Stewart's nomination has made these races even tougher. Because of Stewart, these campaigns will have to fight twice as hard to win or keep their seats. These are all great candidates and they deserve to serve in the House of Representatives and should not be affected by anything that Stewart does or says.

My advice to all of the House races across the Commonwealth: DO NOT ENDORSE OR ASSOCIATE WITH COREY STEWART UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Doing so could negatively impact your campaign and could put at risk all of the hard work that you have done thus far. I won't say that associating with Stewart will doom the campaign because I do not know that for sure, but a large faction of voters are disgusted with Corey Stewart's rhetoric and history, and by associating him with your campaign, you are only giving the Democrats another thing to attack you with. As of the writing of this post, only Ben Cline's campaign to my knowledge has shown support for Stewart; I am interested to see if the association actually affects his campaign in a bad way.

As for my current plans for the general election, I do not plan to support either Corey Stewart or Tim Kaine right now. A decision will be made eventually, but I need more time to heal from Nick Freitas' loss and for now, I will focus my efforts on flipping the 4th District for Ryan McAdams and protecting the 7th District for Congressman Dave Brat. We have about five months until the general election; I am sure I will put my support behind a Senate candidate soon enough.

This post was inspired by a post I read on The Bull Elephant, which you can read here. While we may feel that Option 5 is the best option, Option 4 is actually our best bet. Let's make sure that Virginia's House seats stay or turn red in November and let's defend these campaigns from anything negative that could come out of the Stewart campaign over the next few months!

In Liberty,
Jacob Stech

My Endorsement of Nick Freitas for U.S. Senate

This Tuesday, June 12th, voters will be going to the polls to decide who is the best fit to defeat incumbent Senator Tim Kaine in November. In a time where Republicans are being attacked in the era of Trump, it is important that our nominee is someone that can bring people together with his common sense values and reach out to all voters. It is obvious that our nominee should be Delegate Nick Freitas.

Nick Freitas has served in the House of Delegates since 2015. Ever since he’s been elected, he has fought hard for conservative values that matter such as civil asset forfeiture and the Second Amendment. He is a retired Green Beret that has received an A+ rating from the NRA. He has never voted for a tax increase; in fact, he is the only candidate in the Republican Primary with a voting record at all. 

Delegate Freitas has a history of supporting libertarian-leaning reforms, which shows that he can appeal to a more broader base than the other candidates. He supports criminal justice reform so that all people are treated equally under the law. He believes that the government should not tax us into oblivion and that we should have a flat tax. He is willing to admit that the Republican Party has a problem with government spending and that we need to control how much we spend. He supports medicinal marijuana, which shows he is willing to support bold reforms while his fellow Republican colleagues may be more hesitant. Because of these positions, he has gathered endorsements from important figures such as Rep. Ron Paul, Sen. Rand Paul, and Sen. Mike Lee! 

Nick also supports typical conservative reforms such as being pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-Obamacare. He supports school choice, less regulations, and securing the border. He believes that legal immigration is important and should be welcomed, but we must protect our borders while welcoming those legal immigrants. 

Nick himself is also a man of honor who has shown the utmost respect towards our country, the process, and his voters and constituents. He served two tours as a Green Beret in the Middle East after the 9/11 attacks. After he was honorably discharged, he served as an operations director for a service-disabled veteran-owned company. During the petitioning phase of the campaign, Nick was able to gather all of his signatures through volunteers while his opponents hired firms to do all of the work. He is also very personable with his voters and constituents. When I was interning at the General Assembly, I had a short conversation with Nick in his office in which I thanked him for everything he has done so far and to tell him that I was supporting him. He thanked me for everything I had done to gather petition signatures to get him on the ballot at the time and that he looked forward to having me on the team; he also took the time to ask me about my future after I graduated from college and he gave me some advice, which was something he totally did not have to do. I ran into him at a couple of events afterwards and he remembered who I was and thanked me again for the time I had put in. I appreciated these moments because it shows that he genuinely cares about the work that has been done and he is trying to get to know his current and (hopefully) future constituents.

In order to understand why we should nominate Nick Freitas to take on Sen. Tim Kaine, we should look at Nick’s opposition. His opponents for the Republican nomination are E.W. Jackson and Corey Stewart. I have had the pleasure of speaking with all three candidates for the nomination, and I can tell you that all three are nice men who know how to get their point across. While he is a kind man with a lot of heart, Jackson had a hard time gathering support during his 2013 general election campaign for lieutenant governor because of some of his comments. Stewart is a different story; while he is also a nice man in person, his campaign has focused on dividing those within the party and his campaign has thrown dirty attacks at “establishment” Republicans across the board. In a time where we need to bring people to the party with a positive outlook based on policy, Stewart is energizing his small base while pushing people away with his message of divisiveness and hatred. Stewart’s lack of judgment is also an issue, as he has aligned himself with anti-Semites such as Paul Nehlen in recent years (it took him three days to condemn his connections with Nehlen). Voting for either Jackson or Stewart is guaranteeing a Kaine win in November. 

All in all, Nick Freitas’s campaign is different than any other campaign I have been a part of. Nick Freitas is more than just a candidate, he is the leader of a bigger movement. This campaign has so many energized volunteers and supporters that want to advance the cause of individual liberty and free markets. His grassroots support has caused him to be undefeated in straw polls across the commonwealth and he has won every debate that he has been a part of. Tim Kaine is definitely going to have a tough time debating Nick Freitas, as he knows how to speak and I don’t believe I have ever seen him mix his words. While I am aware that the general election will be an uphill battle, Nick Freitas is ready for that battle and has the best chance to defeat Kaine in November. He said once that armed-combat can prepare one for domestic politics! 

Please do not forget to vote in the Republican Primary this Tuesday, June 12th for Nick Freitas. If you are a Democrat, please consider voting in the Republican Primary for Freitas because Kaine is unopposed in the primary. Trust me, a Stewart vs. Kaine election would be the ugliest campaign in the entire 2018 cycle, and I don’t think that I can handle another below-the-belt campaign. If Freitas was to win the general election, the campaign would be one based on policy, and I have the utmost confidence that he will look out for ALL Virginians in Congress while Stewart might not necessarily do that. Anyway, let’s get ready for the general election! It’s going to be a fun one! PLEASE VOTE! 

In Liberty,

Jacob Stech 

Live Blog: Trump's First State of the Union Address

Tonight is President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech, and I thought it would be fun for me to post my thoughts on the speech as it occurred without annoying my Twitter followers and/or my Facebook friends too much. The speech begins at 9pm EST and should be a lot of fun to watch given how unpredictable the President is. Feel free to refresh the page every few minutes to see my thoughts in live time! I'll be watching the speech on CNN, so I may respond to stories that break before and after the speech that CNN reports.

7:43pm EST: My thoughts before the speech. President Trump needs to strike a bipartisan and calm tone tonight if he wants to reassure his Republican friends in Congress and if he wants to truly show that he wants to work with Democrats. Released excerpts show that the President will try to have this tone. Some topics that I’ve heard will be talked about are immigration, infrastructure, and North Korea. CALM IS KEY, especially on the subject of North Korea. Making the American people more nervous than they are now will NOT help anything; it will only make things worse. Infrastructure is usually a good way to start a bipartisan effort as long as Republicans promise to join the effort. Immigration can go either way; I know that he wants to get his border wall started, but Democrats will not vote for it unless they get something HUGE in return, and I don’t think a DACA solution will be big enough of an incentive.

7:45pm: I am seeing reports that a record number of Democratic representatives (current count is 14) plan to boycott the speech. This is not right. Don’t stoop to the President’s level. I don’t have a problem with wearing black at the speech as a silent protest, but not showing up is a low. I would LOVE to take their seat at the speech if I could, so it bugs me that those elected representatives will leave their seats empty. 

7:53pm: BREAKING NEWS: Trump to announce executive order to reverse Obama Guantanamo Bay decision during SOTU speech. Another campaign promise accomplished. Good for him.

7:55pm: First Lady Melania Trump to make first public appearance since reports of Trump's alleged affair with pornstar Stormy Daniels. Doubt we'll see anything out of the ordinary tonight but it's an interesting headline.

8:03pm: Unrelated to the speech, but CNN is reporting that Trump may still fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. If Trump fires Mueller, it is effectively the end of Trump's presidency. Mueller has done everything right and I am sure Mueller will find out everything that needs to be found out. This WILL be obstruction of justice by the President if he decides to fire him. 

8:10pm: First Lady Melania Trump traveled to the Capitol separately from the President. Ouch.

8:18pm: My blog was having weird difficulties, so I had to delete the post and try it again. Hopefully those reading this have figured out the correct link. Fingers crossed that things stay put throughout the speech.

8:24pm: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says that Melania Trump went to the Capitol early only to welcome her guests. I honestly don't know if this is a true statement or not; it's hard to tell nowadays.

8:26pm: Just wanted to say that I love nights like this where the entire nation is watching something political like this (big speeches, debates, conventions). It's nice to know that people want to be educated on the issues. If you're not one of those people and you just want to see Donald Trump say something stupid tonight in front of the entire country, I don't blame you for that, either.

8:34pm: Looks like important people such as Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch, and Paul Ryan are entering the House Chamber.

8:36pm: All other members of the House and the Senate are now entering the chamber.

8:38pm: Just wanted to mention that I am still a bit jet lagged from my trip to the United Kingdom. I hope I can keep up with the fast-paced speech.

8:45pm: President Donald Trump and Chief of Staff John Kelly are now leaving the White House to head to the Capitol. Exciting!

8:56pm: Four of the nine Supreme Court justices have entered the chamber, including Trump's pick Neil Gorsuch. Probably his best decision of the last calendar year.

8:58pm: I see some in the audience wearing purple ribbons. I'm not sure what this is for but I assume it's for sexual assault awareness. Good to see awareness happening.

8:59pm: The First Lady has entered the chamber and is met with applause. I've always respected the First Lady and I appreciate how she deals with her husband's unpredictability.

9:00pm: Cabinet members are also entering the chamber. Things should get very fast very quick.

9:01pm: Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is the "designated survivor" for tonight's speech. Pretty certain nothing will go wrong tonight, but if everybody in that room was to die tonight in a freak accident, he would become the President of the United States. It's always good to take precautions.

9:03pm: For those wondering, the speech is expected to begin at 9:10pm. Just a few more minutes.

9:05pm: Trump enters the chamber to roaring applause. The normal entrance for any President that gives this speech.

9:07pm: Trump is the last person in the world that I thought would give a SOTU address, and here we are tonight in a world where it's actually happening. Jeez.

9:09pm: I am again hoping this speech has a bipartisan tone. We really need this in the country right now.

9:10pm: He's sticking to the script so far....

9:11pm: Less than a minute in and we're already hearing "Make America Great Again"... For All Americans! The list of accomplishments is now being read.

9:13pm: Great tribute to Ashley, who helped saved many lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

9:15pm: Another tribute to David, a firefighter who saved many lives during the California wildfires, including many children. Steve Scalise is also mentioned in an emotional tribute after he was shot and almost died during a baseball practice last summer. I still remember that day so vividly and it was a very hard day to get through.

9:17pm: "I call upon all of us to set aside our differences..." We cannot only come together in times of tragedy.

9:18pm: "The state of our union is STRONG." Something we hear in almost every SOTU speech ever.

9:20pm: African-American and Hispanic-American employment has reached a record low. Love the "EYYYY" I heard after that one.

9:21pm: TAX CUTS. TAX CUTS. TAX CUTS. Remember what I said about Gorsuch earlier? Scratch that. TAX CUTS were the best thing that happened last year.

9:22pm: There's no way he wrote this.

9:23pm: More talk about how the tax cuts...OH WAIT they repealed the individual mandate of Obamacare... LOUD APPLAUSE!!!

9:26pm: I love the success stories I've been hearing about the tax bill. The fact that people are getting raises and companies are donating large sums of money to charities makes me feel hopeful for this country.

9:27pm: Man I hate those hand gestures he makes.

9:28pm: Paraphrased: If we work together, we can accomplish almost anything. Amen to that.

9:29pm: IN GOD WE TRUST.

9:31pm: I cannot help but love how much Trump supports the police. This tribute to Preston is great. THIS is why we stand for the National Anthem.

9:32pm: WHY ARE DEMOCRATS SITTING AFTER THAT LINE? I know they don't hate our country but they're doing a great job at making it seem like they do.

9:33pm: I hate how Democrats and Republicans sit on opposite sides of the chamber. They should sit amongst each other.

9:34pm: Just saw a Congressman on his phone. As Michelle on Full House would say... How rude! Speaking of rude, it sure seems like some Democrats hate the veterans. Would love to get a list of who was seated just now.

9:37pm: I think someone glued the Democrats to their seats. Trump is saying some GREAT stuff right now. Get rid of Washington red tape.

9:38pm: Companies are flocking to the United States right now due to the economy. Trump, of course, is taking credit but I'm sure President Obama had a lot to do with that.

9:40pm: I just found it ironic that Trump is applauding himself. And making a loud noise into the microphone.

9:41pm: But regarding the subject matter, we need to get these people the medicine they need! Shouldn't be a partisan issue.

9:42pm: Oh no he's off script. But he got back on quick.

9:43pm: LET'S REBUILD THAT CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE!!!!! Wait, it only took one year to build the Empire State Building? That's crazy!

9:44pm: Trump calls for a bill with $1.5 trillion dollars to fix infrastructure in our country. I like that.

9:45pm: The bill must also streamline the process to 1 to 2 years so that we can get infrastructure done quickly. I also like that.

9:47pm: I need to get a transcript of this speech. There's so much being said at the moment and I can't keep up. Did he just say that he'd support paid family leave? You don't hear that too often from a Republican, but I like it!

9:49pm: Sounds like we're moving on to immigration... please don't say anything racist, please don't say anything racist, please don't say anything racist. PLEASE.

9:51pm: Man, the Democrats are heartless... that was a rough story.

9:53pm: "Americans are dreamers, too." Cue John Lennon's "Imagine".

9:55pm: The MS-13 talk is a little unsettling, but it's good that we're making progress on the issue. Gang violence is never a good thing and needs to be stopped, regardless of the race of the gang members.

9:57pm: Trump's Four Pillar Plan for Immigration: Pillar One is a path to citizenship. Those who meet education and work requirements and show good character will be able to become citizens over a twelve year period.

9:58pm: Second Pillar fully secures the border. This means building a "great wall" on the Mexican border. Saw that coming from a mile away.

9:59pm: I need to look into "catch and release". Third Pillar ends the visa lottery. Democrats do NOT like this plan. But I do.

10:00pm: Trump hopes that this third pillar will bring people to the country that want to be here and want to contribute to the success of the country. Fourth Pillar is to end chain migration. Not clear if the boos just now are against chain migration or against the President's plan. Probably the former.

10:01pm: Yeah, this plan isn't going to pass through both houses. Probably will pass through the House. They have a big enough majority there for now. Enjoy it while it lasts, Republicans!

10:04pm: Talking about opioid crisis. Not sure why this is a partisan issue either. IT'S NOT THAT HARD!

10:06pm: Ryan and Rebecca's story is a fascinating one. I love how Presidents bring people in to show extraordinary Americans such as the ones we have seen tonight.

10:07pm: Are we really strengthening our relations abroad? I just got back from the United Kingdom and they HATE Trump there. I mean HATE.

10:08pm: Of course, funding the military gets LOUD applause from Republicans, crickets from Democrats. Surprised we haven't heard anything about North Korea yet.

10:09pm: Interesting. Trump wishes for a day where all of the countries would come together and eliminate their nuclear weapons. He says we're not there yet. Also talks about ISIS becoming weaker by the minute and how he has stopped their growth.

10:10pm: The speech has gone on for an hour now. It'll probably end soonish.

10:14pm: Trump JUST signed an executive order to reopen Guantanamo Bay to keep terrorists in there, gives example as to how we had Al Baghdadi captured and then we set him free. Trump has convinced me to support his decision.

10:16pm: We need to no longer tell our enemies our plans. FULLY agree with Trump. This makes TOTAL sense. I've always agreed with him on this.

10:17pm: He also talks about moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He calls on Congress to make sure that any money given to foreign countries is given with American interest at heart.

10:18pm: America stands with Iran in their efforts to free themselves from the oppressive government. And so do I. Trump also supports the sanctions put on Cuba and Venezuela. I agree with Venezuelan sanctions but I'm skeptical about the Cuban sanctions.

10:20pm: North Korea part of the speech begins. This may be rough. He starts with talking about Otto Warmbier's trip to North Korea. His parents are at the speech tonight along with his brother and sister. Being from Virginia, this is a particularly hard story to hear, especially after I myself have gone abroad for the first time.

10:25pm: Ji Seong-ho's story is told by the President to show how bad the North Korean regime treats people. He eventually defected thousands of miles on crutches to reach freedom. He now lives in Seoul and helps other defectors to leave this oppressive regime. A very emotional moment of the speech for sure.

10:26pm: Just realized that I probably should've put my newest thoughts at the top of the post instead of the bottom. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

10:27pm: Chants of "USA!" are heard in the chamber as Trump talks about American freedom.

10:29pm: The Hill reports that those boos from earlier were from Democrats claiming that Trump falsely claimed that "virtually unlimited numbers" of relatives come through during chain migration.

10:30pm: Man this speech is long. Sounds like he's wrapping up, though. With some nice words.

10:31pm: His speech is over. I thought it was a very good speech with some inspirational stories, some solid policy proposals regarding infrastructure and immigration, and calls for bipartisanship. These were all things that I was expecting to hear before the speech, and I am satisfied with the professionalism and the presidential feel that the speech had. I am very angry, however, at the Democrats' reactions and their behavior during the speech. It sucks how Trump is calling for bipartisanship and Democrats will do anything, including putting our country at risk, to make a political point. Overall, very good speech by the President. He did a great job of not saying anything too stupid. Now we just need to work on getting rid of his Twitter.

10:36pm: Democratic response by Rep. Joe Kennedy is next. I do not plan to waste my time live blogging this speech. I've never liked the response portion of the night because it is always written before the SOTU and it's usually only used to create a more divisive tone. I can tell you now what is going to be said: The President is a racist bigot who is controlled by the Russians and wants to ruin our country.

10:39pm: Speaking of Russians, Trump did a great job of not mentioning them or the investigation going on. But I'm sure these problems are not even close to being over yet.

10:42pm: Screw it, I'll live blog the response. This feels SO fake so far like always.

10:43pm: Hopefully the fact that this is actually live will make it a little more bearable.

10:44pm: Typical Democratic speech: accusations flying everywhere with NO proof to back it up.

10:45pm: A response to a speech should actually talk about the things said during said speech.

10:47pm: His delivery feels so fake. I have to say it twice. These awkward pauses between every few words makes me feel that he's trying to sound like Barack Obama. I can't even comment on the substance because it's so bad. And so all over the place.

10:49pm: For those wondering, I've said these exact same things about Republican SOTU responses in the past.

10:50pm: Eight minutes in and I don't think he's said anything that connects the SOTU to this speech.

10:51pm: Here comes the Spanish speaking. I'm not saying it's bad that he's speaking it, but it's bad that he and other Democrats only do it for political points. Who is this guy, anyway?

10:53pm: Eleven minutes in and we finally get a connection: The Border Wall. It's also random headline time.

10:54pm: I'm super impressed that they haven't said any of the stuff I thought they would say during the response. Hope I haven't spoken too soon.

10:55pm: Oh thank God it's over. Speech was irrelevant, fake, and filled with inaccuracies and policy points based off of one's feelings. I don't need to say anymore.

10:58pm: I was about to say that I didn't agree with CNN's spinning of the speeches tonight until John King made the point that this is going to be a partisan year. Tonight showed that Democrats will not listen to Trump even after he gave them an olive branch. This year is going to be another do-nothing year that could possibly result in Democrats taking over both chambers of Congress.

11:00pm: With that being said, I hope Nick Freitas can win the Virginia Republican primary for U.S. Senate so he can beat Tim Kaine and keep the Democrats from making 2019 and 2020 even more divisive. I want to be as bipartisan as possible, but I've come to the conclusion that we need new faces in both parties for that to happen. Those currently in Congress, PLEASE prove me wrong and get some stuff done this year. (Speaking of this, I need to write an endorsement of Nick Freitas soon and encourage others to get involved with the campaign ASAP!)

11:02pm: I'm wrapping it up for the night. It's been fun!

11:10pm: I had to come back and say how much I appreciated Trump's immigration plan. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Trump, I really like this bipartisan immigration plan and was impressed with Trump tonight as a whole. Hopefully the Democrats can take a second look at it and realize it's a good plan. 

2017 in Review: The Highlights

2017 was a total butt-kicker of a year, but it was also one of many fun experiences, important opportunities, and hard work. 

At Randolph-Macon, I continued to work my way through my junior and senior years. My SGA presidential campaign was a huge feat; even though we lost that election, the excitement from my campaign contributed to one of the highest turnouts in an R-MC SGA election in the College’s history. The aftermath of the election led to my appointment as a Senior Class Senator, where I’ve been able to help make our ideas a reality. I also got to meet Sage the Gemini at Camptown, I’ve continued to make Deans List every semester since Spring 2015, and I’ve learned so many different things along the way in my classes and in my positions as a CAB Event Manager and as a Resident Assistant. I also joined Mu Phi Epsilon in the fall, which is filled with talented musicians and all-around great people. 

This summer, I worked at the Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion for my second season and while the job itself wasn’t the most exciting and came with its downsides, the people I worked with yet again made it an amazing and fun experience that I won’t soon forget. In addition to working with people from across the Commonwealth, I also worked with students from the Philippines, Columbia, Hong Kong, and Poland, so I was able to develop an even larger appreciation for diverse cultures (I hope to travel to these places one day!). The fall brought Halloween Haunt to me for the third year in a row; this is always one of my favorite times of the year. I was super excited to learn that I was placed in Blood on the Bayou, the newest maze in the park that was eventually named the MAZE OF THE YEAR for Haunt 2017! This was easily my favorite year of Haunt ever, and I loved every minute that I was in that hot maze working with my fellow monsters, who made me feel even more welcome in the Haunt family.

There were also many different political events that were highlights of my 2017. My trip to Washington, D.C. to see the 58th Presidential Inauguration was something that everyone should try at least once in their life as it is an amazing experience to watch one presidency end and another begin right before your eyes. I also spent a large amount of my year interning for the 2017 Virginia Republican Ticket from the very beginning in January, and even though we lost in a fashion nobody expected, we learned a lot about our state and country that night and we left everything out on the floor with one of the best run campaigns ever. The end of the year brought some promise as Nick Freitas, who is someone that I have admired since his visit to R-MC, announced his U.S. Senate bid and brought some optimism and liberty to the Republican Party.

These are just the highlights; I could go on about all the ups and downs that happened in 2017. While the news was mostly negative, I tried my best to keep this year as positive as possible. Thanks to everyone that made this year special, and I can’t wait to see y’all around in the New Year! 

In Liberty, 

Jacob Stech

My Condemnation of President Trump

Note: This post is a copy of a Facebook post that I wrote about an hour after Donald Trump's disastrous press conference in which he walked back his scripted Monday response to the domestic terrorist attack in Charlottesville, where one person was killed in a protest and two policemen were killed in a helicopter crash while responding to the protests. 

I just listened to Donald Trump walk back his comments from yesterday and show his true colors. He's now back to saying that both sides are at fault.

I condemn the actions of the KKK. I condemn Nazis. I condemn white supremacists. I condemn racists.

I condemn the president for not condemning these same things.

I'm done with this president. I also apologize to everyone for voting for this president. I can no longer support a president who will not denounce white supremacists for their ugly and disgusting thoughts. I can't support a president who would rather defend Nazis and racists than represent his country by using his common sense and denouncing them. Mr. President, I can assure you that as of now, you will not be getting my vote in 2020.

I apologize to everyone for helping to elect a morally insensitive man to the most powerful position in the world. I apologize to all of my friends for saying "it'll be okay" and "let's give him a chance." Well, I've given him a chance, and it's pretty obvious that things are not okay. My heart hurts for those who feel victimized by the president's actions. I feel bad that I have to tell my kids in the future that I voted for him.

I'm not changing parties, but I do want to change the way that this country thinks. I want to help elect leaders from both parties that want to bring America back from all of the negativity that has happened over the past few months. I'm sick of how negative, dirty, and divisive American political talk has become. I want to bring American politics back to what it used to be about: the issues and what brings us together.

I miss President Barack Obama. I honestly never thought I would say that. I hope we can recover from this. I really do.

Have We Become Numb to Terrorism?

It seems like terrorism happens too often for us to keep up with it anymore. It's actually really sad.

On Monday, May 22nd, after I had arrived home from a busy day at my internship, I got a notification on my phone that really worried me. Now, I can't remember a day within these past few months that a news notification didn't worry the crap out of me, but this one was concerning. Of course, my mind went straight to "Oh no, this is another terrorist attack", but I wanted to tell myself that it wasn't the case. I wanted to believe that ISIS wasn't able to pull off yet another devastating attack that took the lives of innocent people. I wanted to believe that everybody was going to be okay and that maybe the article was a piece of "fake news" or the explosion was actually something else. I should've stuck with my first instinct.

As more information started leaking out, I was saddened to hear that 22 people had died and 59 people had been injured in some way (as of Friday, May 26th). I was relieved to hear that Ariana Grande herself was safe, but then I realized the demographic that her music appeals most to: younger girls. The majority of the victims had been young girls who just wanted to have fun at a concert. For many of them, it was probably their first experience at a concert. Even those young ones who survived the attack without a scratch will probably have nightmares for months after experiencing the chaos that happened that day.

But what surprised me even more was not what happened, but what didn't happen. Usually, after any large world event, good or bad, I would see a lot of activity on my Facebook feed regarding the event. Now, I did see a lot of action on Twitter, but I had to seek out the correct hashtags and keywords to see it. My Facebook friends or the people that I follow on Twitter (not including news accounts) did not seem to care about what had taken place. There was basically utter silence. It was shocking. But then I thought: have we become so used to terrorist attacks and the normal cycle of events that we just don't care anymore? Have we become numb to terrorism?

The media used to spend a lot of time on these events when they first began to happen. When the Virginia Tech massacre happened, it was the top story for weeks on end. But now, especially within the past year or so, the coverage of these events disappears within the next day or so, even in instances where massive attacks occur. It seems like the media, along with the people, have gotten used to the cycle so much that they feel that they don't need to cover it as much anymore.

Here's that inevitable series of events that I'm talking about. Obviously it starts with the event itself occurring and it is followed with the fast leaking of new information, including the number of victims and the finding of who committed the act of violence. Then we find out that the perpetrator had a history of radicalization. Then the debates start about whether to have stricter gun laws or whether to limit Syrian refugee immigration to the country or whether the United States should declare war on the Islamic State, or ISIS.

I TOTALLY understand why people get sick and tired of it all, as it just adds to the problems of partisanship and lack of unity that I have stressed about before. But we cannot just sit here and let it happen again. And again. And again.

If we just sit here and let the cycle continue, it gives off an impression to the terrorists that we tolerate the events and that we are totally okay with letting more attacks happen, even though that is not necessarily the case. If we ignore the events happening around us, we are closing ourselves in and not letting ourselves be educated on what is happening around the world so that we can be prepared for anything. By doing nothing, we let the terrorists win, and we give them permission to do it again.

If we want to stop living in this cycle, we need to bring more attention to what happened so that more people know what is going on. We also need to educate people about the religion of Islam and tell people how it isn't the entire religion that allows for these types of events to happen, but it is only a small fraction of followers that twist the words of their scripture to justify killing children and other innocent people. We also need to work to agree on what the main problem is and how we can find a set solution to the problem. If the proposed solution doesn't work, then we reevaluate.

Another point I want to make is something that Former President Barack Obama hit on in a speech in Berlin on Thursday. He made the point that there are people "who would do great harm to others just because they are different." He also hopes that as an ex-president, he will have more time to help young people become better leaders "so that we can marginalize those who would try to divide us" through acts such as these. This is a big reason why I wanted to write this post. I want people to read this and hope that they will speak out against injustices and become inspired to try and fix the bonds that divide us as a nation. We live in such a partisan time right now that it might seem like this is impossible, but it really isn't; we will never know unless we try.

I can get very political about the issue and talk about any of the debates above, or how the $110 billion arms deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia was a bad idea and how a lot of these weapons will go to terrorist organizations to commit more terrorist acts. I can also talk about how the mainstream media wrongly talks about Islam as being a horrible religion that allows these acts to happen, but I can save these issues for another post if need be. This post is just meant to address how and why we need to be more aware of the events, and I do not want to get into the policy bits in any way at the moment.

When I initially thought about writing this post, I wanted to shape it around the classic John Lennon song, Imagine. I wanted to talk about imagining a world where one's religion, country of origin, or possessions do not create hate, but I've gotten to the point where imagining a world where people are living life in peace is impossible. Now I am a dreamer, and I know I'm not the only one, and I wish I could hope someday that others would want to join me in wanting to live as one, but we've lived too long in a world with partisanship and hate and racial injustice for that to ever become a true reality. But we can still work towards a goal like that, as every little act of kindness can get us closer to a world like the one I described.

The question still needs to be asked: are we too numb to care about terrorism anymore, or can we get together and figure out ways to prevent these acts and the heartbreak that usually follows? I know that we will never be able to end terrorism completely as it has been a thing since the beginning of time, but being able to prevent more attacks from happening would definitely be an accomplishment. At this point, all we can do as citizens is educate ourselves and others. We need to care about what is going on so that we can accurately judge those in Washington who will eventually make the hard policy decisions.

Keep educating yourself and others. Keep caring. Keep our representatives in check. The world can be a better place if we do these things and more. Let me know if I need to elaborate on any points or if anything is confusing, as I know terrorism is a complicated issue.

In Liberty,
Jacob Stech '18