KOMMONSENTSJANE – Israel cease-fire deal has critics worried over Biden-Obama officials looking to stymie incoming Trump admin.

11/30/2024

By casting Biden and Harris as mere placeholders, Trump suggests that the real decision in 2024 will be whether or not the nation submits to an ideology he believes is intent on reshaping America.

Remember Trump WAS ELECTED.

Now we know the rest of the story – nearly 60 Percent of Biden’s Cabinet Appointments So Far Are Obama Officials. Strange no one mentioned this before?

TRUST – BUT VERIFY! Why is Obama sticking his nose in the deal? It states that Obama’s people are working for Biden – REALLY. Obama is not an elected official and has no right to have his people under his control involved in the government and making future decisions for the U.S.

Since Biden is going to be out of office – why not wait until the next administration to MAKE A BETTER DEAL and not hog-tie the next administration? Why does Biden want to strap the U.S.?

Again – trust but verify. Obama has no right to be making decisions for the U.S.

FOX News

Story by Benjamin Weinthal

 • 1d • 7 min read

11/30/2024

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FOX News

Amos Hochstein: This is the time Hamas should agree to release the hostages

JERUSALEM— Amid the start of a cease-fire on Wednesday between Israel and the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah terrorist movement in Lebanon, some leading Republican lawmakers accused President Biden of browbeating Israel into a temporary suspension of the war as the Jewish state staged a near-take down of the terror group’s leadership and military structure. A new $59 smartwatch that monitors blood sugar painlessly in just a few seconds

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reached the Litani River in Lebanon on Tuesday. A key war goal for the IDF is to push Hezbollah forces north of the Litani River. Under the cease-fire deal, Hezbollah is required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.

Yet, the reported threat of Biden imposing a weapons embargo on Israel pulled the plug on Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah-controlled territory in southern Lebanon, according to regional experts and several lawmakers.

BIDEN ANNOUNCES CEASE-FIRE PLAN BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HEZBOLLAH ENDING 14 MONTHS OF FIGHTING

“The cease-fire agreement does not diminish what Israel managed to achieve in short order against Hezbollah. Within two months, it dismantled its infrastructure along the border, decapitated its entire senior command structure, destroyed a large percentage of its arsenal, and killed and injured thousands of its fighters,” Tony Badran Levant, analyst and news editor at Tablet Magazine, told Fox News Digital.A new $59 smartwatch that monitors blood sugar painlessly in just a few seconds

Describing the move by former officials from t Obama administration who now work in the Biden administration, he said, “What the Obama-Biden team did on their way out was to coerce the Israelis, reportedly with the threat of an arms embargo at the Security Council, into signing onto Obama’s vision for the U.S. role in Lebanon, which is part of his broader pro-Iran realignment. This is the downside of the agreement: it consolidates this Obama framework that should have been dismantled—and that’s separate from the tactical and strategic gains that Israel achieved on the battlefield. Rather, this pertains to U.S. policy and how the Obama-Biden team used Israel to lock in their regional preferences.”

He continued, “The deal puts the incoming Trump administration and the Israelis in a weird situation, not just because it saddles the new administration with Obama’s preferences in Lebanon—including hundreds of millions in additional aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces—but also it makes the U.S. an arbiter for Israeli action against Hezbollah moving forward and the possibility for friction that may create between the Trump administration and Israel.U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein speaks during a press conference after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut on March 4, 2024. Reuters

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein speaks during a press conference after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut on March 4, 2024. Reuters© Reuters

“Meanwhile, the Obama-Biden team has set their structure in place. If the incoming administration keeps it, that would be great for the Democrats, who will pick it up on the other end and expand on it. In any case, they have a document—a bilateral side agreement—that will be there for a future Democratic administration,” he warned.US:Why everyone is excited about this $59 New Blood Sugar Smartwatch

Amos Hochstein, the presidential envoy who brokered the deal, told Israel’s Channel 12 evening news anchor Yonit Levi that he had informed President-elect Donald Trump’s team about the tenets of the deal “because it’s very important for them to understand and support it, because they are going to have to carry it forward and implement as they took office in just a few weeks.”

Echoing Badran’s warning, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., noted in a statement that “I am deeply disturbed both by reports that Obama-Biden officials exerted enormous pressure on our Israeli allies to accept this cease-fire and by how those officials are characterizing Israel’s obligations. This pressure and these statements are further efforts to undermine Israel and constrain the incoming Trump administration. Obama-Biden officials pressured our Israeli allies into accepting the cease-fire by withholding weapons they needed to defend themselves and counter Hezbollah, and by threatening to facilitate a further, broader, binding international arms embargo through the United Nations.”

Hezbollah launched rocket attacks a day after the Hamas massacre of nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2024 in southern Israel. The Iranian regime-backed Hamas terrorist movement slaughtered more than 40 Americans during the invasion. 

According to the left-wing Israeli Haaretz newspaper, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides said Biden threatened a weapons delivery stoppage for Israel if Jerusalem continued to prosecute its war in Lebanon. The second Biden threat reportedly involved a U.S. refusal to veto a potential U.N. Security Council resolution that would hurt the Israelis.

The Biden administration denied the punitive measures targeting Israel to bring about a cease-fire in Lebanon. A senior administration official during a Tuesday press briefing flatly denied that Biden threatened to sanction Israel at the council. The official said, “This topic never came up, not once. It’s only that we didn’t threaten it … literally the topic never came up, so, I don’t even know how to answer the question any other way. It is completely new to me. And none of us has heard of this before.”

Backing this up in his interview with Israel’s Ch. 12, Hochstein also denied the Biden administration threatened Israel over use of its U.N. Security Council veto if it did not sign the deal, saying, “There was no such discussion at any point,” adding “it never came up.”

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.

THUNE THREATENS INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT WITH SANCTIONS IF IT DOESN’T DROP NETANYAHU WARRANT FOR ARRESTMourners raise their hands and chant slogans during the funeral procession of Hezbollah fighters who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike in the southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. AP Newsroom

Mourners raise their hands and chant slogans during the funeral procession of Hezbollah fighters who were killed in Friday’s Israeli strike in the southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. AP Newsroom© AP Newsroom

Biden’s carrot-and-stick approach toward the delivery of weapons to Israel as the tiny Jewish state fights a seven-front war against Islamic Republic of Iran proxies has been a source of friction between Netanyahu and its main ally, the United States.

Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, told Fox News Digital that the IDF eliminated Hezbollah leadership, most of its rockets were eradicated, and it was pushed away from the border.  She said “The big question at stake remains, will Hezbollah recover and smuggle rockets and store them in Lebanon and south Lebanon again?”

Zehavi answered her question, “I am pretty sure that this deal will not.”

Lebanese experts have long argued that Hezbollah is the de facto ruler of Lebanon. The U.S., Canada and many European countries classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Zehavi said “The Lebanese government is not willing to change its relationship with Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a member of the Lebanese government.”

TRUMP, CONGRESS LOOKING TO PUT SUFFOCATING SANCTIONS ON ‘KANGAROO’ ICC OVER NETANYAHU ARREST WARRANTPresident Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 in Washington, D.C. AP Images

President Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 in Washington, D.C. AP Images© AP Images

She said she does expect enforcement of the terms of the cease-fire from The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL), the Lebanese armed forces and the Lebanese state. 

According to the cease-fire, the Lebanese government is required to stop the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, Zehavi noted.

“I accept this cease-fire with mixed feelings. As a resident of the north, I am happy that we have a cease-fire. I am happy that my daughter can go back to school. I am happy to go back to normality and to stop hearing sounds of war and running for shelter all the time.”Former President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26. Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26. Getty Images© Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mayors and local leaders in the northern towns ravaged by Hezbollah’s missile attacks opposed the cease-fire deal because the terms of the deal did not ensure they could safely reside in their homes.

Biden said that over 70,000 Israelis were forced to flee their homes in northern Israel because of Hezbollah’s rocket attacks. The number of displaced Israelis, according to experts in Israel, may be as high as 100,000 people.

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Fox News Digital that, “The proliferation of weapons outside state control in Lebanon has been an undeniable fact, and that in south Lebanon – south of the Litani River – is a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701. But, as stated earlier, UNIFIL is not mandated to disarm Hezbollah or other groups by force. The Mission does not have the mandate to forcibly enter any location unless there is credible evidence that actions leading to hostile activity are taking place in that location.”

Fox News Digital reported on the alleged failures of UNSC 1701, whose aim is to dislodge Hezbollah from southern Lebanon and disarm the terrorist organization.  

When asked by CNN about incoming Trump National Security Adviser Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., attributing the cease-fire deal to the Trump effect, Jake Sullivan said, “This peace deal was reached because Israel achieved its military objectives, because the stakeholders in Lebanon decided they didn’t want war anymore, and because of relentless American diplomacy led by President Biden, driven by her envoy Amos Hochstein, coordinated in this building behind me by the National Security Council. That’s how this came to pass.”

Waltz wrote on X, “Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump. His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East. But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism.”

A Trump-Vance transition official told Fox News Digital that, “President Trump has been crystal clear that his support for Israel and his commitment to peace in the Middle East is steadfast. Hezbollah understands this is their best opportunity to get a more favorable deal done. Iran-backed proxies clearly see the clock ticking as President Trump will soon return to the White House with a strong national security team, including Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and Pete Hegseth, with U.S. intelligence led by Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe. President Trump rightfully predicted that actors in the region would make moves toward peace because of his historic victory — and that’s exactly what we are seeing take place.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Original article source: Israel cease-fire deal has critics worried over Biden, Obama officials looking to stymie incoming Trump admin

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KOMMONSENTSJANE – Rogan says the ‘greatest media psy-op in history’ was waged against Trump: ‘They’ve distorted who he is’..

11/30/2024

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/harris-aides-say-internal-polling-never-had-her-ahead-of-trump/ar-AA1uOWSY?ocid=BingNewsSerp


ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/harris-aides-say-internal-polling-never-had-her-ahead-of-trump/ar-AA1uOWSY?ocid=BingNewsSerp


But, that didn’t stop the |Democrats/Plouffe lying the whole time trying to make people think the world salad lady was leading the horse race.

They sure did lie about him – but, they didn’t fool the American people who voted for him.

****

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We went from Walter Cronkite basically to this guy Joe.

Which is a good thing because he is exposing all of the worms.

FOX News

Joe Concha slams ‘The View’ over Rogan criticism: ‘This is what panic sounds like.’

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Joe Rogan argued that the establishment media that once was friendly to President-elect Donald Trump has since been engaged in a years-long “psy-op” to convince Americans he is dangerous.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” is one of the world’s most popular podcasts, and Rogan is seen as having been one of the key players in the 2024 election, for interviewing Trump and then endorsing his bid for the presidency in the 11th hour. The podcaster has since mocked the media for losing their credibility with voters and alienating lifelong liberals like himself.

On Thursday’s episode, with comedians Shane Gillis, Mark Normans, and Ari Shaffir, Rogan recalled how friendly people in entertainment and the media once were to Trump, playing clips from his 2012 appearance on “The View” where he was cheered, as well as when he went on Oprah in and she asked him about running for president

Since then, “The View” has become a frequent source for apocalyptic takes about Trump, and Oprah shredded him while campaigning with Vice President Kamala Harris. Rogan argued that the abrupt shift in tone toward Trump has been shocking in retrospect, “What we saw is the greatest media psy-op in history.”

HARRIS DISAPPEARS FROM SPOTLIGHT, VACATIONS IN HAWAII AFTER ELECTION LOSS

The podcast host continued to hammer legacy media.

“What you’re seeing with Trump, regardless of his flaws, is a massive concentrated psy-op,” Rogan said. “They’ve distorted who he is to the point where most people think that way. Most people think that way. They’ve had narratives.”

“What is a psy-op? I keep hearing that,” Normand said.

“Psychological operation,” Rogan explained. “Where they’ve decided to distort people’s perceptions of things.”

Shaffir replied that older liberals are shocked to hear that former President Obama oversaw more deportations than Trump. “They go, ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ And you go, ‘Right, focus on what’s giving you the reality of the world,’” he said.Podcast host Joe Rogan's interview with Trump currently has over 52 million views. Fox News

Podcast host Joe Rogan’s interview with Trump currently has over 52 million views. Fox News© Screenshots/The Joe Rogan Experience

JOE ROGAN ENDORSES DONALD TRUMP ON THE EVE OF THE ELECTION

Rogan then turned to his producer, Jamie, and asked him to show a “wild” quote from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from 2008 where she was “saying some wild MAGA-type s—” about “illegal immigrants.”

Clinton could be heard in the recording declaring, “I think we got to have tough conditions. Tell people to come out of the shadows. If they’ve committed a crime, deport them, no questions asked.”A new $59 smartwatch that monitors blood sugar painlessly in just a few seconds

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“She’s a Republican,” Shaffir joked.

In the recording, Clinton continued, “If they’ve been working and are law-abiding, we should say, ‘Here are the conditions for you staying. You have to pay a stiff fine because you came here illegally. You have to pay back taxes and you have to try to learn English. And you have to wait in line.’”

The guests expressed their shock at Clinton’s past comments.

“’You have to wait in line,’ And everybody’s cheering,” Rogan said. “2008. Hillary Clinton was more MAGA than Trump. But how about that? More MAGA than Trump. It’s all a f—ing illusion. It’s all a f—ing illusion. All of them, when convenient, have said the exact same things.”

FOX News

‘The View’ co-host suggests Joe Rogan ‘believes in dragons’

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Rogan argued that this election shows that the tide has turned, however.

“They had control of the media up until now. This election was the first time they didn’t really have control of the media anymore,” Rogan argued.

When asked why this is, the podcaster replied, “Because of us, because of podcasts. Because of social media, because of X.”

Original article source: Rogan says the ‘greatest media psy-op in history’ was waged against Trump: ‘They’ve distorted who he is’

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KOMMONSENTSJANE – Kamala Harris – Thanksgiving Message to Democrats?

11/29/2024

ttps://istandforfreedom.com/kamala-harris-thanksgiving-democrats/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=main

Message to Dems: ‘Have You Been Drinking?’

Kamala Has Been Vacationing Since Her Election Loss To Trump.

By Noah Stanton

Kamala Appears Bleary-Eyed In Bizarre Thanksgiving Message to Dems: ‘Have You Been Drinking?!’

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It’s been a rough November for Kamala Harris. Heading into this month, Harris was sure that she’d end it as the first female President-elect in American history.

Instead, Harris was trounced by Donald Trump not only in the Electoral College, but also in the popular vote. Weeks after this devastating loss, Harris has posted a video that has some social media users speculating that she’s been drinking her sorrows away..

Immediately after her loss, Harris fled to Hawaii for a vacation. She then arrived in San Francisco on Monday to spend Thanksgiving with her family.

The next day, Harris posted a Thanksgiving video in which she sent a message to Democrats. Indeed, this video was nothing short of bizarre.

From Daily Mail:
She was dressed in work-wear for the video in what appeared to be a living room and looked bleary-eyed as she delivered the 28-second message.

‘And you have the same purpose that you did. And you have the same ability to engage and inspire,’ she continued. ‘So don’t ever let anybody or any circumstance take your power from you.’

It’s unclear what prompted the VP to deliver the pep talk, though online commenters suggested she wasn’t sober.

“Have you been drinking?” asked the former Hercules star Kevin Sorbo.

by Taboola

“Ooof she looks rough. Couple too many drinks?” another social media user questioned. A third commented, “When you’re by yourself minding your own business at Thanksgiving and your drunk Aunt finds you…

The conservative media personality Chad Prather bluntly asked, “Is Kamala Harris drunk?”

“The Democrats just released this video of Kamala Harris sending an urgent reminder to her followers to keep fighting,” he continued. “It’s kinda funny, she’s trying to sound inspiring but ends up saying absolutely nothing.”

Check out the video for yourself below.

by Taboola

Body Language Expert Weighs In

Body language analyst Judi James spoke out to say that Harris’ mannerisms in the above video are indicative of someone who struggles to express honest human emotion.

“This is a very verbose speech that combines Harris’ talent for the word salad with her signature body language rituals that try to persuade you that you are listening to some extremely profound, motivational thoughts and messages,” James said.

James went on to explain that in her opinion, Harris was grasping to show some real emotion and empathy for her supporters in this footage.

“Her gestures are largely flaccid, including the waggling finger, implying a weaker impression than her words,” James concluded.

Many of us have known for years that Harris struggles to show genuine emotion. This is likely largely why the Harris campaign hid her away from the media as much as possible throughout the race.

While running for president, Harris avoided having to speak off-the-cuff like the plague as she instead typically opted for highly-scripted appearances that were firmly in her control.

The bottom line is that the moreHarris speaks to the public, the more unlikable she is. This likely played a huge role in her not winning over the voters that she desperately needed in order to defeat Trump.

Whether Harris was drunk or not, the above video certainly does not paint her in a positive light. In the end, it’s nothing short of baffling that Harris and her team thought that releasing this video was a good idea.

Thank goodness Harris won’t be our next president!

****

DITTO! Google is interfering with the video.

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KOMMONSENTSJANE – Is It Hard to Deal With Reality? From the Looks of This Article – I Guess It Is?

11/29/2024

The heading read:

DEMOCRATIC OVERSPENDING DISQUALIFIES HARRIS FOREVER – MEGA DONOR was a good article and described Harris spending and you have to add BIDENOMICS who did the same thing.

Both of these people should not ever be able to run for anything because they have no sense of responsibility of other people’s money.

It is hard to understand people like this. How could you back a party like the Democrats after they put our country in such grave danger. We are in debt – up to our eyeballs – and they are still calling for MORE.

A candidate like Kamala Harris who over spent her election cycle and they still want more?

Go figure that and this one. The Democratic Party is just a name in history who has been kidnapped by the socialists and people still want more? There is no former Democratic Party – it GONE. All that is left is the NAME.

ttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-these-older-voters-who-backed-harris-are-engaging-in-quiet-resistance/ar-AA1uMmV5?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=783f2b7f79d2450f93da87611c0c43ef&ei=26

CNN

How seniors who voted for Harris are feeling about Trump’s win.

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Pat Levin, 95 years young, is wrestling daily with something new and depressing.

“It’s left me very afraid,” she said of the 2024 election. “Afraid of the future. Afraid of everything.”

That Donald Trump will be president in her twilight is by far the biggest slice of Levin’s post-election funk. But there’s more: Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was defeated, as was her Democratic congresswoman, Rep. Susan Wild.

Her first memories of politics are of Franklin Roosevelt, and Levin has lived through Vietnam, Watergate, the September 11 attacks and more. And yet this feels more significant, more threatening.

“I want to fight,” Levin said in an interview last week. “I don’t want to fight. I think I have to. Because I think there’s no such thing as staying neutral. I think once you stay neutral, it’s the oppressor who wins and the oppressed who suffer.”

Levin is a lifelong Democrat who wasn’t happy when Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush won the presidency. But never did if feel like this. Her Republican neighbors tell her to relax, that it will all be fine. Levin trusts her instincts.

“I see a man who is not — or a regime now — who is not paying much attention to our history and our norms,” Levin said. “Say what you’d like, but I’m scared. … I’m afraid. Not so afraid for me — I’m not going to be around probably to experience it. But I’m afraid for those I love, for those I don’t love, those I know, those I don’t know. It’s all those people coming after me who might have to live under this.”A new $59 smartwatch that monitors blood sugar painlessly in just a few seconds

We met, for a third time over the past year, at the Bethlehem studio where Levin regularly does Pilates. She is sharp and witty and energetic. But she worries she may have been on the losing side in her last presidential election.

“I’m pretty sure,” Levin said matter of factly about Trump being the last president she sees. “I mean at my age. Chances are good that he will be.”

Levin is among the voters who participated in our All Over the Map project, an effort to track the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of Americans who live in key battlegrounds or are part of critical voting groups, or both.

Voters over the age of 65 are among the most reliable to cast ballots. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris evenly split these voters nationally, with 49% each, according to exit polls. In Pennsylvania, Trump had an edge with voters 65 and over – 52% to 48% for Harris.Pennsylvania voter Pat Levin talks politics during a Pilates class with CNN's John King. - CNN

Pennsylvania voter Pat Levin talks politics during a Pilates class with CNN’s John King. – CNN

Levin lives in Northampton County, a place with a history of picking presidents. The winner in Northampton has carried Pennsylvania and won the White House in five consecutive elections, and all but three dating back 100 years.

Levin sees women’s rights in retreat; lies and distortions that go largely unchallenged; meanness toward immigrants; and disdain for civility and democratic norms.US:Why everyone is excited about this $59 New Blood Sugar Smartwatch

“It’s a scary thing when you think about — is Elon Musk the shadow president?” Levin said. “Isn’t that scary to have to ask that question? Have we ever had to ask that before?”

We visited Levin and others in our Northampton County voter group just days after a post-election trip to Iowa, where Republicans who supported Trump were ebullient at his sweep of the swings states and win in the popular vote. Those Republicans support mass deportations and trade tariffs and see him as a strong leader on the world stage, while dismissing talk he is a threat to democracy.

Conversations with Democrats so soon after felt like entering a parallel universe.

“There are no guardrails any longer,” Levin said. “I mean, he has control. Control of the Supreme Court. What’s left in terms of stopping him? I don’t know what that is unless it’s a people. And it takes people with a lot of courage to buck that trend.”

Finding local ways to channel their disappointment

Marvin Boyer, too, is beyond disappointed in the election outcome and sees many troubling things on Trump’s priorities list. But he prefers to wait and see if things will be as bad as Levin predicts.

“I always think positive and hope that our better angels will, you know, resurrect,” said Boyer, a lifelong resident of Easton, Pennsylvania. “But, again, it was a message of divisiveness, of separation, of fear, and that seemed to resonate with a good deal of the population unfortunately.”

Boyer, 75, has been a civil rights and community activist as long as he can remember. We met at a community center where the main meeting space is dedicated to Boyer’s mother. On this day, it was being used to pack and organize Thanksgiving meal bags, and the community garden behind the building was another example of how local heroes like Boyer do what they can to help those who need a hand.

He urges disappointed Democrats to, like him, find a cause or causes close to home.

“This will not be my first disappointment rodeo,” Boyer said. “You have to give him a chance, despite some misgivings I have. … I often run into people who complain a lot, you know, and I’m a doer, and I say, be the change that you want to see in the community. Get involved in a local organization. Be more of an activist.”Kamala Harris supporter Marvin Boyer gives CNN's John King a tour of Easton Area Neighborhood Center's food pantry. - CNN

Kamala Harris supporter Marvin Boyer gives CNN’s John King a tour of Easton Area Neighborhood Center’s food pantry. – CNN

Still, it is clear Boyer’s innate optimism faces challenges processing what he hears from Trump and what he sees from some voters, including fellow Black men in his own beloved community.

“It looks like it’s a revenge thing that he’s going for,” is how Boyer characterized the president-elect’s Cabinet and other personnel choices. “A big frankly, F-You to the other side.”

Boyer sees Trump as constantly stoking fears about America becoming more diverse, which makes the president-elect’s inroads among Black men especially troubling to him.

“I will hear what they have to say, and that’s what I do. I listen,” Boyer said.

Then his turn: “Why do you feel that way? Why would you vote for this guy? Why would you vote for an individual who I think is a racist who is a misogynist. … Who is with the January 6 situation? Why would you vote for a guy like that?”

The response usually follows these lines, Boyer said: “Because he tells it like it is, and that resonates with me.”

‘The quiet resistance’

Boyer’s suggestion to channel disappointment into activism is already part of Darrell Ann Murphy’s post-election plan — one she adopted with friends after a few days of crying.

“Friends of mine have started groups, we’re calling it the quiet resistance,” Murphy said in an interview at her home in suburban Palmer Township, a short drive from Easton. “We still have a voice. This is, you know, November of 2024, we still have a voice, not sure about 2025, but this is still America.”

Murphy, 84, teaches the Chinese tile game Mahjong, and says she was blindsided by the election results – in Northampton County and nationally – because most of the fellow seniors taking classes were Harris supporters. Three weeks later, she’s still trying to understand and is most worried about reproductive rights and a Trump tone Murphy sees as toxic.

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be around,” Murphy said. “I need to feel for my kids and grandchildren and the next generation, I need to feel some hope, some hope. Means more, means more to seniors. You know it really does.”Pennsylvania voters Darrell Ann Murphy, Pamela Aita and Catherine Long reflect on the outcome of the election over a game of Mahjong in Easton, Pennsylvania. - CNN

Pennsylvania voters Darrell Ann Murphy, Pamela Aita and Catherine Long reflect on the outcome of the election over a game of Mahjong in Easton, Pennsylvania. – CNN

Our recent visit was the third time we sat in on a Mahjong game at Murphy’s home – the third time she and Catherine Long sparred feistily with Pamela Aita, a Republican and Trump supporter.

“I don’t have to have dinner with Donald Trump,” Aita, 72, said when character questions came up. “I don’t care what he does. Just keep me safe, keep my grandkids safe, and have money in our pockets. That’s all. That’s what, that’s my concern. I think the man can do that job. “

Long, 68, took issue.

“I have a problem having a man keep me safe who is a convicted felon and doesn’t believe in the laws of the land,” she said. “I’m scared to death of what he’s going to do.”

(Doesn’t this person realize that all of the trials were Democrat fake trials?)

Aita reminds her friends Trump was president before. “Did anything horrible happen to the country?” she asked.

Long and Murphy said Trump was incompetent handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

That they can spar, and smile, is sadly rare in today’s polarized politics. Aita at first blames Trump’s critics, but then agrees he, too, often stokes the fighting.

“I’m saying both parties, both parties,” she said. “Knock it off. … Just let’s all come together for this country. It’s just, I don’t know, I don’t like the division and everything.”

Murphy can agree on that point.

“It’s awful,” she said. “It is affecting every family, every friendship.”

But the disagreement stirs again as Aita tries to wrap that point.

“We have to just knock it off,” she said. “He’s president for four years. We’ll have another election.”

Long interjects.

“We hope,” she said. “I have fears that he won’t leave.”

Aita: “Come on. That’s ridiculous.”

Long: “I’m not kidding. I have fears that he won’t leave.”

The CNN visitor suggests it can be a topic of polite Mahjong debate for the next four years.

“If we’re still here on this earth,” Murphy said.

“Yes,” Aita echoed. “We might not be here, John. You ever think of that?”

Back to the game. Won on this day, perhaps fittingly, by Aita, the Trump supporter.

****

I will leave you with this from the truth teller – Bill O/Reilly – she was a bad candidate.

kommonsentsjane

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