What Ken Blackwell wants in a President

Ken Blackwell is well known in Ohio (mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–1980), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–1999), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007). On Facebook he recorded a conversation he had with a friend on another platform.

"So I get into it with a friend on another platform who keeps spewing the same propaganda as if anyone who voted for Trump lost their minds and rely on him like God to make our lives better. He also accused me of being willing to sidestep democracy to get the things I want. I may have lost a friend, because my correction was as follows:

“You folks and your propaganda are nauseating. You think it’s about making my life better? It’s all about me?
You know what I wanted out of Trump?
The same damn thing I wanted out of Obama, Biden, Bush, Big Bush and  Clinton.
Those those things are the following
- Transparency
- A secure border
- Honesty
- Common sense leadership
- Doing exactly what you campaigned on
- A strong military
- An end to political indoctrination in our schools
- Respect for personal freedom
- And someone who would think about America first before giving everything to the world while his own people suffer.
Not one of them came through. Each one of them failed. Most didn’t even try. They just faked it well enough that you are still pining for their pipe dream. But guess who did come through? As flawed as he is as a person, it was freaking Trump. A man I was never a fan of personally but respect because he does the hell what he says he’s going to do or tries.
That’s what I voted for. Not some polished fake politician who pretends to be an angel but is doing the devils work as we are distracted by their platitudes and symbolic gestures that get us absolutely no where.
No one is side stepping democracy, genius. By the way, we don’t live in a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic.
But let’s go with your twisted idea of democracy.
Was it democracy when Biden coerced Big Tech into silencing millions of Americans for their opinions and thoughts?
Was it democracy when that old man lied to you and told you he didn’t know about his sons dealings and that the laptop didn’t exist? Because for many that may have changed their vote in the 2020 election if they knew then candidate Biden was compromised.
Was it democracy when he got 51 intelligence agents who we are supposed to trust, to go along with the lie and call it Russian disinformation?
Was it democracy to force people to choose between feeding their damn family and a damn shot in the arm that is causing damage to a lot of people?
Was it democracy when Biden flew in hundreds of thousands of migrants in the middle of the night without telling us and also opened the borders? Did we the American people have a say in that? No the heck we didn’t.
Was it democracy when if we question elections or vaccines that we get silenced and are forced to self sensor just to survive?
It that’s your democracy? You can keep that crap bro, respectfully.
Trump is no God or saint but it’s a damn shame it took a flawed man to do right by the American people. He’s showing you how corrupt your government truly is and I’m here for it. No regrets whatsoever.”

Social Security Numbers given by Biden

“President Trump promised mass deportations, and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport,” White House spokeswoman Elizabeth Huston said in a statement. [NYT quote]

By using the BSSN (Biden Social Security Number) which gave illegals access to many services, they were also stealing our right to vote by cancelling it. The theft of our citizenship rights is what Democrat protestors are calling "democracy,." Thanks to Doge, Democrats will have to reexamine what democracy means--and it starts with a close look at the Bill of Rights. They should also start condemning the vandalism of Teslas and the rioting on college campuses.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2025/04/11/trump-deputies-cancel-illegal-migrants-social-security-numbers/?

Christians who defend slavery

On February 20, 2025, "the Trump administration officially designated eight Latin American cartels, including six from Mexico, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) for their major roles in drug smuggling and human trafficking into the United States." 72%, of those trafficked for sex in the U.S. are immigrants. Most of them are here illegally.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-us-military-action-against-drug-cartels-in-mexico-could-unfold/?

 
I'm concerned that Trump haters, many of whom are Democrat Christians, don't seem to understand the seriousness of this. Particularly the sex trafficking of women and children, as well as labor trafficking. Let's call it by a less sanitized name: slavery. Drugs are not a renewable, sustainable enterprise--slavery is. Once they sneak (or openly transport with open borders as in the Biden administration) them in, the victims and their families have to repay exorbitant prices to the cartels/smugglers. There are always more dues to pay. Some Christians are looking the other way just as they were in the 1850s-1860s or during the Jim Crow era. They waste their time with ever expanding and lucrative DEI contracts while ignoring the slavery right in front of them.

Ten or fifteen years ago there were many articles, documentaries, and meetings about this cancer. More than today. It's as though we Christians were all talk and no walk, a common failing. Now that someone is actually getting tough there's more virtue signaling, hand wringing and Lawfare.

https://www.heritage.org/border-security/commentary/fighting-human-trafficking-and-battling-bidens-open-border?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/illegal-smuggling-coyotes-now-advertising-canada-border-amid-trump-migrant-crackdown-report?

Surviving the tariff negotiations

A lot of the fallout for me from yesterday's tariff negotiations has been watching the leftist media, Dem politicians and some RINOS and no-names fall flat on their predictions. It has been a quagmire of "but he said on Monday," and "he's created chaos." I watched about 3 hours in the afternoon and thought I should stop and take a nap while the stock market soared. I've never been to an open market in Haiti, but I have been to garage sales and even the Memorial Day sale at Lakeside. I know wheeling and dealing, mind changing, watching for new merch to show up, and haggling with someone sitting on a chair that's for sale but not sold. We were watching the Art of the Deal (his 1987 book). 

 
3. Maximize the options
“I never get too attached to one deal or one approach…I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”

5. Use your leverage
“The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”

8. Fight back
“In most cases I’m very easy to get along with. I’m very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”

11. Have fun [this is the one that drives leftists bonkers--they never see the humor in what he says or does]
“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”

Remember what they've put us through--Trump's first term

From Thomas DeVore FB post.

For the last 4+ years, the Democrats went scorched earth. Good thing almost 80 million of us have memories longer than a hamster.

We remember the women’s march (vagina hats and all) the day after the inauguration.
We remember the 4 years of attacks and impeachments.
We remember “not our president” and the “Resistance…”
We remember Maxine Walters telling followers to harass us in restaurants.
We remember the Presidents spokesperson being kicked out a restaurant.
We remember hundreds of Trump supporters physically attacked.
We remember Trump supporters getting Doxed, and fired from jobs.
We remember riots, and looting.
We remember “a comedian” holding up the President’s severed head.
We remember a play in Central park paid with public funding, showing the killing of President Trump.
We remember Robert de Niro yelling “F" Trump” at the Tony’s and getting a standing ovation.
We remember Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union Address.
We remember the total in the tank move on the mainstream media.
We remember the non-stop and live fact checking on our President and his supporters.
We remember non-stop in your face lies and open cover-ups from the media.
We remember the President and his staff being spied on.
We remember five House members being shot on a ballfield.
We remember every so-called comedy show turn into nothing but Trump hate fest.
We remember 95% negative coverage in the news.
We remember the state governors asking and getting everything they ask for and then blaming Trump for their problems.
We remember a Trump top aid verbally assaulted in two DC restaurants.
We remember people banging on the Supreme Court doors.
We remember that we were called every name in the book for supporting President Trump.
We remember that Hollywood said they would leave after Trump was elected but they stayed.
We remember being called Nazis
We remember being called Deplorables
We remember being called Fascists
We remember trying to put our President in prison.
We remember trying to bankrupt our President.

 
And yes, we remember trying to assassinate our President twice.

 
The Democrats having been on the attack for over 4 long years do not get a free pass with me

Are you ready to retire?

 I retired 25 years ago (Oct. 2025), and I've lived through a number of down turns in the stock market, which now is my income. Dot com bubble hit just as I was planning what I'd do with all that time. Remember that one? It was during the Clinton years, although he wasn't responsible for the bubble or the burst. I was just learning how to read the WSJ and follow the stocks! Checking daily could make one faint. For those of you about to retire, here's a reminder.

"The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Internet, resulting in a dispensation of available venture capital and the rapid growth of valuations in new dot-com startups. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, investments in the NASDAQ composite stock market index rose by 800%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble."

Repeat. Giving up all its gains during the bubble.

If you sold anything since April 2 and the tariff announcements because you were listening to the legacy media, aka the "sky is falling and it's Trump's fault" media, then you're just not ready to retire yet.

Institute of Museum and Library Services and Doge

Lots of outrage against Doge for cutting the IMLS budget--a small federal agency with some money for grants to museums and libraries. The cuts were to DC staff it seems who cut the checks, so it's not clear in the article how many were coming to work or if there is another agency to pick up the obligations. I quickly scanned the Wired article and saw nothing essential, but did notice California could lose $54,000 to 5 Indian tribes for children's books. By the time all that sifts through the layers of bureaucracy, it's not a lot of money for the kids books. Guess how much Dolly Parton has contributed to help needy children with books to read: $240,000,000!

 
Libraries and museums are primarily funded by state and local taxes, and I would not call IMLS a "key" funding source, which articles I've read have claimed. It was created in 1996 in a Republican initiative when Clinton was president and Laura Bush (who was a librarian) was a big supporter. It was created with a merger of several agencies, probably to reduce duplication.

https://www.wired.com/story/institute-museum-library-services-layoffs/

There are thousands of small or unorganized collections of memorabilia or "culturally significant" objects through out the country--some connected to a local public institution, like a library, some not. I'm sure IMLS was a source of grant money if the person or group that started it died off. To my knowledge IMLS doesn't fund our Museum of Catholic Art and History in Columbus.  https://www.catholicmuseum.org/about-us/ For years a retired priest collected "stuff" as small Catholic churches in Ohio were closed, and it was stored in an old school building. It now has its own home in an unused Catholic building. I've never been there but the website looks great. As far as I know it runs on donations and gifts from benefactors and volunteers. Another one I know about because I attended a program about it at Lakeside is a collection of a black family from Toledo. These are microcosms of our culture. I think they should be supported at the local level--not the federal. Our own Ohio History Connection may have been a recipient of such grants--I never looked in to it, but the people of Ohio need to support that and not depend on Mississippi and Arkansas.