By Ray Cardello for January 11, 2026, Season 33 / Post 48

President Donald Trump and his administration are playing chess while the Liberals are trying to understand Chinese checkers. Trump Derangement Syndrome forces those afflicted to automatically criticize every Trump decision, even if it is obvious that Trump’s call was for the good of all Americans. According to the Left, every one of his cabinet appointments was unqualified for the job. After a year, every one of those inept individuals has contributed to the most formidable team in recent history. The Democrats go apoplectic at the mere mention of tariffs, but they are contributing to a rapid economic recovery from the debacle left by Biden. Inflation is down, as are gasoline prices at the pump. American wages are rising for the first time in over 4 years, and the stock market continues to set new records each week. Yet, according to Schumer, Jeffries, and the entire Party of the Left, Trump is failing. Of course, with the complicit media, the failure message is gaining traction despite the facts.

On the international stage, Trump has taken out Iran’s nuclear program and brought a halt to eight ongoing wars. Trump should have been a shoo-in for the Nobel, but nobody will give him credit for fear of retribution. He has as much of a chance of the Nobel as Melania does of landing on the cover of Vogue. She is by far the most glamorous FLOTUS in history, but the fashion world blacklists her.

As soon as Trump acted on the subpoena on Maduro and his wife, a subpoena generated by Biden, the Left was screaming foul. They claimed Trump was enriching his own wallet by confiscating the supply of Venezuelan crude, or that his actions were only about regime change. Our only concern is that Maduro and his wife are held responsible for their actions, which have taken the world’s most prosperous country and returned it to one of the poorest. Chuck Schumer actually said Trump took Maduro out of office to focus attention away from the Epstein Files. Al Green (D-TX) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) put Trump on notice that they will impeach as soon as Democrats regain the House in 2026. Damn, they do not have the capacity for original thought.

Trump pulled Maduro to make the world safer, but the rest of his purpose is where he loses the Left. Their collective intellect prevents them from understanding the long-term sophistication of Trump’s actions. He did it for the oil, but not for us to have or profit from, but to prevent China and Russia from obtaining the oil and the power derived from it. If our adversaries do not have access to the oil, then they do not have the funding to invade Ukraine or Taiwan. Trump taking control of the largest supply of crude in the world has stymied the Axis of Evil from carrying out their dangerous deeds. Congress had its feathers ruffled by not being briefed or included in the Maduro apprehension, but Congress has put itself on the outside looking in. Congress has never been more broken or feckless, and its track record shows it cannot be responsible with sensitive intel. If they were briefed, Maduro would have known as much as our military. The operation never would have been successful, and American lives would have been lost.

Instead of complaining and looking foolish, they should be taking notes of a man who came to Washington from the outside and has completely changed the makeup of American politics. Do I wish he would turn down the bravado? Absolutely. Trump will be gone in three years, but he is grooming equally brilliant successors, such as JD Vance and Marco Rubio. The Left would serve the country well by being part of the process, rather than the speed bumps they have shown a propensity to create.