By Ray Cardello for February 14, 2025, Season 30 / Post 39

To the victors goes the spoils, usually the message in politics or life. However, in Donald Trump’s world, there are second chances for people who have a message or mission that will serve the American people. Think about how he treated “Little Marco Rubio ” in 2016. Whoever would have seen these two as a team? Now, Rubio is Secretary of State and is already making his mark on the world stage, first in Panama and then in Ukraine. Robert Kennedy Jr ran against Trump in 2024 as a Democrat until Biden forced him out of the Party and then as a third-party candidate. Even the iconic Kennedy Compound turned against the son of Bobby Kennedy and even got together to disavow him publicly. RFKJ was going nowhere, and his message of making America healthy was getting lost, but Donald Trump threw Kennedy a lifeline: if you teamed up with Trump, you would be the HHS Secretary in Trump’s Cabinet. The alliance paid off for Trump, and Trump kept his promise. Robert F. Kennedy Jr was sworn in on Thursday as the Secretary of HHS: promises made, promises kept. MAHA and MAGA have been joined forever.

The Democratic Party, under Hillary Clinton’s leadership and whip, turned on Tulsi Gabbard in 2020. Gabbard had already knocked Kamala Harris out of the race when Clinton went on a ludicrous attack on Gabbard, calling her a Russian Spy. As stupid as the premise was, it destroyed Tulsi’s Presidential run and her connection with the Party. The former Representative from Hawaii and active National Guard officer is now branded a spy without a party. She first aligned with the Independents briefly, but again, Trump was on the beach with a lifeline. She found herself in alignment with the Trump agenda, became a Republican, and hit the campaign trail for the MAGA candidate. She was named Trump’s nominee for Director of the National Intelligence Agency. After hearings that would have made a weaker woman quit, Tulsi Gabbard stood her ground and was sworn in on Thursday as the NIA Director: promises made, promises kept.

Trump has only had one casualty in the Senate roasting of his administration. Matt Gaetz withdrew when told his dirty laundry would keep the Republicans Senators from backing him. Gaetz was chum thrown to the Senate. Since then, every nominee has cleared the Senate walk of shame, been sworn in, and hit the ground running. It has been a beautiful thing watching the first month of Trump’s second term. It may have served him well having four years between terms. It gave him four years to prepare and the Americans simultaneously to feel the impact of Democrat leadership. Biden/Harris was the best thing to happen to Trump, and there was no lifeline big enough to save the Democrats. They went down with a wonderful-sounding thud in 2024. It will take them several cycles to recover, if ever. The Democrats are fizzling out, and we can stop writing about their demise. Then, we can concentrate on the greatest rebirth in American history. The golden age is upon us.