Reasons for optimism

I have long believed that the radical left represents an existential threat to the republic. Indeed, my last book, "Guilty By Reason of Insanity: Why the Democrats Must Not Win," was based on that premise. So now what?

Since it appears that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take office in less than three weeks, my deepest fears should only be intensifying. Right?

We needn't carry on this disingenuous debate about whether Biden is a centrist, because his growing mental incapacity makes it a moot point. As long as he is titular president, some invisible committee, one of whose central members is likely former President Barack Obama, will be orchestrating his every move.

But it will be shocking if Biden, once sworn in, remains in office very long. In one of his unforced gaffes, he casually acknowledged having told "Barack" that, while he and Harris agree on most things, if a disagreement on moral principle arises, he will "develop some disease" and resign.

The Democratic power brokers pulling the strings in this Manchurian horror show achieved a double coup. They managed to arrange Biden's out-of-nowhere victory over the popular -- but unelectable in a general election -- Bernie Sanders, and they snuck in the wildly unpopular Kamala Harris as vice presidential candidate under the Biden cover.

The liberal media conspired in this ruse, presenting Biden as an affable and honorable centrist, shielding his frailty and corruption while ignoring Harris' undeniable extremism. Never mind that Biden has a long history of plagiarism and lies -- and now a history of graft -- and that he was anything but conciliatory when he falsely cast President Donald Trump throughout the campaign as a racist.

So the progressive media and all other forces who dogged Trump for four years and concealed the extremism of the Democratic presidential ticket have enabled a certain radicalization of the American presidency for the next four years. By all rights, American patriots can't be blamed for being scared out of their wits about what appears to be coming.

I believe every word I wrote in my book about the dangers that the national Democratic Party represents for the nation.

I stand by this paragraph from chapter one: "Well-meaning people say Republicans and Democrats have the same fundamental goals but different ideas and strategies for achieving them. I've always regarded this as wishful thinking, but if it were ever true, it no longer is today. The two parties, as presently constituted, have distinctly different visions for America based on conflicting worldviews. Some will object that all Americans want everyone to be prosperous, safe, free, and to live in harmony, but I'm not sure that's even true anymore, given the left's anti-Americanism, its intolerance and authoritarianism, its romance with socialism, its hysterical environmentalism, its preoccupation with identity politics, its radicalism on race and gender, its attempts to erase our borders, its culture of death, its devaluation of the Constitution, its hostility to Second Amendment rights, and much more."

But no matter how bleak things look to all who have a clear-eyed understanding of the radicalism of the Democrats' agenda, there are some reasons for optimism.

President Donald Trump showed that an outsider actually can win the presidency and advance a constructive agenda against nearly overwhelming resistance. He single-handedly transformed the Republican Party into a far more efficient and effective policy vehicle. His very presence smoked out the radicalism, authoritarianism, corruption, destructiveness and utter meanness of the left. Leftists loathe him so thoroughly that they showed the entire country how far they're willing to go to silence their opponents and eradicate Americans' liberties.

Trump presented a template for how the Republican Party should and can expand its base, and how it should push its own agenda every bit as aggressively as the Democrats do theirs, without the cheating and lawlessness.

He inspired tens of millions of Americans with his unflagging patriotism, with his defense and promotion of this country and its interests. The enthusiasm at his rallies was no accident, and it will not diminish but rather surely increase.

Though temporarily dispirited, our side is fired up like never before, and the Republican Party will likely remain the party of Trumpism, even when Trump ceases to lead it. There will not be another Trump -- but there doesn't need to be, as long as the next GOP president largely follows his policy agenda (apart from spending, which we desperately need to rein in), adopts his template for fiercely fighting for that agenda, and continues to expose and proactively fight against the tyranny of leftist media and social media.

So much rides on the U.S. Senate elections in Georgia. If Republicans can hold the majority, we can mitigate much of the planned Biden-Harris mischief.

I also choose to see a dim silver lining in the rampant presidential election corruption: that going forward, Republicans could use it to fuel election reform and scrutiny. If nothing else, people's eyes are now wide-open and will remain so.

Heading into the new year, let's do our best to not be dejected and pessimistic but committed and resolved to redoubling our efforts to reclaim America's greatness from those who are on a mission to eliminate it. Never give up!

David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. He resides in Cape Girardeau.