I’m Not a Betting Man, But…

By Joseph Catena

As Yogi Berra might have said, my close friend, Phil, and I stopped being buddies a long time ago.

We never had a fight in the nearly 39 years we’ve been friends. He graduated from friend status decades ago and is truly like another brother to me. Therefore, he has the freedom to tell me what’s on his mind and in his heart.

Back when we were both extreme Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees fanatics (I rarely if ever watch anymore because football and baseball, especially the NFL, have sold their souls to the woke demons now looming over the P.C. leagues), Phil would make one demand of me, especially in the post season:

“Chief,” he would anxiously say. “Whatever you do, don’t guarantee it! Your guarantees are worth (EXPLETIVE)!”

Politics has been more my forte, especially now because sports are so far gone from my life. I’m not perfect by any stretch, but I was right about Trump’s two presidential wins (three really, because I will never accept the 2020 Dead Man’s Steal). I was cautiously optimistic in ’16 and ’24. Quite simply, I put my trust in the voters and twice believed that they would refuse to elect a left-wing angry woman who was wrong on every major issue from immigration to trans men in women’s locker rooms. The people spoke convincingly and delivered two resounding victories for Trump. I refused to use the word “guarantee” but I did tell Phil that I felt pretty confident both times, “cautiously optimistic,” if you will. I was also very bullish on the GOP picking up seats in the Senate in ’24. As for the 2026 midterms, they are giving me that same feeling as Trump’s pair of wins. I even felt this way before the gerrymander war.

And we’re nowhere near the campaign season yet.

I’m just not buying what the politicos are predicting. Part of the reason is President Trump. Many still don’t get the fact that he is a visionary with an impeccable sense of timing. Look back at the tariffs. The stock market hemorrhaged in the beginning. The “panicans” were out in full force. 401ks were sinking and phones were burning up with calls from and to financial planners and brokers. Anti-Trump economists and especially The Wall Street Journal kept telling us how the sky was falling every single day. The president insisted the seemingly endless financial demise would adjust itself to anyone who would listen.

Then the sky stopped falling.

Tariffs began to generate a net positive of tens of billions of dollars. Portfolios were back on the rise, and the economy was revved up once again. The Dow set records and even broke the vaunted 50,000 mark.

As far as Iran, the president has my full support. This was something that had to be done. And it was done at the right time. The polls are showing this to be an unpopular war. Allegedly. However, this hellish government of hate and terrorism is being brought down and will no longer be a threat to us or the rest of the world. By the time the campaign season rolls around in September, Americans will be paying far lower gas prices and benefit from a much more peaceful world. The economy, which is somewhat potent as we speak, should be fully roaring by that point.

My enthusiastic confidence also stems from the out-of-touch psychopaths that the Democrats are running. Nazi-loving communist Graham Platner of Maine is just one of the freaks being showcased by the party. Platner, a blue-blood, who benefitted from wealth and what the communist-socialist left like to call “White privilege.” And if you’re an antisemite who likes a little ethnicity and spice in your candidate, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (doctor of what?) might be your guy. El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, is as far left as Platner. Both men are Jew haters. The good doctor equated the Israeli government with Hamas and called them both “evil,” in spite of the carnage Hamas caused to 1,200 Israelis in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Conversely, Platner, who “unknowingly” sported a Nazi skull and crossbones tattoo near his heart before getting it covered, called himself an “antifa super soldier.” These are just two of the many crazies running in primaries against slightly less crazy, far-left liberals. El-Sayed and Platner symbolize what is running throughout U.S. Senate and Congressional races. El-Sayed is also one of extreme antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker’s faves this cycle.

Then, there’s the reality of such candidates actually holding office, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsome, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. They are either avowed socialists, like Mamdani, or people who kowtow to socialists and the far-left fringes, like the other three. But the one who is the most out of their mind just might be Mayor Bass, the woman who left for an African wedding, knowing the wildfires were coming last year. She is now clamoring for toothless meth heads to be given free dental coverage.

A conservative’s dream right now would be for Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco finishing in the top two in California’s jungle primary and ensure the GOP the governor’s seat in November; Bruce Blakeman to upend disastrous incumbent Gov. Hochul in New York; and juggernaut Independent (really a Republican) candidate Spencer Pratt beat the calamitous Bass. None of those races will likely go our way, but the Democrats aren’t doing anything to help themselves either.

I am looking forward to November. I feel good about the U.S. House and the Senate. There might even be a greater cushion in both when the results are tallied. I won’t make any guarantees though. But even if I do, please don’t tell Phil. He will go ballistic.

And that, I will guarantee.