Bernie’s Weekly Q&A (6/14)

Hunter Biden in court, Vladimir Putin and Cuba, the implosion of "2000 Mules," and more!

Welcome to this week’s Premium Q&A session for paying subscribers. I appreciate you all signing up and joining me.

A quick reminder first

When submitting questions for the weekly Q&As, please limit your questions to just a few sentences (three or four tops). We’ve received complaints from subscribers about the length of these sessions. People don’t mind long answers so much, but they don’t like having to read through long-winded, often commentary-filled questions to get to those answers. Thank you, and we appreciate your help and understanding.

Let’s get started:

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Gentlemen - can you explain why the Democrats and their allies in the media keep insisting that Trump is an election denier? Kind of hypocritical when after the 2016 election, many Dems including HRC and Adam Schiff said Trump stole that election colluding with Putin and he was an illegitimate President? Also how many in the left wing media said the same, with all that leading to an almost two year useless investigation by Robert Mueller that not only cleared Trump, but still didn’t satiate their claims? — Vic D.

From John: Hi Vic. I’m not a Democrat, but I call Trump an election denier because he’s spent almost four years denying the results of the 2020 election. I’ve also called Stacey Abrams an election denier, and I’m fine with the term being applied to Democrats who insist the 2016 election was illegitimate. I also have no problem labeling all of the aforementioned people hypocrites. I’ll add that what Trump did after he lost the 2020 election was uniquely terrible, and in orders of magnitude worse than what any of these other people did.

Also, the Mueller investigation was not “useless.” It got indictments, convictions, and guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies, and it provided a much clearer picture of Russia’s role in the 2016 election. A lot of people forget that Russian interference, not Trump, was the primary focus of the investigation.

From Bernie: Democrats and their allies in the media are calling Trump an election denier because he is an election denier. He says he won the 2020 election. He didn’t. He’s denying reality.

Then you point out that the hypocrisy of it all with examples of Democrats who denied election results. True enough but Trump is still an election denier. If you wanted to make a case about hypocrisy, fine. But that’s not how you set the table with the first line of your question.

Gentlemen, I’m curious if you see this upcoming visit of 4 Russian naval ships to Cuba a provocative move on Putin’s part. Are these times not tense enough without Sabre rattling of this color? — Larry H.

From John: I don’t know, Larry. Putin may well be sending a message, possibly tied to our support of Ukraine, but I’m not worried about it for the time being.

From Bernie: Sure, it’s provocative. (And if you and I were still at WTVJ in Miami we’d be all over the story.) Not like the Cuban missile crisis during JFK’s short presidency, but we shouldn’t send him flowers, either.

Bernie and John: Towards the end of Walter Isaacson's recent biography of Elon Musk, Musk is quoted as saying, "There are too many referees today and not enough doers. We're too risk averse." Do you agree or disagree with Musk's cultural/political observation, or would a little risk aversion serve Musk and the rest of us well? — Steve R.

From John: Hi Steve. I wish I understood the context of his quote better. If he’s talking about business, entrepreneurship, and innovation, I absolutely agree. We need more smart and creative people taking risks and producing new things. If he’s talking about politics, I disagree. We have too many political activists and firebrands as it is, and a lot of them are know-nothings who are preventing serious problems from even being addressed, let alone solved. In politics, I welcome guardrails, checks and balances, and institutional standards to limit the power of individual politicians and focus them on the coalition-building necessary for problem solving.

From Bernie: I’m with Daly.

Bernie and John, I get it, Trump is not a good choice for this country but Biden is far worse. I just don't see the benefit of another Liberal president in office. In fact, I am far worse off these days than I was during the Trump years. I too hate the Jan 6 debacle and I would love it if Trump would not run, but at this point in time what choice do we really have? We cannot vote and insure that four more years of misery will continue. That's a choice but for me not a good one… I don't know about you but me and my family, these Biden years have been really tough ones. My wife and I own two businesses and it has become a serious struggle. We long for the days of sanity. As hard as it is for us, our only option is Trump right now. — Charles M.