Take a bow!
Celebrate!
Pat yourself on the back!
Every time I see someone I haven’t seen since the general election of Nov. 5, we start with a high-five.
Now, let’s get down to business.
Everyone has an opinion on what the Trump administration do first.
Yes, we’re talking about major issues.
Syria?
- Close the border?
- Freeze the budget?
- Raid the drug cartels?
- Go for peace in the Middle East?
- Or . . . Ukraine?
You get the idea, and yes also, the list is endless.
I learned in Brooklyn many years ago: "Fuhgedaboutit!"
None of those tasks are job number one.
And, who will be the Job 1 hero on Trump’s Dream Team? Rubio? Bondi? Vance? Border Czar Tom Homan? Chief of Staff Susie Wiles?
Again, no way.
The most important appointee; the man tasked with Job 1 (again), is Michael Whatley.
And job number one, as I see it, is election integrity.
I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t we just do that? Didn’t Lara Trump and company save the day? Well, yes, but. Ask yourself this: If an election takes three weeks, which party wins it? That’s right, the Democrats. And, they just took two House seats in California by never ending the counting until they were ahead.
Now, to get down to the basics.
Michael Whatley, a North Carolina attorney, is the current and future chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
He was just "reappointed" by President-elect Trump.
In reality, RNC members have to vote for the chairman, but will do the president’s bidding). Michael Whatley is technically Lara’ Trump’s boss. Lara is the co-chair, which means vice-chair, in RNC-speak.
It may well be argued that Lara is destined for bigger things --- very soon.
With any luck, she’ll be a United States senator, replacing Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Whatley will stay behind, to do the more important work.
Know this: If Michael Whatley and the Trump administration do not succeed at very major reforms in our election process, we will be one and done, and the America First movement will be but a footnote in the history books, one authored by Democrats.
We can live with a deportation program that takes longer than we want; or an energy independent program that gets stalled in Congress or a budget battle that slows down the "DOGE boys."
What we can’t, and shouldn't, live with is watered down, slowed down election reform.
Election Integrity is job number one; not for 100 days but for 20 years.
It must not stop.
Michael Whatley must become the man of the hour, every hour of every day.
Consider the problem: Vice President Kamala Harris won 19 states, 13 of which do not allow ID’s to be shown at the polls.
Our most recent election finished counting after three weeks, with the Dems winning every prolonged count.
A county commissioner in Pennsylvania told the world that she doesn’t have to obey court rulings. We still don’t audit our elections. And, we still haven’t audited the 2020 election, even though there are very few Americans that continue to believe that Joe Biden got 81 million votes.
In other words, Michael Whatley must get to the head of the line all the time.
2026 is almost here.
We talk about "too big to rig." It worked this time, but it won’t always work.
How long have the Democrats tried to put their thumbs on the scales? 160 years.
The Civil War ended in April of 1865 and Southern Blacks could then vote.
Right? Wrong.
Suddenly, there were literacy tests and poll taxes, just to keep Blacks from registering and voting Republican. If that wasn’t enough, the Ku Klux Klan became the terror wing of the Democratic Party, to strike fear into the hearts of Blacks.
Lynchings followed.
It was always about the votes.
Meanwhile, the Northern Democrats had an organization known as Tammany Hall, run by William Magear "Boss" Tweed (1823-1878), whose job it was to deliver the graft, bribes, and votes for Democrats. Then it was the Richard J. Daley machine in Chicago, delivering the vote for President John F. Kennedy on Election night in 1960.
When the loser, Richard M. Nixon, was asked why he didn’t contest the election, he said, "I didn’t want to create a constitutional crisis."
And then came 2020. My point? The Democrats will never give up. Michael Whatley must catch up, get ahead and then set up a succession plan for the RNC’s future election integrity efforts.
Election integrity is the most important issue for the first half of the 21st century.
If we don’t get this right, it will also be the most important issue for the second half of the 21st century.
(Related articles may be found here, here, and here.)
Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Read More — Here.