Skip to content

It’s Christmas Time in the Swamp

Heartlanders are left wondering who’ll get to Whoville first, the Grinch or Santa.

Photo by Gene Gallin / Unsplash


Liberty Nation

From the Back Forty: It’s Christmas Time in the Swamp
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Editor’s Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation’s longest-running and most popular weekly column. 

As heartlanders prepare for the onslaught of family and friends over the Christmas holiday, three men who claim to be wise and certainly are ridiculously wealthy have traveled afar to deliver the newly elected President Donald Trump blessings and good cheer. The Biden elves have begun to break their silence on just how badly the Big Guy was compromised, and the Grinch almost brought a government shutdown, but Whoville was able to get its act together.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

They may have seen that intensely bright star on November 6, prompting a journey to Mar-a-Lago to visit and perhaps pander to the newly elected president. Big tech CEOs continue the pilgrimage to mend fences and try to broker deals. So far, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta have gone or plan to go to meet with the Donald.

“Some of these CEOs are showing that they will be willing partners in the upcoming administration and saying that they want to focus on where they can work together, even if they have not been politically supportive in the past,” Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told the Financial Times in a recent interview. “There will be a whole bunch more coming, domestic CEOs and international CEOs.”

Will they give the latest president their blessing? Folks From the Back Forty are mixed on the intent of these meetings and their outcomes.

One opinion from J Mark Fescemyer of Minerva, OH, cut to the chase: “They are buying a seat at the table. They want a say in the crafting of legislation so it benefits them.” But Joanie Liimatta of Park Rapids, MN, saw the gesture more like an embarrassment after such intense harassment of Trump: “Kissing arse is kissing arse. Even when you’re a billionaire.”

An Unmerry Christmas in Delaware

President Joe Biden has all but disappeared since dropping out of the presidential race, and it’s likely for a lot of reasons. Failing mental and physical health and the possible extreme embarrassment of the Biden family seem to top the list. It was the bold actions of the Wall Street Journal that broke through the American fog by interviewing a bunch of Biden aides and staffers who admit they protected the “diminished” president from the press, Cabinet members, donors, and Democrat lawmakers who might have infiltrated and changed aides’ directives. No amount of calling Joe a stutterer could make up for live foibles, fumbles, and addled speech. Was anyone of any decision-making capabilities watching the fox in the hen house? That would be a big “NO.” Naughty elves.

The WSJ listed admissions that should curl one’s toes: Random lower-level staffers were forced to curtail Biden’s schedule because he “became tired if meetings went long,” causing him to “make mistakes”; negative polls and news articles that might’ve derailed the president’s cocky attitude were often removed. Another statement suggested somebody would occasionally need to stick to the president’s flank and repeat “basic instructions to him, such as where to enter or exit a stage.”

Now, the heartland is more wary of the last four years than ever. In Natchez, MS, Craig Barrows was alarmed: “Extremely precarious situation the Deep State put us in. This is Treasonous; prosecution is warranted.” Shelly Willis in Battlefield, MO, wondered: “So, being incapacitated, is everything Joe signed in the last four years null and void?”

The Grinch Is a Swamp Creature After All

The debate over government funding is over for now, thanks to the last-minute passage of a continuing resolution, kicking the can a little further down the road, but for a while, it wasn’t clear who was coming to the Swamp: Santa or the Grinch. The House body appeared paralyzed for days, unable to make decisions and negotiate. They wanted toys and money but couldn’t – or wouldn’t – be less than selfish. And the president’s former “yes-men” are tired of the upkeep: “I haven’t gotten any message from President Biden, or heard of anything that he’s saying,” Democratic California Rep Mark Takano told Politico.

The Democratic Party blames Elon Musk, of course, calling him the new puppeteer of the incoming administration. However, the GOP isn’t on the same page either: 38 Republicans voted against the plan that Trump endorsed, and 34 opposed the bill that passed.

Then there’s this argument floating around airwaves and platforms that Blaine Garrett in Russell, KS, finds worth a comment: “Please shut it down. Pass a 100 per cent GOP bill to the Senate with bare minimum and a debt ceiling limit. Schumer will be aghast.”

And Troy Harmon, in Marietta OH, made a good point: “Shut it down, where I worked you got fired for not doing your job – not get a 40 percent pay raise that sure hell was not earned.”

It seems Joe needs to get Whoville in order lest all his shiny objects be confiscated before he can install them in his presidential library – or next to the Corvette in the garage.

Merry Christmas From the Back Forty!

Latest