5-16-25

Yesterday saw one of those disturbing moments that on the one hand you’d just

love to be able to shrug off….but on the other hand you know that by God it must

be dealt with….swiftly and surely and publicly……Former FBI Director James

Comey was playing cute with seashells and posted a picture of shells in the sand

that were laid out to form a message…..the shells themselves formed the

numbers 8-6-4-7….read correctly that stands for Eighty-Six Forty-Seven…..a quick

glance and you know that what this means is the 47 th President of the United

States has a former FBI Director calling for him to be “86’d”…..if you’re not

familiar with that then let me tell you……86 is a military slang for disposal or

removal of something, or to scrap something, or worse yet, to eliminate

something……and Comey knows that….and Comey is the man who allegedly used

to investigate threats against the US….to include threats against the

Presidency……and he has influence, and a following….and he’s out there saying

8647 and he needs to be brought in for questioning immediately…..he needs to

do a perp walk into and out of the same building where he used to be the boss

and then have the press ask him why he thought this was okay……but it gets

worse….one online influencer with 1 million followers on X posted the same

message using pool table balls lined up to say 8647…..an article published in

March of this year talked about 8647 saying then, over a month ago, that it was

trending on Tik Tok….the article itself called it a “silent form of protest” and that

it’s message was that people want to get rid of Trump, or at least make it so he is

no longer President…..

Let’s recall the shooting at the Trump Rally in Butler County, PA…..it was one of

those generational moments…..the kind that everyone takes note of, and

everyone has thoughts and emotions related to, and everyone can generally recall

where they were when they learned of it……an incident that resulted in President

Trump sustaining wounds from a crazed shooter, and at which an innocent

supporter was killed…..and another was wounded…..two people and their families

and friends had their lives altered and even ended simply because they chose to

support a man who had already overwhelmingly been supported by millions of

voters in a competitive Republican primary……God bless them, and let’s not forget

their legacy in the middle of everything else……but it wasn’t too long after that

when we learned that another misfit lay in wait on the golf course in an actual

attempt to shoot Trump…..in less than a year there have been two actual

attempts on Trumps life (that we know of!) and yet the former head of the FBI

thinks its cute to join the Tik Tokkers and post 8647 on his socials…….that’s not

just blind misunderstanding…..that’s blatant threatening…..and this has to stop…..

With that said, I want to address something else…..the left hates Trump….Trump

Derangement Syndrome is very real and very active…..they are facing a physical,

social and political force that they have never dealt with fully….and they don’t

know what to do and all they can do is apparently lash out and encourage the

most ideologically wounded misfits in their crew to actually take physical action

by saying 8647…….but a part of why they hate Trump is because he won’t back

down…..they’ve tried to sue him, convict him, bankrupt him, cheat him out of

office, and even shoot him, and he keeps shaking his fist in the air and doing the

Trump dance and they hate that……it’s because he has what I called last year,

“Bull Moose Gravitas” ….I coined the phrase a year ago and it fits now more than

ever……

Remember when he was shot in Butler PA…….as the sound of shots rang out he

noticeably grabbed the right side of his head from what we now know to have

been a round that creased his ear…..just millimeters of space saved his life, secret

service converged on the President as he dropped to the stage floor…..but in a

moment that will remain frozen in time we watched him come to his feet and

over the heads of the protective detail he shook his fist in the air and no less than

three times yelled “Fight!”…..it was an epic moment….maybe even a defining

moment…..in one split second everything was devastating but the response from

Trump was exactly what the world needed right at that time….it was command

presence – it was leadership…..A leaders presence matters…..a lot!.....and I’ve

said before that sometimes it’s important that not only does the person in charge

provide good decision making, quality management, and care for his or her

people, but that the leader also inspires others…..

the Romans looked to certain characteristics and gave them names…..like “pietas”

which denoted a regard for discipline and authority…..”Virtus” which had

connotations of valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, strong character…..and

then there was “gravitas” which meant that someone was sincere, and carried

themselves with authority……the Romans actually wrapped all of these and

several more into the concept of “Romanitas” which was like saying that if

someone wanted to represent Rome to the world then these characteristics

needed to be evident….in other words they saw their leaders as being

representative of who they are as a people, not the other way around….

not their resume, not any number of medals on their chest, not how loud they

can yell, or what position they currently hold……its charisma, strength of

personality, self-confidence, and individual magnetism, that a leader

projects…..that kind of leadership presence is elusive, it is hard to pinpoint, it can

certainly be developed but it is also sometimes inherent in the character of the

person who has it……

the “Bull Moose” part comes from an epic story about Teddy Roosevelt…..On

October 14 th , 1912 Roosevelt stepped out of his hotel in Milwaukee,

Wisconsin…..he got into an open topped car to take the short drive to an

auditorium where he was scheduled to give a campaign speech….. crowds waited

outside the hotel and cheered loudly when he came out so in classic Roosevelt

fashion he stood up in the back of his town car to wave at the crowd…..but

unbeknownst to everyone there a man named John Schrank waiting with a .38

caliber pistol……Schrank shot Roosevelt in the chest at close range….as close as a

few feet…. but a copy of his speech and his eyeglass case helped slow the bullet

somewhat….nonetheless Roosevelt was knocked down and the bullet entered his

chest cavity…….But the recounting of the event doesn’t stop there….. the library

of Congress recounting of the event says that the injured and bleeding Roosevelt

himself “was able to restore order to the chaos at the scene before the police

arrived and took Schrank into custody.”……but at that point Roosevelt insisted on

going on to give his speech……which he did, while bleeding profusely through his

clothes, and speaking with vigor and energy for nearly an hour and half……it was

only after the speech that Roosevelt who had become wobbly from loss of blood

was taken to a hospital…..Roosevelt was asked later by reporters how he was

doing…..”I’m as fit as a bull moose!” he said…… It was gravitas…..the people could

care less what the establishment of the day wanted at the convention….they

wanted some Bull Moose Gravitas…..he embodied what the majority of

Americans wanted their country to be known as……

People want a leader who inspires confidence….I would also say that the people

of this great nation deserve a leader that will inspire confidence……someone, who

even when we don’t agree on policy, can effectively articulate their

position……someone who leads us to believe that if a fast-paced dangerous

situation arose in the dark of night they would be able to respond quickly,

resolutely and effectively…..someone who leads us to believe that they have a

plan that involves the greater good……Set aside Biden’s policies right now…..just

focus for a second on the man who sits in the office…..just the man…..and tell me

if you would follow him anywhere……

Command presence…..Gravitas……its a thing…..it matters…..and it is missing right

now……we need some Bull Moose Gravitas……

But that also brings enemies….it brings out the Schrank’s, and the crazy shooters

who lie in wait on golf courses and climb up on buildings in Butler PA……it brings

out idiots like James Comey who think its okay to say 8647 despite the fact that

he absolutely unequivocally knows better but he’s too busy wallowing in the mire

of his Trump Derangement Syndrome……

I’m glad that Trump has gravitas…..and I believe that we all need to be praying for

him daily…..because as much as we on the Rightside might love his Bull Moose

Gravitas….there are still those who want to 8647…..

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way!