William O’Shaughnessy
President & Editorial Director
“He Is Who He Is”
President Trump for President!
A Whitney Global Media Editorial of the Air
Broadcast on WVOX, WVIP, and wvox.com
by William O’Shaughnessy, President and Editorial Director
We decided long ago that a radio station could be more than a jukebox. And thus we envisioned WVOX as a platform, a forum to let our neighbors discuss the great issues of the day on our community soapbox.
So we’ve sat in front of a microphone at our Westchester studios for damn near 60 years, during which time the loyal listeners of this unique and influential community station have indulged and tolerated our enthusiasms as they were broadcast into the ether by countless editorials and commentaries also heard worldwide on wvox.com
Our portfolio as the hometown broadcaster in the very heart of the Eastern Establishment gives us a unique, first-hand look at governors, even presidents, as well as local officials.
As passionate and dedicated stewards of the People’s Business, we’ve registered our approval for a great many public servants who strive to improve and ennoble our home health and the great State of New York, or to elevate our nation to a higher plane. And we’ve also told you about some who were less than stellar.
Over the years we’ve shared our great admiration for Nelson Rockefeller, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jack Javits, Malcom Wilson, Hugh Carey, Howard Samuels, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush … and the incomparable Mario Cuomo, of sainted memory. We’ve also learned from personal experience that his son and heir, Andrew Mark Cuomo, would one day make a hell of a president.
Along the way we’ve also sung the essential song of the precious First Amendment and the free speech that results from that magnificent instrument. And we denounced Abortion and the Death Penalty in every instance.
Closer to home, we’ve also told you of the great many worthy local politicos we’ve admired: Alvin Richard Ruskin, Edwin Gilbert Michaelian, George Latimer, Ernie Davis, Max Berking, Tony Colavita, Andy O’Rourke, Ogden Rogers Reid, Sam Fredman, Bill Luddy, and Nita Lowey.
For President of the United States, we’ve recommended Nelson Rockefeller, Mario M. Cuomo, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John Lindsay, and a man named John Anderson.
Some were Democrats. And some Republicans. Anderson was an Independent. Some might label that inconsistent. The unifying thread is this: We always come down on the side of principles and greatness in the service of our great nation.
Now again – with great respect – we offer our view on the contentious, nasty and mean Presidential Election of 2020.
We’re for President Donald J. Trump.
He is who he is. Accompanied as he is by a rich admixture of arrogance, egotism, and overweening self-confidence, the President is far from perfect and he’s got no damn “couth,” to be sure.
In his worst moments, President Trump can be boorish, rude, ill-mannered, lacking in civility, refinement or “polish.” He’s never paid attention to the word “decorum.”
But we wouldn’t change a God-Damned Thing about him!
He is, with all his obvious flaws and rough edges, one of the greatest Presidents of our lifetime!
He’s certainly the most available and accessible president we’ve ever had. (Perhaps too available and too accessible.)
We don’t like where he is on Fracking … or on the Death Penalty.
Here is what we do like about his flamboyant and sometimes erratic stewardship. He’s Upbeat … and Inexhaustible … with unlimited Optimism and unbridled Enthusiasm.
To those who trumpet the diminution of our standing and stature abroad … we see the exact opposite. Do you not think our foreign enemies, those who don’t wish us well, when they come up against Mr. Trump are not saying … “Don’t mess (I had another word all ready to go) with this guy!”
Trump gave us Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh … and, we hope, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a distinguished scholar, great jurist, and woman of impeccable integrity.
On the fundamental Life Issues alone … we recommend the President, without hesitation, on behalf of those thousands of vulnerable and innocent babies who deserve life, love, and families who will celebrate the miracle of their existence and the promise of potential that lights up like a beacon pointing toward a better future from the moment of conception – rather than the fate that awaits at abortion clinics.
As the late, and truly great, Pope John Paul II sagely advised his fellow Catholics and citizens of nations the world over, “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”
Also on the Plus Side of the President’s leger, you have to place his relentless efforts at peacemaking in the Middle East and for persuading European nations to pony up for their own defense. He also knocked out ISIS, which was beheading Americans, before he became Commander in Chief. The peace agreement he brokered between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain is an inspired, stunning piece of diplomacy deserving a Nobel Peace Prize precisely because it’s a signpost toward an enlightened state of existence. No Other President has even come close to achieving – a prevailing and lasting peace in the Middle East.
The President also freed us from many unfair foreign trade deals and entanglements through a bold vision and policies that may not be broadly understood but benefit every segment of American Society.
He also gave us a brave and brilliant Attorney General in William Barr who is standing up to street thugs, agitators, rioters, hoodlums and looters. And we now have astute economic advisors in Steve Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow. We’ve also come to admire Vice President Mike Pence who, during the campaign, has shed his automation-like demeanor. When Pence speaks on Life issues, he does so with clarity, conviction and compassion. Trump has also made it clear he’ll have absolutely no part in discriminating against Catholics.
And with it all … Mr. Trump has rebuilt our Military and Strengthened Law Enforcement with solid support for our Police as he tightened up on illegal Immigration.
He’s damn tough on Iran … where his predecessor conveyed billions to the ayatollahs. He’s also been resolute on behalf of the State of Israel, as we have been for many years.
And you don’t want to be caught pulling down historic statues like those of Christopher Columbus or Winston Churchill or Robert E. Lee when he is in the hood! The President knows, as too many don’t, that attempting to rewrite history through criminal disobedience is nothing but a path to amplifying discord that will reverse the nation’s accomplishments on rights and equality – the opposite of what the protestors seek.
As I’ve said, he’s wrong on Fracking and the Death Penalty. And he ought to take his sons to the woodshed and advise them to cut out their terribly unbecoming “Big Game Hunting” antics. Clearly they need a new hobby.
I’ve told the President he perhaps made a mistake trying to “demonize” his opponent, Joe Biden. All he would have to say, in the unlikely event Mr. Biden should prevail, is that he will come accompanied by Maxine Waters, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, The Squad, Mazie Hirono et al. And Kamala Harris, who is absolutely going to cause a lot of “trouble” for Mr. Biden. And for the country. Of this we’re sure. He should also ease up on Dr. Anthony Fauci, a great New Yorker and great public servant.
The elites have demeaned and made fun of his followers. But the undeniable truth is that the President connects with the People. We should highlight the Hubris of The Left in presuming to declare academics and other approved elites as the People who count, but the President, in a socio-demographic magnanimity that goes uncredited, embraces all of the nation’s People as a true leader should. (He even embraced Chuck and Nancy when there was a brief glimmer they might work constructively for the good of our fine nation and all of its People.)
Our Hispanic friends will tell you Donald Trump has “compechano” which means he is “good-natured, cheerful, genial, frank, open, generous, and comradely,” which explains his great appeal among the “untutored” or, as Hillary called them, “The Deplorables.” And, incidentally, Hispanic support for the Republican is going to surprise you this time.
He has been attacked relentlessly by the Public Press … the worst being MSNBC, whose distinctive “marque” and Mission is to attack, attack, attack the president every day and every night, the worst, most mean-spirited and angry among them being Joy Reed, who replaced the great Chris Matthews. Nicolle Wallace, who once served in the Bush White House, has also climbed on board the attack squad. Even our beloved New York Times has been pilin on almost since the day he was elected.
Speaking of MSNBC … my mind drifts back to a hazy afternoon long ago as I sat in Costello’s Bar on the East Side with James Earl Breslin, who was in one of his legendary foul moods. Jack Kennedy, his brother Bobby and Martin Luther King had been murdered and Winston Spencer Churchill lay dying (Jimmy had once called him the last great statue of the English language): “Who’s to write about … ” the great writer asked … “except for Mario (Cuomo)?” It now occurs to me that our colleagues at MSNBC – and some over at CNN – had better polish their resumes. If Trump goes down … it is to be expected that the whole damn lot of them will soon be sitting in a saloon somewhere repeating Breslin’s bleak question: Who’s to write about … ?”
All of the writing about the President is, not inconsequentially, part of Donald Trump’s perception problem. A statement of the obvious, you may think, but in fact it’s the opposite. The President’s great achievements in his first term are ignored or diluted by the torrent of trenchant tirades tallying up his tics, his tweets, and his turnabouts against those who stray from the mission of Making America Great Again. In short, the Press broadly refuses to respect and reflect how brilliantly the President reflects and implements the Will of the People.
And we have always believed all wisdom resides with The People.
And that’s why … despite the “polls” … WVOX and WVIP confidently and proudly endorse President Donald J. Trump for Re-Election.
As has been our unique custom for five or six decades, we also gladly encourage and broadcast opposing viewpoints via our famous “Open Line” programs and with quite often spirited commentary from those who disagree with me and mine.
So have at it, my friends …
Your turn at the microphone in this presidential election.
This is a Whitney Global Media Editorial of the Air. This is William O’Shaughnessy.
P.S. We known this will cause some “agita” among many of our friends. But I mean every damn word of it!