Month: May 2026

Democrats are not thrilled with the books promoted in the last year or so. 107 Days by Kamala Harris was a downer. The $10,000,000 examination of why they lost in 2024 didn’t solve anything. And now, Dr. Jill Biden is talking about her new book, instantly reviving memories of her husband’s worrisome performance debating Trump in June 2024.

Since this series of book tours is disturbing to Democrats, perhaps they would prefer to promote an optimistic, uplifting book featuring a prominent Democrat of earlier days. This book is perfect to revive interest and excitement in the Democrat Party. The co-authors wrote about a man who was a widely respected servant leader, a person who won accolades from Democrats and Republicans alike. The book is filled with authentic quotes, none of which are embarrassing or a threat to his reputation as a renowned American.

To help salvage the future of Democrats for the 2028 election, my co-author and I are willing to put all else aside for the next year and a half. And we would do it for maybe $5,000,000, a real bargain compared to the $10,000,000 analysis.

So, what is this book about a famous Democrat? The full title is “Common Horse Sense from Will Rogers: Timeless Tips for Leaders (and Everyone Else).” Yes, Will Rogers was a Democrat above reproach. No scandals, no stumbling, bumbling episodes (unless demanded for his character in his well-received movies).

Who could object to common horse sense? Yes, “common horse sense” is what he called it. After all, he grew up as a cowboy and spent his lifetime adoring horses. It’s common sense. And common sense is as sensible now as it was then. Common sense never goes out of style.

The leader of the Democrat Party, whoever that is, can contact me and Jennifer Rogers (Will’s great-granddaughter) to negotiate a nationwide blitz book tour. It will be guaranteed to restore confidence in a common sense future led by candidates who exude common sense!

Of course this is a joke. Even though Will Rogers was a strong supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he was better known for saying, “I’m not a member of any organized political party… I’m a Democrat.” Today, the Democrats are pleading for someone to step up and get them organized.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

       “Their greatest trait — the greatest thing to recommend the Democrats is optimism and humor.  You’ve got to be an optimist to be a Democrat, and you’ve got to be a humorist to stay one.” (radio, June 24, 1934)

          COLUMBUS, Ohio: The Democrat Party gave someone $10,000,000 to analyze and write a report on why Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Donald Trump. I haven’t read the Ten-Million-dollar, 190-page report. No need to.

It’s common horse sense. Democrat leaders want America to change. But the voters don’t want to.

To make it worse, they don’t like the changes already foisted on ‘em recently when Democrats were in charge. A few of these suggested changes, including to the Constitution, could be good for us in the long run, but not now. Democrats spent Billions trying to persuade Republicans and their own party. Several of these issues are “80-20”, where the 20 percent side with the Democrat leaders. You know the topics, so I don’t need to list them. Voters think Democrats are heading down the wrong track, while they prefer to sit still and be left alone.

Will Rogers nailed it 93 years ago, “A conservative [Republican] is a man who has plenty of money and doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t always have plenty of money. A Democrat is a fellow who never had any, but doesn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t have some.” (WA #535, March 26, 1933)

That’s it in a nutshell. No charge. Now, after the 2028 election I may have to write a nutshell report about a Republican loss. And, believe me, I’ll charge for that one.

In California the battles for governor and mayor of Los Angeles are heating up. And Gov. Newsom is already running for President in 2028. He said for Democrats to have a chance in elections against Republicans, they have to “Fight fire with fire.” Maybe that’s not the image a California office holder should be using.

A little-known resident of Pacific Palisades, Spencer Pratt, is “scorching” current LA mayor, Karen Bass. She let the reservoirs drain and was on a pleasure trip in Ghana while Pratt and 6000 of his neighbors watched their houses burn.

You probably remember in January 2024, the Will Rogers State Historic Park also burned including the house Will built in the 1920s. Jennifer Rogers, Will’s great-granddaughter, told me that 8 people who volunteered at the Park lost their own homes. That was 17 months ago. I asked Jennifer last week how many of those 8 have rebuilt. “None. They haven’t even been allowed to start building.”

The Federal government didn’t waste any time tracking down the fraudsters in Minneapolis. New York and Ohio may be next. Here in Columbus, the person in charge of sending out the checks could have walked a couple of blocks from his office and found a nearly empty building that received thousands of checks.

The root of the problem is that 90% of the money was Federal and only 10% local. If that ratio was reversed, the state politicians would have kept a close eye on it instead of a blanket approval. (Except the ones getting kickbacks.)

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It used to be “Decoration Day” and always on May 30. It was started after the Civil War to memorialize the sacrifice by our fallen soldiers by “decorating” their graves with flags and flowers.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

      “Another Decoration Day passed and Mr. Abraham Lincoln’s 300-word Gettysburg Address was not dethroned. I would try to imitate its brevity if nothing else… Yours for shorter and better speeches.” DT #268, May 31, 1927

       “Prominent men run out of Decoration Day speeches, but the world never runs out of wars. People talk peace, but men give their life’s work to war. It won’t stop till there is as much brains and scientific study put to aid peace as there is to promote war.” DT #888, May 31, 1929

          COLUMBUS, Ohio: President Trump spent two days in China with Xi Jinping. The two leaders seemed to be friendly. Trump is more casual and free flowing. Xi is always serious. Trump took about 30 major CEOs with him. They all had something to sell China, or maybe buy. Xi made a few promises, such as buying Boeing airplanes, soybeans, and Nvidia chips. But Xi is like politicians here, as described by Will Rogers 98 years ago, “Promise everything, deliver nothing.” (WA #289, July 8, 1928). There were no promises by either side about the future of Taiwan.

We’re in a new era in warfare. Maybe not new because it reminds me of David vs. Goliath. If a country has a million “Davids” (small armed drones) they can hold off a Goliath with all of their superior stealth bombers, missiles, submarines, and aircraft carriers.  When Trump threatened to arrest Raul Castro, the Cuban leader retaliated, “We may not have much fuel in the tank, but we have enough electricity to charge the batteries on thousands of drones. And we can attack Gitmo and even Mar-a-Lago.”

Last week the Supreme Court outlawed gerrymandering Congressional districts to favor one race or another. This week certain Democrat leaders are suggesting that star football and basketball players avoid playing for a college in the Southeast. This is intended to punish states that obey the Supreme Court and eliminate racial gerrymandering, such as Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Florida.

But what about the star players? Consider a player who is offered a million dollars, or five million. Would you advise them to play for Syracuse or Boston College or UCLA where state income taxes are around 10% instead of in a state with low- or zero-income tax?

Will Rogers wrote about accomplishments of his children once on a while, including this about his oldest son, known as Will, Jr., who “was in the Stanford graduating class and Mr. Hoover made them quite a fine speech.” (WA #653, July 30, 1935)

So, I’ll do a little bragging about two granddaughters. Last Saturday, Sophie graduated from Ashland University and will continue at Kent State to get a Masters degree in human nutrition. Today, Katie graduated from Ohio Northern University after six years and is a Dr. of Pharmacy (DPharm).

Yesterday, the Ohio chapter of the National Speakers Association gave me the Pat Vivo Award. This is a special honor because she was a fabulous person, funny while teaching important messages, and a dedicated leader.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

          “Always dodge the ‘expert who has lived in China, and knows China.’ The last man who knew China was Confucius, and he died feeling that he was becoming a little confused about ‘em.” (DT #1696, Dec. 30, 1931)

This weekend, mothers deserve top billing. So, let’s start with Historic quotes.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“My own mother died when I was ten years old.  My folks have told me that what little humor I have comes from her.  I can’t remember her humor but I can remember her love and her understanding of me. Of course, the mother I know the most about is the mother of our little group.  She has been for twenty-two years trying to raise to maturity four children, three by birth and one by marriage.” Radio, May 11, 1930

“Mother’s Day, it’s a beautiful thought. And someone [Anna Jarvis, Grafton, WV] said, ‘Let’s give Momma a day. We’ll give her a day.’  Give her a day, and then in return why Mother gives you the other 364… The florists just practically corralled this Mother’s Day business. They got mothers, too. But they’ve got more flowers than they’ve got mothers, and they’ve got a great organization…  I’m strong for flowers, but they’ve just got one drawback. You can’t eat ‘em. And I imagine an awful lot of mothers today would not have rebelled if you’d sent ‘em a ham. Yeah, a cut of beef or a whole lamb or something. Suppose the meat growers had been on the job and linked Mother’s Day up with their organization like the florists have. If they’d done that, instead of receiving a bunch of hollyhocks, she’d receive a cluster of pork chops.” Radio, May 12, 1935

A week ago, the Supreme Court ruled that states can’t gerrymander districts based on race. This week the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that, “No, the state cannot have gerrymandered districts that could end up with 5 people elected to Congress who live within 12 miles of each other in Washington suburbs.”

That’s another way of saying, Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. But he can’t fly around the world in one night in a sleigh pulled by 7 Democrat reindeer and one Republican.

Instead of skewing the boundary lines, maybe the goal for both parties should be to educate the voters, persuading them to vote in favor of their policies. It might take a few years to convince a majority to switch their vote, but that’s more common sense than redrawing the lines every 2 years.

Iran is continuing to delay their surrender. Iranian leaders think they have time on their side. In Iran, the people may starve while locked in their homes, but they aren’t allowed to vote. Here, President Trump is pressured because Americans don’t like to pay more for gasoline and food, and they vote.

While we’re convinced economic sanctions and the blockade will force a surrender, Iran is willing to dump millions of barrels of crude oil into the Persian Gulf to keep their wells pumping and the price high.

President Trump is heading to China to meet with Xi Jinping. You can bet that Xi will ask for some of that Iranian oil to go into tankers headed for Beijing. Trump will likely counter, “Send those empty tankers to Alaska. We’ll fill ‘em up for you.”

The Supreme Court took a major step against racism. States will not be allowed to gerrymander congressional districts based on race. You might have thought with the changes in our laws and general attitude in the last 75 years, we wouldn’t be focused on race today.

Despite secret ballots, the folks who create boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts seem to know exactly how everyone votes. And whichever party is in control wants EVERY district to include at least 55% of their loyal voters.

After 76 days, Congress finally decided that Homeland Security folks should get paid. The Secret Service protected 2500 from a mass murder last Saturday night, so it’s a good idea to pay ‘em.  Democrat Senators had attempted to hamstring ICE and Border Patrol, but after 76 days they got nothing out of the bill.

I may give up on trying to help the Democrats. They are optimistic about winning elections without relying on common horse sense. You may disagree, but they seem to go against majority opinions on important issues. They believe there are enough “Mamdani voters” across the country to take control of Congress.

Americans are getting frustrated with the war in Iran. Even though it’s only been about seven weeks, we’re a microwave society. While celebrating 250 years since 1776, we need to remember the Revolutionary War lasted seven more years.

War is unpopular. We don’t like paying a dollar more for gasoline. Our armed forces destroyed Iran’s “big” armed forces (ships and planes) in a couple of weeks. But their “little” forces (drones and motor boats) are giving us fits.

There is no reasonable alternative but to continue taking out radical Islamic leaders and their economy. Ultimately a new government can remove all nuclear materials and bomb making equipment and open the Strait for free shipping.

A week after the third assassination attempt on President Trump, have any critics apologized for their harsh language? Has anyone admitted they were wrong for their (possible) role in causing seemingly smart young men to think they need to “follow orders” from prominent Trump-haters?

Will Rogers listened to critics and admitted when he was wrong. After writing a column criticizing holding companies, including, “a holding company is like a fellow handing the other fellow the swag while they search you,” he admitted he didn’t know anything about holding companies. He even printed comments from a dozen letters criticizing him: “Now you will say, why did you pop off when you didn’t know what you were talking about? Well, if you are going to stop that, why America would be speechless.” (WA #640, March 31, 1935)

(This last paragraph is from our little book, “Common Horse Sense from Will Rogers: Seven Timeless Tips for Leaders and Everyone Else.”)

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

       “I just got back from Washington D.C. (Department of Comedy).” (June 8, 1924)

      “You know, Washington D.C. is the only place where our public men can do foolish things and they look kinda plausible at the time.” (Notes, undated)