POWERLINE'S Trump hypothesis:

Trump adopts the persona of a vain and boastful man who overestimates his own abilities, because it is the surest way to cause his opponents to underestimate him.

PowerLine's right - just don't tell the Democrats.

TUCKER CARLSON: Someday the AOC moment will pass and Democrats will rejoin adult conversations about immigration.

[L]ike a lot of narcissistic children, Ocasio-Cortez does not believe in honest disagreement. Everything is a moral question. If you agree with her, you are virtuous. If you don't, you are a monster. There can be no compromise. Policy debates are pointless. There are only the battles between good and evil.

If you are on the side of good, which is Ocasio-Cortez's side, of course, you have endless leeway. You don't have to know what you are talking about. You can wade half-cocked into the country's most important debates, prove yourself an idiot and as she just put it, move on. No problem.

But if you are on the side of evil -- the other side -- watch out. There is no mercy for you. There is no forgiveness. Nothing about you is good. None of your motives are pure. You exist only to hurt and destroy. You are like a demon in a horror film.

I think it's a bit much to believe that the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes will ever grow up. More likely the adults will have to put them in their rooms and lock their doors behind them.

INSTANT KARMA: Rhino poacher stomped by elephant and eaten by lions in South African park.

Link via Instapundit.

I'M REMINDED OF THE OLD OUTER LIMITS INTRO: "We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical...." California should beware, because we will control the electricity.

NO STATE imports more electricity than California. That's one way to put it, I suppose, but it's equally true - and more accurate - to write that California exports more pollution than any other state.

PROGRESSIVES UNDERSTAND they cannot win the game if forced to play by the rules.



So let's force the rules on them. Remember, for them it's about control; it's always about control.

ANOTHER FIRST for President Trump?

The sound of progressive heads exploding would be deafening....

SPRING LIVES: Episode 4 of the series:

Four pictures from this set. The first is the usual view pondward from the house; taken from my usual place on the deck. The 'butterfly bush' is losing its flowers slowly as the leaves begin to come out. We've put in some other plants in the relatively flat area around it, and created a mulched walkway through it to the stairs. Maybe in the next two weeks there will be some greenery to show there.

This one is my more-or-less usual one of the fire pit, looking down the road past the house. The trees are just beginning to bud out, but not enough yet to be visible in the photo. By the time spring has sprung, so to speak, the sky will be just barely visible in the background.

The next photo as a slightly different one, looking back at the house from that newly planted area below the walkway to the fire pit. I wish the camera had the dynamic range to show the deck, but the sun is just too dang bright.

And the last picture is the usual one from across the pond looking back toward the house. The house is (always) just visible, but the crest of the hill is obvious. By summer the hill itself will be completely obscured by the trees. There are no real leaves on any of the trees yet, but all of them are budding out. I expect green in all the pictures by next week.

As usual, last week's pictures are here.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up. My favorite:

Now go see the rest. (Especially the definition of a Democrat. And the Mao connection.)

WELL, THEY'RE STARK RAVING MAD, SO THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS: Would the Democrats rather win in 2020, or eat themselves alive?

TUCKER CARLSON apologizes to Joe Biden.

That's what real men do when they err.

WELL, I'LL BET the favorite color isn't red.

Um, well maybe it is.

They are hypocrites, after all.

AMMO GRRRLL: I can't even....

A RED HAT never hurt anybody.

And turnabout is fair play: she got fired herself.

OBAMA: Oh, my God, what have I done?

Chickens, roost....

POWERLINE WRITES on ineffective Democrat subpoenas. Adam Schiff (Intelligence) and Jerrold Nadler (Judiciary) seem to be the prime movers in the House's subpoena effort.

If I were the Republicans, I'd mount a two-pronged counterattack. From the White House, just respond to any question or allegation with silence: "No comment".

From the Senate, I'd have the chairmen of the corresponding Senate committees, Richard Burr (Intelligence) and Lindsey Graham (Judiciary) exactly mimic the House. For example: "You want Trump's tax records? Fine, we want Shumer's and Pelosi's."

After all, I'll bet that's the rug where the real dirt can be found....

'LOW AND DISGRACEFUL'! Democrat strategist (and Hillary supporter) viciously mocks polio survivor Mitch McConnell. Read the whole Twitter string.

I'm roughly McConnell's age, and I too had polio as a child before it was essentially eradicated by the Salk and Sabin vaccines. I have difficulty walking any distances, walking on uneven or soft surfaces, and always use a handrail when climbing or descending stairs. And it gets worse with age.

Parkomenko should be given a swift kick down a steep rocky hill, then asked how he feels when (if) he gets up. That might - might - give him some small inkling of what it's like to be a 70ish polio survivor. What a maroon!

[On reflection, Parkomenko isn't a maroon; maroons are just stupid, not vicious.]

Linked from Instapundit.

NOT ACCORDING TO DEMOCRATS: Is the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional?

'Free stuff' is always constitutional....

THAT'S ALL THEY KNOW HOW TO DO: The Democrats brazenly know they have been demanding forbidden disclosures and unrealistic deadlines.

Lie, cheat, and steal. To paraphrase the 'Mayhem Like Me' guy on television, "It's what we do."

IT'S DIFFERENT when we do it. Because shut up.