Joel Pollak
Politics • Lifestyle • News • Travel • Writing
I will share my thoughts about American politics, as well as current events in Israel and elsewhere, based on my experiences in the U.S., South Africa, and the Middle East. I will also discuss books and popular culture from the perspective of a somewhat libertarian, religiously observant conservative living in California. I will also share art and ideas that I find useful and helpful, and link to my content at Breitbart News, Amazon, and elsewhere.
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The pattern of government failures predicting opposition victory

One of the reasons I believe Donald Trump will win the election on Tuesday is that there has been a cascade of failures by the government and the ruling party, as well as by those who claim to speak for it.

You could feel this in 2020, too, when Trump contracted COVID in the first week of October. He recovered, and nearly won the election (yes, I know he thinks he actually did win it), but one could sense it possibly slipping away in that moment.

There's just this phenomenon that ruling parties tend to fail as Election Day gets closer. It's partly a result of media scrutiny, but also seems to be the result of some kind of hidden force, perhaps society's way of telling itself to change.

I first noticed this in 2006, when I was helping Helen Zille's mayoral campaign in Cape Town. For months, Helen had argued that the city had been diverting money from emergency services to public housing as a kind of Potemkin policy.

Then, in the days before the election, a British tourist flicked a cigarette into the brush on Table Mountain and the whole dry mountainside exploded in fire. Lo and behold -- there weren't enough firefighting vehicles, due to budget cuts.

There were also blackouts -- the first of South African's infamous electricity shortages. These were caused by failures in the turbines at the nearby nuclear power plant, which the government blamed on sabotage, but they were also the result of overly aggressive affirmative action policies denuding the country of engineers. All of this fit within the opposition's critique of the government.

I remember walking home from the South African Parliament that day, looking at the orange sun barely peeking through the smoke, and thinking that events were pointing in the direction of an opposition victory. Things had to change.

And they did: the opposition went on to win the city, and has held it since.

Everything is going wrong for the Biden-Harris administration and the Kamala Harris campaign in the last week. Biden's "garbage" comment; Mark Cuban's disparaging comments about conservative women; all of it. These are signs.

I think that the country has already decided that Donald Trump will return to the Oval Office, the first to return after losing a reelection race since Grover Cleveland in 1892. You can feel the country making the collective decision.

Here in my largely-liberal part of the world, you can sense the frustration of some people. I overheard a guy yesterday lamenting the fact that the election would be decided by "non-college educated white men in Pennsylvania." Yep.

That's how it works. In a democracy, the people rule, and not the elites. The elites have a role, but it must also have boundaries. It's time for the elites to learn that -- and then, hopefully, long-overdue healing can begin in the USA.

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Time-lapse sunrise at Temescal Falls
00:00:17
This is what is left of my special place in the forest

Burned, then covered in mudslides and rockslides. The river still flows through it. But we have lost so much. I have to believe the spirit still lives on.

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The drive home 💔
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Breitbart News Sunday: show rundown (August 24, 2025)

This week, we are tackling two major areas of contention between the Trump administration and Democrat governors: fighting crime, and redistricting. The president is sending the National Guard to blue cities -- and blue states are trying to stamp out Republican representation. Is this a civil war situation?

Special guests:

  • Bradley Jaye -- Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on redistricting
  • Tom Manza, California Business and Industrial Alliance, on Gavin Newsom
  • Jon Fleischman, veteran California political expert, on the special election
  • Dan Backer, veteran political lawyer and consultant, on corruption
  • DJ Mark Anthony, on a recent visit to Rome and visiting Pope Leo XIV

Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874

Weekly Torah reading: Re'eh (Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17)

This week's portion is the last of the month of Av -- also known as Menachem (Comforter) Av -- which begins in mourning and ends in celebration and anticipation of the New Year and the process of repentance and renewal.

In a similar vein, the portion features Moses offering the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse. They are masters of their own fates: if they obey God's commandments, they receive the blessings -- and vice versa.

The key commandment is to reject idol worship. There is said to be something magnetic about the practice of worshiping idols in the new land, such that it would be constant moral battle, both individually and collectively, in the land.

Nowadays, according to Jewish tradition, humanity has lost the urge for idol worship (and the antidote, which is divine prophecy) -- but there are several near substitutes, such as lust or excessive appetites for worldly pleasures.

We are wired for compulsive behaviors, bad habits, and even addictions. These ...

Breitbart News Sunday: show rundown (August 17, 2025)

We have so much to talk about this week -- Trump's efforts to negotiate peace through negotiation, and Gavin Newsom's efforts to divide Americans through gerrymandering. We'll also talk about Playboy leaving LA and California.

Special guests:

Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Russia & Ukraine
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on Newsom
Harmeet Dhillon - DOJ Civil Rights Division chief, on the fight against DEI
Jessica Vaugn - Playboy model on political commentator, on California

Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 PT
Call: 866-957-2874

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