The Elephant in Murphy’s 2025 Room
A governor’s speech less than a week before Donald Trump becomes president has a “so what” quality to it.
That’s no criticism of Phil Murphy.
It’s that Trump simply takes the political air out of the room.
Murphy made legitimate points in his penultimate State of the State address on Tuesday, but political observers just can’t overlook Trump’s return and all that figures to come with it – whether it’s sending U.S troops to the U.S., threatening to put adversaries in jail or dreaming about making Canada a state.
It did not take long for the governor to mention the “elephant that is not in the room.”
This is how he did it:
“In a few days, a new President will take power in Washington.
Now, I know there is some uncertainty – and even concern – about what this new Administration will bring.
So here is my promise to the people of New Jersey:
I will never back away from partnering with the Trump Administration where our priorities align.
But just as importantly, I will never back down from defending our New Jersey values – if and when they are tested.”
And then:
“In New Jersey, our values are who we are. I’m not done yet. And we’re not done yet.
But if you try to attack our people or our values, without cause, make no mistake: we will fight back even harder.”
Murphy, in fact, began saying very much the same thing the day after the election.
How this will actually play out remains to be seen. Or rather, what remains to be seen is what Trump does.
The Trump factor handled – at least in a speech – Murphy moved on.
One of his more interesting ideas was to ban cell phones in school.
This, one imagines, is a generational thing. To some, the notion of kids having a phone in class seems unfathomable, but times have changed.
“Enough is enough. It is time for action,” the governor said regarding classroom phones.
This idea got nice applause, but the Republican response did not seem overwhelming. Go figure? Do they love cell phones in school, or are they conditioned to oppose everything a Democratic governor says?
One can not give a speech without mentioning the economy. Three observations will be made here.
Murphy acknowledged how economic signs are good – the stock market is way up. But then he said:
“While the stock market is soaring, the cost of living – from groceries to housing – has skyrocketed.”
Now, he did not make the connection, but one reason Trump is coming back to the White House is because too many average people were not sold on the economy.
He also talked about property taxes and highlighted the Anchor rebate program. A fair point to be sure.
But actually cutting property taxes – a feature of home rule – seems beyond the capability of Murphy and for that matter, many previous governors.
Let’s see what the next governor will do with property taxes.
The last economic point made here was Murphy’s trumpeting of a minimum wage that now exceeds $15 per hour. As the governor noted to critics, paying people horribly, low wages serves no one.
The governor threw in a few barbs.
Noting that recent data shows the state’s population is increasing, he ridiculed that annual United Van Lines report of flocks of people moving out of New Jersey.
And he said New Jersey is not trying to solve its transportation problems by raiding another state. To that end, he vowed to keep on fighting New York City’s congestion pricing.
In case you are wondering, Murphy has 371 days to go as governor.
This is a man who likes sports cliches. So, he promised to “run through the tape” and keep working for such things as all-day kindergarten statewide, paid family leave for employees, and the stockpiling of the abortion drug mifepristone in case of a Trump Administration ban.
One obstacle to the governor’s dash through the finish line is political reality.
Those 371 days are going to go fast. And he is a lame duck.
Governor Phil “Knucklehead” Murphy is a joke that’s about to exit stage LEFT. He makes underhanded snide comments about Trump and the Trump Administration by antagonizing and falsely scaring people about the incoming administration. This is typical wordspeak from the Marxist-Democrats that are nothing more than tyrants in their own right. Case in Point: Weaponization of the DOJ, FBI and CIA. Such as DOJ & FBI going after mom and dad complaining to school boards about the LGBTQMICKEYMOUSE anti-family, anti-parent school agenda, and the miniscule transgender inculcation into the schools, specifically bathroom protocols on who is a woman or not. Or, the FBI arresting a grandmother for praying front of an abortion clinic (Let’s get one thing straight:
Reproductive health care IS NOT the same as abortion rights).
Murphy’s buzzwords are attempting to make weak-minded Democrat-Leftist voters anxious about the new administration. There is nothing to be anxious about–unless you’re a corrupt, anti-American politician that has used false committees to falsely accuse people of somehow causing an “insurrection” and then throwing those people in jail without Trial by Jury for 4 years for protesting under the 1st Amendment Right to Protest. Or, how about over 200 FBI and CIA operatives that were in the J6 crowd instigating a riot, which evidence of this was uncovered in several reports and videos to Congress.
Or, how about the Biden Administration, in concert with his Chinese Communist handlers, ordering the raid on Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago for purported Top Secret files which we as Americans are still waiting to see what they actually were. All the while Biden has Top Secret files in his garage that he unlawfully took when he was a U.S. Senator and Vice-President, when the law unequivocally states he had no right to this information, otherwise he could go to jail for a long time for having it.
Or, what about the media and administration cover-up of Biden’s severe mental decline over the past 4-5 years, that was brought out by Special Investigator Robert Hur in his report where he said Biden did unlawfully take Top Secret documents without authority, but he’s too old and non compos mentis to be charged and tried for them before a jury. Yet, this is the same mentally challenged Biden that remained in office only feet away from the nuclear codes.
Or, how about the entire weaponization of the DOJ, FBI and CIA, and other agencies to “Get Trump” and his supporters. This is the stuff of 3rd world tyrannies like Venezuela, Brazil, the EU (against the conservative Romainian President who won a valid election but was removed by the country’s high court and installed a leftist leader picked by the EU [which by the way, breached the EU agreement of non-interference with each country’s elections]).
Or, the myriad of other anti-American acts by the Biden Administration and his Democrat-Leftist acolytes like Governor Murphy (an Obama lapdog since Obama gave him the Ambassador to Germany job). No. Murphy should no longer promote, propose or promise anything to “help” New Jersey anymore. He has done enough damage to this state, and is starting to lie about it like the Biden Administration.
Jefferson, I am now completely sure that you are a mental retard. Get a lobotomy.
This is why the leftist media is collapsing. No observation that Murphy failed to mention HOW to lower taxes, or the failure of “Affordable housing” to make NJ affordable, or the court’s rejection of 25 municipalities’ lawsuit. No note that Murphy is threatening (and since did) to defy Trump re: our Sanctuary State status. No note of how Trump’s EO on Trans students and gender ideology will play out. Keep it up, and just maybe NJ voters won’t vote for another Democrat governor next November.