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Tim Barto: Bible study during school hours? Why, yes.

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Tim Barto: Bible study during school hours? Why, yes.

By TIM BARTO

In this age of public school wokeism, with all its pronoun preferences, revisionist history, and gender bending promotions, the last thing one might expect is Bible study during school hours. But that is exactly what LifeWise Academy is doing. In fact, they’re doing it successfully, and if all goes well, they might be doing it right here in Alaska.

How could such a program possibly exist? That is reasonable and expected question.

The short answer is because a 1952 Supreme Court decision found it perfectly legal and not in violation of the First Amendment. In Zorach v. Clauson, the court ruled that a school district is allowed to let public school students leave their school ground for part of the day to receive off-site religious instruction.

This type of program is known as “release time religious instruction.”

It was something of a “sleeper” ruling, but in 2018, Joel Penton launched LifeWise Academy in Ohio, with the express purpose of providing Biblical instruction to public school students during school hours. In Van Wert, Ohio, the participation rate of public school students in release time religious instruction is 95 percent.

Currently, there are such programs in 300 schools across 11 states, providing 30,000 public school children with access to Biblical teachings. Churches and individual donors fund the programs. No public funds are used for LifeWise Academy. Penton, who was a guest in May on Jim Minnery’s podcast, “I’m Glad You Said That”, is adamant that LifeWise programs follow three important criteria:

1)  The instruction takes place off public school property,

2)  The program is privately funded,

3)  Participation is only done with parental permission.

Here’s how it works: Students are allowed one class period, typically one per week, when they are excused from school. School administrators work with LifeWise to choose periods that do not interfere with mandatory classes or other extracurricular activities.

Chaperones either walk the students to the offsite location, or a bus arrives to take students and chaperones to the location, which is usually a church or other private business. LifeWise helps choose locations that are close to the public schools, so a minimal amount of time is spent on transportation. If needed, LifeWise will work with local volunteers to remodel or even build meeting spaces.  LifeWise instructors – NOT public school teachers – provide a Bible passage and related character trait lesson. At the end of the instruction, the bus picks up the students and takes them back to school to resume their day. 

The curriculum takes students through the whole Bible in five years, but the instructors have flexibility to adjust it as needed, and students may join the program at any time.

So, how’s it going with teachers and parents? According to their website, LifeWise surveyed educators and 90% of them answered that the program benefited their students and school. When asked about the program’s impact on behavior, decisions and relationships, school schedules, student excitement, and positive attitudes, responses to all the areas scored 82 to 87 percent positive. As for the parents’ reactions, 99 percent of them responded that LifeWise helped their children make better decisions, engage in faith-based conversations, and grow in their understanding of the Bible. Less than one percent of the parents surveyed did not recommend the program to other parents. 

Those numbers signify success, and in today’s academic environment, positive student outcomes should be welcomed with open arms. And that leads us to backlash. It’s fair to suspect that Bible-based curriculum resulting in positive character outcomes would surely garner the ire of the leftist forces that dominate public education and bow to teachers’ unions, but that has not really been the case. 

This can be implemented in Alaska. It will meet with some opposition, as it has in the Lower 48, but the fight will be worth it. As public schools push against parental rights and proselytize their theologies of climate change and social justice, it will provide some relief to allow students to take time – off campus and without using public funds – to learn the values of the Bible.

Tim Barto is vice president at Alaska Family Council. 

Tim Barto: Why the Alaska House vote to save girls’ sports matters

State asks Alaska Supreme Court to reverse lower court ruling that axed correspondence study program

Suzanne Downing
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State asks Alaska Supreme Court to reverse lower court ruling that axed correspondence study program

The State of Alaska filed its reply brief in its appeal of the Alaska Superior Court’s ruling in April, which found the correspondence study program unconstitutional and sent parents of students in such programs scrambling for answers.

An Alaska judge just destroyed correspondence education in Alaska. What else did Judge Adolf Zeman destroy?

In April, Judge Adolf Zeman ruled that the State of Alaska cannot reimburse parents for classes taken outside government schools.

The State has asked the Alaska Supreme Court to reverse the Superior Court ruling because it fails to properly apply the standard for holding that a statute is unconstitutional, the Department of Law wrote in a statement.

Striking down a duly enacted statute as unconstitutional is a serious and extraordinary exercise of the judicial power and a ruling of unconstitutionality frustrates the intent of the elected representatives of the people, the reply brief says.

Superior Court Judge Zemen has thrown the good out with the bad, the State argued. There are more refined tools—including a properly filed as-applied challenge—that allow courts to “avoid interfering with the lawmaking process any more than is necessary,” the brief says.

Further, Zeman’s ruling would render unconstitutional far more than just the student allotment program, and sweep into the unconstitutional category the millions of dollars that the State pays annually to private organizations like Amazon or Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for textbooks and other services and materials for brick-and-mortar schools, as well as numerous long-
uncontroversial public-private partnerships that work with the neighborhood schools.

Breaking: Activist Superior Court judge rules against correspondence schools when it comes to state support

Read the reply brief here. 

“The State’s briefing exposes the absurdity of the lower court’s decision,” said Alaska Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills. “For decades, State money has been spent on correspondence schools using private vendors to ensure students who don’t (or can’t) attend a traditional neighborhood school still have access to a top-quality public education. The lower court’s decision upended that decades-long precedent, ignoring the vast majority of constitutional spending on educational materials and services purchased by parents to support their child’s public education.”

The State has teamed up with a non-profit legal organization, First Liberty, which reached out on the case offering legal support for free.

“The absurdity of the decision has garnered national attention, so much so that First Liberty, a non-profit legal organization, experienced in constitutional issues, reached out to the State to offer legal assistance on a pro bono basis. With the understanding that the State is firmly in the driver’s seat on what and how this case is argued, it seemed prudent to take the offer of free help from other legal experts,” the State wrote in a statement.

Oral argument is set for 10 a.m. June 27.

LaFrance brings back Bill Falsey to city government

Suzanne Downing
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LaFrance brings back Bill Falsey to city government

Anchorage Mayor-elect Suzanne LaFrance has created a new position in city government: chief administrative officer. For the role, she has chosen Bill Falsey, former municipal attorney under former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, who resigned in disgrace in 2020.

Falsey ran for election for mayor of Anchorage but lost in the general election on April 6, 2021; Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar advanced to the runoff, and Bronson won.

Falsey was a supporter of LaFrance’s since the time she announced her run for mayor and before that led opposition to outgoing Mayor Bronson, who was beat by LaFrance in the May, 2024 runoff.

LaFrance also announced that the next municipal attorney will be Eva Gardner, who will lead the city’s Law Department.

LaFrance’s Anchorage transition team announced
Women in charge: Anchorage mayor-elect names top staff

Alaska Permanent Fund and pension private equity investments are scrutinized by Wall Street Journal

Suzanne Downing
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Alaska Permanent Fund and pension private equity investments are scrutinized by Wall Street Journal

Alaska Permanent Fund has heavily invested in private-equity funds in recent years and has done well with them in the past. 

But a Wall Street Journal story on private equity, sometimes called leveraged buy-out funding, prominently features the Alaska Permanent Fund, Alaska’s piggy bank.

It’s not just the Permanent Fund Corp. The troubles with private equity investments are mainly a problem for institutional investors like CALpers (California pension plan) and Harvard’s pension fund.

“Retirement funds are seeking cash while money is languishing in zombie investments,” the subheadline on the story explains.

Private equity is for the “Big Boys” of Wall Street. Typically, an investor would need to have $20 million to spend before a private equity manager would take his  call. The Permanent Fund is in this class of investor; when a Permanent Fund investment manager calls, those calls get taken.

But private equity doesn’t have all the protections from the Securities and Exchange Commission afforded investors in publicly traded equities. For institutional investors, private equity has been displacing publicly traded stocks for some time, all at prices negotiated by the institutions. If they want to get out early or if the private equity investment is not panning out as promised, these assets are hard to get rid of, because they are not tradable. 

“To keep benefit checks coming on time, those managers are unloading investments on the cheap or turning to borrowing—costly measures that eat into returns,” the Wall Street Journal said in its eye-opening report, revealing that California’s worker pension will “be paying more money into its private-equity portfolio than it receives from those investments for eight years in a row.”

“You’ve got a lot more money out and going out than is coming back, and I think that’s causing a lot of angst,” Allen Waldrop, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. private-equity director, told reporter Heather Gillers of the Journal.

Alaska Permanent Fund committee tries to figure out how to stay out of media limelight

The Permanent Fund Corp. has received cash from private-equity managers making payouts that come not from investment gains but from loans the managers have taken out to appease cash-starved pensions and other investors like APFC, Gillers wrote. 

“That is frustrating for the investment chief, Marcus Frampton. He estimated that his fund, which invests mineral revenue and other state money, could borrow on its own at lower cost. So far, this practice doesn’t appear to be widespread,” Gillers continued.

The $80 billion Alaska fund has been getting more cash from its private-equity program than it has put in. But it still missed out on around half a percent worth of stock gains—or about $40 million—over the past year after private equity tied up more cash than expected, causing the fund to run a smaller than planned stock portfolio, Frampton told the fund’s board last month, as reported by Gillers.

“Board members decided to reduce real-estate and cash holdings instead. They also voted to scrap a goal set a year ago to reduce the share of assets in private equity,” Gillers explained, describing how pension funds are now selling private-equity fund stakes secondhand and often taking a financial hit in the process. 

“Secondary-market buyers last year paid an average of 85% of the value the assets were assigned three to six months before the sale, according to Jefferies Financial Group. Secondhand sales by private-equity investors increased 7% to $60 billion last year,” she wrote.

Having to sell at a 15% loss to meet liquidity needs eats into yield.

As a result, some pension funds are now borrowing to access cash. Both of the major California pension plans — Calpers and the $333 billion pension serving California teachers — have are now taking out loans equivalent to 5% and 10% of fund holdings, respectively.

The Wall Street Journal story is behind a paywall at this link.

The push by some to get the Alaska Permanent Fund to have greater exposure to private equity made the news lately, with one board member being accused of trying to steer investments toward this riskier and more opaque class of investments, as well as to particular contracted managers.

One example of a the unregulated private equity investments being riskier than publicly traded stocks is the We Work office sharing company, which was once valued at $50 million before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.

Another example of a company that went south over the weekend was a food startup backed by private-equity executives and basketball stars. Roots Food Group Holdings faces fraud allegations and is defending a lawsuit by an investor.

One pundit noted that publicly owned endowments getting into the private equity space can be like vacationers visiting Hawaii for the first time and being pitched to buy a time-share condominium.

Testy trustees: Permanent Board directors show signs of strained relationships over Rubenstein revelations

Liquidity was not a high priority for Permanent Fund managers during the first few decades of its existence. The Alaska Permanent Fund is certainly now big enough that it could purchase a large suburban shopping mall with no particular target date for a payout, with a goal of selling at a time of high prices. 

But recently the Legislature has chosen to fund a major portion of state operations using the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve. 

While high oil prices, in part due to a White House that has purposely diminished U.S. energy independence, have somewhat postponed the tension between funding state operations and paying an annual Permanent Fund dividend, the liquidity of the Earnings Reserve Account and unexpected illiquidity of private equity plays could bring problems to at least two branches of state government, especially if world oil prices drop.

Predicting oil prices is best left to the experts, but those at Citi forecast a big drop in prices for 2025, anticipating a decline to $60 per barrel for Brent crude, which would be a 20% crash compared to current markets.

“The report suggests that while short-term volatility may lead to some upside risks, the long-term trend is bearish,” reported OilPrice.com. “The expected surplus in the global oil market by 2025, despite efforts by OPEC+ to curtail production, is cited as the main reason behind the pessimistic outlook.”

Gabrielle Rubenstein’s Permanent Fund turf-war makes the news at Financial Times
Troubles widen for Permanent Fund board, as executive session was breached

Here’s a tip: Trump tax break on servers’ tips would save American workers billions, report says

Suzanne Downing
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Here’s a tip: Trump tax break on servers’ tips would save American workers billions, report says

Former President Donald Trump’s plan to end taxes on tips could “cost” the federal government $150 billion to $250 billion in taxes over 10 years, according to the mainstream media’s interpretation of a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Put another way, the plan would actually save these workers $150 billion to $250 billion over a decade, money that could be used to pay for car repairs, rent, and child care.

“We estimate exempting all tip income from federal income and payroll taxes would reduce federal revenues by $150 to $250 billion over ten years on a static basis and could reduce revenue significantly more once behavioral effects are incorporated,” the committee wrote in its report on Sunday.

Last week in Nevada, Trump told a crowd of supporters, “When I get to office, we are not going to charge taxes on tips.”

Trump has since encouraged supporters to follow the example of Kid Rock and write “no tax on tips” on their restaurant receipts to help spread the word.

“No tax on tips, okay? It’s done. Done. And we need to spread the word so that every time you leave a tip for the next five months, you put on the receipt, vote for Trump, because there’s no tax on tips,” Trump said during his birthday party last week at Mar-a-Lago.

Over the weekend, Trump reiterated the idea: “I have announced that I will eliminate taxes on gifts for restaurant workers and hospitality workers. And anyone else who relies on tips, no more taxes on tips! None,” he said at the People’s Convention put on by Turning Point USA in Detroit.

To estimate the value of the policy in terms of tax burden, the Committee for a Responsible Budget reviewed historic IRS data which showed reported tip income totaled $26 billion (0.16 percent of GDP) in Tax Year (TY) 2012 and more than $38 billion (0.19 percent of GDP) in TY 2018.

Depending on how quickly tip income has grown since then and will continue to grow going forward, the organization estimates total tip income is likely to be between $700 billion and $900 billion from FY 2026 through FY 2035.

Read the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget analysis at this link.

Trump endorses Dahlstrom for Congress

Suzanne Downing
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Trump endorses Dahlstrom for Congress

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Nancy Dahlstrom for Congress for Alaska.

On Truth Social, he wrote his endorsement today:

“Nancy Dahlstrom will be a tremendous Congresswoman for the Great People of Alaska, just as she was as your Lieutenant Governor. Nancy is a proven fighter! In Congress, she will work to Secure the Border, Create Jobs, Lower Taxes, Promote American Energy Independence, Support our Incredible Military and Police Officers, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.

“Her opponent, Nick Begich, has Democrat tendencies but, most importantly, he refused to get out of this Race last time, which caused the Republicans to lose this important seat to Mary Peltola, someone who is very unpopular, allowed the Democrats to terminate ANWR (something which every Republican President since Ronald Reagan wanted, but only I got!), and is doing a terrible job for Alaska.

“Nancy Dahlstrom is a WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement. SHE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!”

Begich was the first to file in the race in 2022 and the first to file for this year’s race, having filed nearly one year ago. Dahlstrom filed in November. Begich, a Republican who has the support of numerous Republican clubs around the state, faces the uphill battle with some voters due to having the “Begich” name.

Must Read Alaska’s Monday newsletter ran a poll on the congressional race, which we have now closed, considering the endorsement of Trump, which is considered pivotal for Republicans.

The poll shows these results:

Screenshot

Another federal judge blocks Biden on Title IX, stating, ‘There are two sexes: male and female’

Suzanne Downing
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Another federal judge blocks Biden on Title IX, stating, ‘There are two sexes: male and female’

Title IX rewrite to protect men who want to be in women’s sports and locker rooms won’t go into effect in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, or Indiana any time soon, as yet another judge has blocked the Biden Administration with a temporary injunction.

The block on Biden happened Monday, three days after another federal judge blocked the rewrite in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho.

Another judge puts padlock on Biden’s perverting of the definition of ‘girl’ in public school bathrooms

Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court of Eastern Kentucky said the Biden interpretation of Title IX to include transgenders is “arbitrary in the truest sense of the word.”

“There are two sexes: male and female. More than fifty years ago, Congress recognized that girls and women were not receiving educational opportunities that were equal to those afforded to their male counterparts. It attempted to remedy this historical inequity through the passage of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, commonly known as Title IX. And for more than fifty years, educational institutions across the country risk losing federal funding if they fail to comply with the dictates of the statute. This case concerns an attempt by the executive branch to dramatically alter the purpose and meaning of Title IX through rulemaking,” Reeves wrote in his order.

In his footnote, Reeves noted that the federal government made the concession that there are two sexes during oral arguments on the plaintiffs’ motion for injunctive relief. “The parties have agreed to little else,” he added.

Texas Gov. Abbott books first win in lawsuit against Biden’s new trans definition of female in Title IX

“If the new rule is allowed to take effect on August 1, 2024, all plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable harm. Because the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims, and the public interest and equities highly favor their position, the new rule will be enjoined, and its application stayed,” Reeves wrote.

Riley Gaines, a former NCAA champion swimmer who has become the voice of women athletes fighting for fairness, commented, “This is a huge win. The gender ideology house of cards is falling fast.”

The complaint argued that for 50 years Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act “has helped equalize women’s access to educational facilities and programs by barring discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ by schools receiving federal funds. At the same time, given the ‘enduring physical differences between men and women, United States v. Virginia, 418, 533 (1996), Title IX has always allowed the nation’s schools to divide private spaces and participation on sports teams by sex. Yet through unprecedented new regulations, the U.S. Department of Eduction now seeks to twist Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination into a mandate that schools protect and promote their students’ ‘gender identity,’ among other ‘sex characteristics.'”

Alliance Defending Freedom is one of the key litigants along withthe states fighting against the new Biden interpretation of the definition of “female.”

“Our client, Adaleia Cross, has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. No one else should have to go through that. The court’s decision upholds safety and privacy for students like Adaleia as the litigation continues,” the Alliance wrote.

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of ‘sex’ will upend the equal opportunities that women and girls have enjoyed for 50 years under Title IX and will threaten their safety and privacy at every level,” said ADF Senior Counsel Hal Frampton, who argued before the court. “The court was right to halt the administration’s illegal efforts to rewrite Title IX while this critical lawsuit continues. Our female athlete client has already suffered the humiliation and indignity of being harassed by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. No one else should have to go through that. We are pleased the court ruled to uphold safety and privacy while this lawsuit continues.”

Judge Reeves wrote in his decision, “Nonetheless, despite society’s enduring recognition of biological differences between the sexes, as well as an individual’s basic right to bodily privacy, the Final Rule mandates that schools permit biological men into women’s intimate spaces, and women into men’s, within the educational environment based entirely on a person’s subjective gender identity. This result is not only impossible to square with Title IX but with the broader guarantee of education protection for all students.”

Adaleia Cross, pictured above, is a 15-year-old girl in West Virginia who was forced to compete against a male athlete on her middle school track-and-field team. The male displaced her several times, even taking away her spot to compete in a conference championship, the Alliance wrote. The male athlete was also given access to the girls’ locker room, and the client had to endure vulgar, sexual comments that the athlete directed at her.

The male athlete has finished ahead of almost 300 female competitors in three years of competition on the girls’ team, the lawsuit wrote.

The order halts the Biden Title IX rule changes in the states that have won the temporary injunction while the lawsuit State of Tennesse v. Cardona proceeds.

Read the complaint at this link.

Read the judge’s order at this link.

Biden changes to Title IX will prohibit schools from completely banning transgenders from girls’ teams
Lia Thomas, transgender swimmer, just captured women’s NCAA title for 500-yard, and didn’t even break a sweat

Farmers and drillers unite in lawsuit against Biden’s EPA electric car mandate

Suzanne Downing
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Farmers and drillers unite in lawsuit against Biden’s EPA electric car mandate

The American Petroleum Institute and other trade groups have sued the Biden Administration to stop a new set of regulations that created new emission standards for gas-powered vehicles.

The EPA finalized its regulation in March, which will end the sale of most new gas-powered vehicles by 2032.

“Today, we are taking action to protect American consumers, U.S. manufacturing workers and our nation’s hard-won energy security from this intrusive government mandate,” API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said. “EPA has exceeded its congressional authority with this regulation that will eliminate most new gas cars and traditional hybrids from the U.S. market in less than a decade. We look forward to making our case in court.”

The National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation and a group of six auto dealers representing 16 brands and collectively operating dozens of dealerships in major markets across the country join API as co-petitioners in today’s lawsuit. The auto dealers include Mickey Anderson, president and CEO of Baxter Auto Group; Thomas Maoli, president and CEO of Celebrity Motor Cars; Roger Elswick, president and CEO of Community Auto Group; Steve Gates, owner of Gates Automotive Group; Phillip Tarver, owner of Lake Charles Toyota; and Bob Loquercio, owner of Bob Loquercio Auto Group. 

“By approving tailpipe standards that focus exclusively on electric vehicles, EPA has ignored the proven benefits corn ethanol plays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combatting climate change,” Minnesota farmer and National Corn Growers Association President Harold Wolle said. “While it could take decades to get enough electric vehicles on the road to significantly lower GHG emissions, ethanol is a critical and effective climate solution that is available now. We have tried to make this case to EPA to no avail, and now we will make our case in court.”  

“Farmers answered the call to help America be more sustainable by growing the crops necessary for renewable fuels. Now, the rug is being pulled out from underneath them with unrealistic emissions goals that put years of investment at risk,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said. “Impractical standards for light-duty and medium-duty trucks will drive up the cost of farm vehicles and force farmers to rely on a charging network that does not yet exist in rural areas.”

In March, the Biden administration finalized new federal vehicle emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles that require 68% of new passenger vehicles and 43% of new medium-duty trucks and vans to be electric by 2032.

Frank Miele: How Trump wins the debate

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Frank Miele: How Trump wins the debate

By FRANK MIELE | REALCLEARPOLITICS

It’s the demeanor, stupid.

The public already overwhelmingly supports Donald Trump on the issues. But what many of them worry about is his demeanor. In other words, does he “act presidential”?

So, on June 27, when Trump joins President Joe Biden on CNN for the earliest general election presidential debate in U.S. history, it’s not going to matter what the former president says so much as how he says it.

Think of it as the equivalent of a medieval knight running the gauntlet. Every question from pro-Democrat moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and every taunting response from President Biden about threats to democracy will be an opportunity for Trump to lose his temper or to alienate moderate voters with intemperate replies.

But if Trump keeps his cool in hostile territory – and CNN is definitely hostile –  he will pick up invaluable points in the “seems more presidential” surveys that will certainly follow. The demeanor issue could cement Trump as the winner not just of the debate, but of the 2024 election itself.

Of course, Biden and his team are betting that Trump can’t keep his cool. They are no doubt thinking about the first debate of the 2020 campaign when Trump came across as a ferocious junkyard dog by constantly interrupting Biden and insulting him. That’s exactly what the Biden campaign is hoping for this time around, and if their calculation is right, then the president may be able to ride his “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” persona to victory in the fall.

Remember, this debate and another one in early September were proposed by Biden at a time when he was trending badly behind Trump in the polls, especially in battleground states. Presumably, the Biden campaign believed the early debates would shore up his support and hurdle him over the much indicted, and now convicted, former president.

But that doesn’t have to be true. All of the potential pitfalls for Trump are clearly marked with giant cartoonish neon signs of pointing fingers flashing the message “Pitfall here, dummy!” Even if Trump is distracted by his legal battles, hopefully his campaign team will make sure that he is prepped and ready to avoid each obstacle, such as making ambiguous jokes like “dictator on day one,” demeaning the elderly president as “Crooked Joe,” and talking more about himself than about the problems of everyday Americans.

If Trump remembers to act presidential, and not like an attack dog, there is every reason to believe he will attract voters eager for a change. Ironically, that’s partly because the Biden campaign’s ground rules for the debate have the potential to work in Trump’s favor. There will be no live audience for the debate, which Biden probably thought would rob Trump of the fuel that feeds his reality-TV personality. In addition, microphones will be turned off for each candidate when they are not responding to the moderators. Both of those changes could help Trump avoid a repeat of the bullying performance that may have cost him the election in 2020. In addition, turning off Trump’s mic will force Biden to complete his responses without making gaffes or getting lost in his addle-pated syntax, an opportunity Trump missed in the 2020 debate.

Nonetheless, the moderators will have their sights set on Trump, whom they have criticized repeatedly on CNN. Three topics are certain to be raised by Tapper and Bash – election interference in 2020, election acceptance in 2024, and Hunter Biden. It is essential that Trump be ready for them, and then having successfully addressed them, demand that the moderators ask questions about substantive issues.

Biden, on the other hand, just needs to speak coherently and lie about his record, with certainty that the moderators will not ask any follow-up questions.

Here are three examples of how Trump’s responses to the most obvious questions can get him through the media minefield and closer to his objective – victory in November. The key in each case is to remain calm, relate his responses to the voters, and ignore the provocations tossed his way.

1) Mr. Trump, since the end of your term as president, you have become a convicted felon in a New York election interference case, and face an additional 55 felony charges in three jurisdictions. In addition, a majority of senators voted after you left office to convict you of inciting an insurrection. Why do you consider yourself fit for office when the president is the chief law enforcement officer in the country?

Jake, I’m glad you asked me that question. I don’t want this debate to be all about me. Or even about my opponent. The American people want to hear me and Joe Biden discuss the hard issues facing the country – namely, crippling inflation, out-of-control illegal immigration, and a world on the brink of war. But the people have a right to know that I maintain my innocence regarding all the charges brought by my political opponents. It’s a sad day when Democrat prosecutors will go to any lengths to destroy me and to prevent me from promoting the policies that will save this country. But it’s not about me. It’s about a corrupt system of justice that the people have lost confidence in. Donald Trump isn’t the first person to get caught up in a two-tier system of justice. You can ask any black or Hispanic family whether they know someone who was railroaded into prison. They’ve lost faith, but I will restore that faith. Not only am I fit for office, but I am the first person to run for president who has experienced what black and minority families have known for decades. And I will fight for them.

2) Mr. Trump, after the 2020 election, you refused to accept the results even though more than 50 courts ruled against you. To this day, you call President Biden an illegitimate president, and you are currently under indictment for election interference. Now, Americans want to know if you will accept the results of the 2024 election regardless of who wins.

Dana, thank you for asking me that question. First of all, I need to correct you on one point. I believe it was more than 60 courts, but none of them heard our evidence of election fraud by the Biden campaign and his surrogates. In other words, we were never given the opportunity to prove our case of election tampering, and the national media failed miserably in looking at the facts objectively. Just saying the election was “safe and secure” does not make it so. Everyone knows the media was out to “get Trump” and to “protect Biden,” and in that regard, nothing has changed since 2020. But more importantly, as we look at accepting the Nov. 5 election results, it is not relevant who wins the election. All that matters is that the election be conducted fairly and transparently. And Dana, you can’t guarantee that will happen. Earlier this month, Democrat officials in Connecticut were charged with election fraud, and there’s no reason to believe the coming election will be any more fair unless it is completely transparent. No one should give up their right to look at the evidence and make up their own minds about the underpinnings of our democracy. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

3) Mr. Trump, you continually claim there is a two-tier system of justice, but in recent weeks, the Biden Department of Justice has charged or put on trial New Jersey’s Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar (another Democrat), and President Biden’s own son, Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies, and could be sentenced to jail time despite your attacks on the attorney general and the president, who has said he will not pardon his son nor commute any sentence. Isn’t it about time that you admit that the American system of justice is fair and even-handed?

Jake, this may be the most important question facing millions of Americans, even more important than whether they can afford to put food on the table, pay rent, or buy a home of their own – which many of them can’t. Of course, it’s not up to me to pass judgment on the three gentlemen you bring up in your question. Everyone can make up their own mind about whether justice is served in those cases. But I guarantee you that millions of black and minority families don’t trust the government to administer justice fairly, and the individual verdicts won’t make them forget their own experiences – their own children or parents sent to prison for long sentences, their own struggles against a system that too often rewards those with money or a celebrity name. Nothing can make them forget how they and their families were overlooked by a system gone awry. As for Hunter Biden, I won’t comment on his conviction on gun charges, but I will say that his story is an all-too-common American tragedy. My brother Fred was an alcoholic. His struggles with addiction mirror the experience of millions of Americans. I sympathize with the family of Hunter Biden and hope that he gets the help he needs.

If former President Trump follows the example laid out in these mock questions and answers, and worries more about reassuring the public about himself than attacking his opponent, it is almost certain he will also be future President Trump.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His newest book, “What Matters Most: God, Country, Family and Friends,” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA or on Twitter or Gettr @HeartlandDiary.

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