I know that every year, some of you see this Thanksgiving column by my brother and think that it is actually I who am serving up this slab of red meat under the nom de plume of Kevin Dowd. I can assure you that Kevin is very real and, this year, very excited. So, caveat emptor: Here is Kevin’s column.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — My sister told me not to gloat. But Democrats are eating a giant helping of crow since voters delivered a stunning victory to Donald Trump after spending months — years, really — claiming he was a racist, a wannabe dictator, Adolf Hitler and a threat to democracy.

Somehow this racist dictator was able to assemble a new coalition of Black, Hispanic, middle-class and working-class voters. Maybe it’s because nobody wants to live in the kind of country that the Biden-Harris administration and its leftist bedfellows were creating. Voters rejected the lax border measures championed by Joe Biden and the incompetent man supposedly in charge of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Turns out even people in blue America don’t like it when their groceries cost more and they feel less safe.

I must admit I had misgivings about Trump and his election denial after Jan. 6, but Nancy Pelosi’s hijacking of the House’s special investigating committee shifted my perspective. There was no world in which Trump could have come out of that committee without being scarred. So why did she have to overreach? It didn’t seem fair. And the ensuing lawfare waged against him only strengthened my support for him, and my feeling that there was nothing the opposition wouldn’t do to get him.

The negativity spread to the mainstream media, where coverage of Trump was wildly slanted. Even the owner of The Washington Post warned that the media was losing the trust of its audience. Seniors get their news from cable and young people get it from podcasts and social media. Trump’s freewheeling three-hour interview with Joe Rogan helped him capture that vote.

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Kamala Harris Was a Terrible Candidate

Kamala Harris evaded the Rogan invitation. She was a terrible candidate, and the conga line of celebrities her campaign relied on couldn’t obscure that fact. Some of the same Democrats who tried to tell us Biden wasn’t in decline then tried to tell us Harris was an exciting, transformative force. Please.

Trump, hardened and informed by his first Cabinet selections, has moved with warp speed to assemble his Cabinet. Some of his most controversial picks may be intended to scare some deep state bureaucrats into resigning. Matt Gaetz did not make it even to a committee hearing. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard will need to pass Senate scrutiny, but compared with the clown show Biden assembled, they look mainstream.

Trump is pressing for recess appointments. A bad idea. The Senate has the role of advise and consent. It can weed out some of the more troublesome picks, and Trump will be better for it. Republicans will have the Senate majority. No qualified candidate will be denied.

The federal government is like a house filled with mold that needs a good cleaning. Trump will take care of it. When COVID came, the government was sent home, where many employees remain. He could order everyone to come back to the office full time, and 20% of the workforce would refuse and be gone. Will anyone notice? I doubt it.

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Trump Mustn’t Squander Chance to Restore Common Sense

Trump promises a return to common sense and has been given the tools to accomplish it with an electoral mandate and all three branches of government on his side. He cannot squander it. He must not get bogged down in petty disputes and perceived slights.

Our cities need to be safe again, our border secure and our country energy independent. Our elections need to be fair and incorruptible from foreign influence. The United States of America is the strongest and best country in the world. We demean ourselves when we are not at our full potential.

Biden and Harris have left a huge mess. Trump is the right choice to fix it. There are things he can do right away to make a difference: close the border, eliminate regulations, end the war on fossil fuels and cancel EV mandates.

No matter how maddening Trump can be, the country needs him. The wind is truly at his back. The election was decided not just by MAGA rallygoers but also by millions of voters who’d simply had enough. He should move forward without rancor or grievance, fueled by the joy of the Trump Shuffle, his robot-like dance that has broken out at UFC fights and across the NFL. I’m going to have the younger members of the family teach it to Maureen on Thanksgiving.

As I ease into my twilight years, I want to thank Trump for letting me sleep safely and soundly again.

Vaya con Dios, Mister President.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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