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Anxiety settles in

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We have arrived at Election Eve 2020.

I am about to tell you what I am feeling at this moment. I am feeling as anxious and as downright giddy as I did when I voted for the very first time for president of the United States.

That was in 1972. The contest between President Richard Nixon and Sen. George McGovern didn’t turn out the way I wanted. You know how it went: Nixon won a 49-state landslide.

I was not quite 23 years of age then. The voting age had been set at 18 in 1971 with ratification of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, so I was ineligible to vote in 1968. Instead, I was inducted into the U.S. Army and spent some time in Vietnam in 1969.

I came home in 1970 confused about the Vietnam War. The 1972 election featured two men with vastly different views on matters of war and peace. President Nixon vowed to stay the course and continue a gradual withdrawal; Sen. McGovern wanted to pull out immediately. I sided with McGovern, given my own confusion about the war.

I was giddy then because I did not foresee the drubbing my candidate would suffer. However, casting my first vote for president was a big deal for me then.

Here we are in the present day. Casting my most recent vote for president feels every bit as big now as it did then. The reasons differ.

I was horrified four years ago by the election of Donald Trump. I am hopeful in the extreme that I can be part of what I hope is a serious course correction. Without that correction, I fear for the direction that Trump might drag this nation. I voted with extreme enthusiasm for Joe Biden.

The nation needs to rescue itself from the mistake it made when it allowed Trump to score a fluky Electoral College victory. You know the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Oh, man, my hope on Election Eve is that we won’t shame ourselves a second time. I am anxious tonight. I also am hoping I can get a good night’s sleep.

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‘Fire Fauci?’ Really?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump considers himself to be a serious man.

I consider him to be a buffoon, a blowhard and a know-nothing politician.

So, when he eggs on a rally crowd that starts yelling “Fire Fauci!” and then urges them to wait until “after the election,” I am convinced beyond a doubt that Trump is out of his vacuous mind.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infection disease expert, had the temerity to declare that the nation is in a poor position as it seeks to battle the coronavirus pandemic. Oh, and then he said Joe Biden is taking the right approach to fighting the disease, while Trump is taking the wrong tack.

The Trumpkins started the chant. Trump listened to them for a few moments, then urged them to wait until after the election … presuming he gets re-elected. Then he might cut Fauci loose.

I have been saying for some time now that Fauci needs the platform to tell us the truth about the coronavirus. I no longer listen to anything that flies out of Trump’s mouth. He doesn’t know whether to sh** or shine his shoes regarding the pandemic. Fauci, on the other hand, is the pre-eminent infectious disease expert on Earth.

Here we are. On the cusp of an election. Trump hasn’t offered us a clue on where he wants to lead us in a second presidential term. He has now resorted to taunting one of the world’s most serious men over his views on the mishandling of a disease that has killed more than 230,000 Americans.

Disgraceful.

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Searching for ‘a more perfect Union’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The men who created the government to which we adhere today were smart enough to avoid committing themselves to creating a perfect nation.

Oh, no. The preamble to our Constitution declares their intent to create a “more perfect Union.” What it suggests, then, is that perfection is likely an unattainable goal.

So with that in mind, we are marching tonight and then in the morning toward an election that many of us hope make this Union a good bit “more perfect.” 

Donald Trump is running for re-election as president. He is facing a former vice president, Joe Biden. I want Biden to win this election. You know that, yes?

The candidates are pulling out all the stops as they storm across the key states that will decide this election. To that end, it is incumbent that enough citizens exercise their right to vote. The early turnout numbers are encouraging in the extreme; 93 million-plus of Americans have voted already. The final number of ballots being cast could top 150 million, which would be an all-time record.

Does that turnout produce a perfect government? Is that enough all by itself to suggest we cannot do better? Of course not. Perfection isn’t possible … remember?

The early-vote turnout was spurred by pleas from politicians — notably Democrats — who implored us to vote as early as we could to ensure our voices are heard. We heard their message in our house and we voted on the first day we could cast our ballots in Texas.

Americans have watched the presidency dragged into the dirt by an  unqualified, unfit individual. Donald Trump boasts about all he’s done for the country. What he’s done to the country is a more appropriate measure. We have moved farther from a “more perfect Union” during Trump’s term in office.

I truly believe that electing someone such as Joe Biden, a man who knows government and public policy, will restore the effort the founders laid out when they built the framework upon which we formed our government.

May the search for a “more perfect Union” commence.

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Wanting to be done with 2020

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Is it too early to wish 2020 a none-too-fond farewell?

If not, I will do so. If it is too early, I will do so anyway!

For reasons of which we are all aware, this has been one of the worst years imaginable. That damn coronavirus has shut us down, allowed a partial reopening, shut us down again. It has forced confinement to many of us to our houses. We can’t eat at our favorite restaurants.

We are wearing masks. We carry hand sanitizer with us.

Oh, and the young people? They have been denied proms, graduation ceremonies and in-person learning in classrooms.

We cannot go to our house of wor. Or watch our favorite sports teams in person.

And on top of all that, we have endured a miserable presidential campaign and watched the incumbent POTUS make an ass of himself by refusing to comply with the rules set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has created an environment that has infected hundreds of his followers.

I am ready for the year to end. The next year won’t bring immediate relief from the misery when it arrives on Jan. 1.

But that brings me to a glimmer of hope that might await us.

My new year celebration will be enhanced if we are able to welcome 2021 with the prospect of a new president getting ready to take office. I cannot even begin to ponder the possibility that we’ll be stuck with the Liar in Chief for another four years.

My hope springs eternal that we can shove 2020 out the door with the hope of a brighter future on the horizon.

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Waiting for the result

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have a friend of many years — more than 50 of them, in fact — who wants Donald Trump to be re-elected president of the United States.

My friend posted this today on Facebook: Trump haters I will be so glad when this madness is over. If Trump wins I will not gloat and if Biden prevails, then so be it.

This fellow, my old pal, is a better man than I am … I reckon.

Why? Because of Joe Biden is elected president I am likely to crow just a bit. I hope it doesn’t devolve into gloating. There just will be so much to say about the potential end of the Donald Trump Era of Presidential Politics.

I will agree with my friend on this point: We have been through a period of “madness.” I suppose the latest manifestation of it occurred on a highway between San Antonio and Austin when a horde of Trump supporters surrounded a Biden-Harris bus en route to Austin, slowing traffic to a crawl, with one of the Trumpkin vehicles colliding with a passerby who was trying to get past the “madness.”

The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of voter intimidation. Indeed, it seems to illustrate graphically the kind of idiocy that surrounds the re-election candidacy of Donald J. Trump.

Hey, didn’t Hillary Clinton refer to these folks as “deplorables”?

So, the end of this hideous campaign is at hand. I wish I could be as magnanimous as my good friend. I just cannot.

If the results break the right way, I pledge to speak with good manners. I hope that’s enough.

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Impeachment: remember it?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I want  to bring up an issue that is getting next to zero attention among the media as we hurtle toward this highly anticipated presidential election.

It is that Donald J. Trump is the first impeached president in U.S. history who is running for re-election.

Yep. The first one! Ever!

Remember that the House of Representatives impeached Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump went to trial in the Senate and was acquitted.

Why and how? Because almost all of the Senate’s Republican majority — with one notable exception — gave Trump a pass on the abuse of power he exhibited when he solicited from Ukraine a political favor and then obstructed Congress’s efforts to get to the truth of what happened.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump on abuse of power.

So now Trump wants a second term in office after being impeached by the House. How should that play? How does he sell himself as deserving re-election even after the House impeached him?

He calls it all a hoax. Which is fine with the GOP bloc that stands with this guy.

Many of the rest of us don’t see it that way. I believe Trump should have been tossed out of office because he sought Ukrainian help in digging up dirt on Joe Biden. Not good, Mr. President. Plus, he ordered top aides to refuse to comply with congressional summons to appear before committees to talk openly about what they knew and when they knew it. Also not good, Mr. POTUS.

Here we are. Donald Trump wants another term in office after being impeached by the House because he broke the law.

Incredible.

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Republicans face a reckoning

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Republicans should ask themselves a serious question as they prepare to vote for president of the United States.

Is the guy at the top of our ballot, Donald J. Trump, really one of us?

I submit that Trump isn’t a real Republican. He isn’t a real anything, other than a real a**hole who has co-opted a party he has grabbed by the throat.

A party that once used to vilify Democrats because of budget deficits cannot use that cudgel any longer thanks to Donald Trump. This guy vowed to eliminate the national debt; on his watch, the debt has tripled. The deficit? It’s on track to ratchet up to $3.1 trillion, nearly double the previous annual record.

Fiscal responsibility? The party that once touted itself as the party that would protect our money has spent it recklessly. That ain’t very Republican, if you know what I mean.

The party of Lincoln once sought to embrace civil rights legislation. It fought hard for African-Americans’ desire for the full rights of citizenship. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson needed help from his GOP friends in the Senate to enact the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in the mid-1960s. Can you imagine Donald Trump doing the same thing?

The GOP used to stand toe-to-toe with our international adversaries. Such as, oh, Russia. What in the world has the current GOP president done? He has sided with Russia and chided U.S. intelligence analysts over the issue of Russian interference in our national election. Russia denied doing it; Trump said he believes ’em. Amazing, man.

The GOP used to be a party that insisted that our political leaders have squeaky clean family reputations. Hmm. Does that fit Donald Trump in any fashion?

I don’t expect any Republicans who might happen to read this blog to change their mind just because I am calling Trump a Republican In Name Only. I do hope they ask themselves that critical question about Donald Trump: Is he really one of us?

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It’s almost over

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

In the spirit of Donald Trump’s reported plans to declare victory prematurely on Election Night if certain things happen, I want to declare victory of another sort.

We’re just two days out from the presidential election and I am proud to report that we got through it.

Trump has managed to wage the most miserable re-election campaign in anyone’s memory. I don’t believe it will work for him; I am cautiously optimistic — with emphasis on “cautiously” — that Joe Biden will win the election Tuesday and take his place as the 46th president of the United States.

We sought to endure the incumbent’s incessant lying, his innuendo, his invective and insults, his boorishness. I remain baffled that Trump continues to hang onto the supporters he has held for as long as he has been in office.

The COVID crisis is out of control; Trump hasn’t yet spelled out a plan for a second term; he downplays the seriousness of the crisis; Trump criticizes the pre-eminent infectious disease expert on the White House response task force; he has insulted the men and women who serve in the military; he kowtows to dictators; he lied to us about the pandemic when he broke at the start of the year.

In a normal political environment, Biden would be headed to a 40-state landslide. These aren’t normal times. Yet my hope springs eternal that enough Americans have had enough, have had their fill of Trump’s relentless anger that they’ll turn to someone who can feel their hurt, their angst and is unafraid and is willing to express it publicly.

Trump himself has defined and embodied the abnormality of this political climate. He ran for president in 2016 proclaiming to be a self-made business success. We have learned that was a lie. He said “I, alone” can fix the nation’s problems. We learned that to be a form of code that disguised a desire to become an authoritarian leader, rather than part of a political partnership with other branches of government.

Trump has ignored the best advice he could receive. He has relied on his gut. Trump’s gut has resulted in a presidency that has left a trail of wreckage. My hope is that Joe Biden’s team can clean it up.

Here we are, on the verge of the most consequential election perhaps in U.S. history.

I am glad I have maintained some semblance of sanity watching this drama unfold in real time. I am ready for it to end … and I am hoping for the dawn of a new era.

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Trump will do what? Declare ‘victory’ early?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I thought I was hearing things this morning. Turns out I heard it right.

Donald Trump reportedly is going to “declare victory” prematurely Tuesday night if the early returns show him leading the contest over Joe Biden. Yep. That’s what might happen, according to Axios.com, which broke the story.

That is weird, man. Totally strange and bizarre. In a way, though, it illustrates a bit of daffy cunning on Trump’s part.

The early voter returns likely won’t have a winner declared in the Electoral College. The winner needs 270 electoral votes to be elected. So if Trump decides to declare “victory” before all the votes are counted, he might be banking on voters deciding against casting their ballots believing that Trump’s actually been re-elected.

Far-fetched? Yeah. It is. There is a strange plausibility to trying such a thing.

In 1980, the TV networks declared Ronald W. Reagan the winner over President Carter early on election night. He had rolled up enough electoral votes to oust Carter after a single term. The polls had not yet closed way out west, where I was living and working at the time.

There was plenty of anecdotal evidence that night of voters walking away from the polling place when they heard that Reagan had won, forgoing their own casting of ballots. The evidence also showed that in at least one key congressional race, the one between U.S. Rep. Al Ullman and Denny Smith in the Second Congressional District of Oregon, that the walkaways cost the Democrat Ullman enough votes to deny his re-election. I watched that one up close as I was working for a newspaper that covered a portion of that congressional district in Clackamas County, Ore.

Donald Trump has a few tricks up his sleeve. I guess this might be one of them he could deploy to deny Joe Biden a victory. For the sake of the Republic, I hope Joe Biden holds a strong lead when the early returns are broadcast around the world.

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This is what ‘cult of personality’ produces

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There he was, standing in front of adoring fans, telling yet another egregious lie just the other day about the coronavirus pandemic.

Donald Trump’s fans nodded, applauded and hollered their approval over a blatant falsehood, which is that doctors and nurses are inflating COVID-19 death rates because “they make more money” when patients die.

This, I submit, is the essence of what has been called a “cult of personality.” Trumpkins don’t give a sh** about policy. They adore the liar who stands before them. They buy into the lies. They give him a pass when he defames an entire learned profession — doctors and nurses — with an outright lie.

This is the kind of menace against which Joe Biden is running as he seeks to remove Donald Trump from the presidency he won in 2016 in arguably the greatest political fluke in American political history.

Biden is campaigning against an individual who can lie out loud and in full public view and receive the same level of cheer and applause as he would were he to actually say something true, which of course doesn’t happen with this clown.

Hitler had that cult of personality. So did Stalin and Mussolini. So did Idi Amin and Ho Chi Minh. So does Kim Jong Un. So does Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump is following them all down the road to infamy with his lying, defaming and patently vicious rhetoric.

To think the Trumpkin Corps continues to buy into this trash. Simply astonishing in the extreme.

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