What do I wish at the end of this bizarre presidential campaign season?
A lot of things, to be candid. One of them happens to be a standard by which we don’t call attention to simple gestures that we used to take for granted.
Former President Obama wrote this on Twitter:
Michelle and I hope that the President, First Lady, and all those affected by the coronavirus around the country are getting the care they need and are on the path to a speedy recovery. Obviously, we’re in the midst of a big political battle right now, and while there’s a lot at stake, let’s remember that we’re all Americans. We’re all human beings. And we want everyone to be healthy, no matter our party.
Donald Trump’s hospitalization, along with first lady Melania Trump’s affliction with the COVID-19 virus, brings to mind the expressions of concern that have come from Joe Biden, among others. Then we have President Obama offering his own good wishes to the man who despises him.
This kind of once-common outreach has been plowed asunder by the venom, vitriol and venality of the past four years. It has sickened me beyond belief. Yes, I have been sucked into it at times and I do regret some of the hyper-angry rhetoric that has poured forth on this blog.
I want a return to civility. They call it “comity” in the halls of power. It’s just another word for civility and courtesy. There has been so little of it coming from the White House and, yes, from Capitol Hill.
Joe Biden spent 36 years in the Senate before becoming vice president during the Obama years. He says he wants to restore our national “soul.” Part of what has been missing from our political discourse has been the common touch of decency that used to be commonplace.
You’ll recall when the gunman opened fire in 2017 on Republican members of Congress practicing for the bipartisan baseball game. House GOP Whip Steve Scalise was nearly killed by the lunatic. When he returned to the House floor, all the members stood and applauded. Leading the applause was House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who said in that moment “we were all Italian.”
One of many fond hopes I have for a Biden presidency if it comes to that after the election is that we can set aside the hatred and the view that our foes are our “enemies.”
A series of political signs caught my eye recently while driving along Lucas Avenue just east of Allen in Collin County, Texas.
“Keep Your Republican Judges” the signs blurt out.
The signs bring to mind a question I used to ask Texas judicial candidates while I was working for a living as a newspaper editor.
“Can you tell me the difference,” I would ask, “between Democratic justice and Republican justice?” The answer from judges and judicial candidates in either party was essentially the same. They couldn’t differentiate between the parties.
That brings me to a point I have been harping on since The Flood, which is that if Texas is going to keep electing its judges it needs to remove the partisan label from these races.
I have more or less given up on the notion of appointing judges and then having them stand for “retention” at the ballot box. Texas seems wedded to the notion of electing judges, which we do at all manner of levels: justices of the peace, to county court at law judges, to district judges, to appellate court judges, to the Court of Criminal Appeals and to the Texas Supreme Court.
They all run either as Democrats or Republicans. Depending on the relative strength of either party at the time, we have tossed out fine judges from the weaker of the two parties.
As late as the early 1980s, when Democrats remained strong in Texas, fine GOP judges got the boot. Then the tide turned and Texans began tossing out fine Democratic judges in favor of GOP judges. Why? Because they were of the party in power.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
Judges who adjudicate criminal and civil cases do not deliver justice on the basis of partisan leaning. Appellate judges, be they sitting on regional appellate benches or on the state’s top two appellate courts — the CCA or the Supreme Court — do not interpret the Texas Constitution on a partisan level.
I can understand selecting judges based on their judicial philosophy. If they are too soft or too harsh in their judgments, then allow voters to make their selection on that basis.
Partisan labels don’t belong in our state’s judicial contests.
Having wished Donald and Melania Trump a speedy recovery from the coronavirus, I now wish to slap the sh** out of The Donald for what he has produced.
He has delivered us an actual “outbreak” of infections caused by his refusal to wear a mask with others around him or to demand that everyone in his presence exercise social distancing in the wake of the pandemic that continues to kill too many Americans every single day.
Several people who were hobnobbing with Trump prior to his diagnosis now have tested positive for the virus. Let’s see:
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, former White House senior policy adviser Kellyanne Conway, White House aide Hope Hicks, at least three White House beat reporters, and perhaps a host of others all have the disease. Have I missed anyone?
Yep, I would call that an “outbreak.”
Donald Trump insisted on staging those rallies. Crowds showed up sans masks. They were crowded together. They were cheering, laughing, carrying on as if they didn’t have a care in the world … all the while transmitting COVID germs among themselves.
There was the POTUS, taking it all in.
He didn’t give a rip about the safety of those who adore his presence as president of the United States.
Now he is paying the price. So are those who were careless and thoughtless enough to forgo the safety procedures preached to them by the doctors and assorted scientific experts.
Whatever happened to leading by example? Donald Trump is leading by setting the wrong example at every possible turn.
I still wish everyone a speedy recovery. I also still wish them all to be tossed out of public office as soon as is humanly possible.
I have a friend who lives in Nuremberg, Germany and who also is a print journalist who works for a newspaper called Nurnberger Nachrichten.
My friend asked me to put together an essay about the seeming conflict I have in opposing Donald J. Trump while living in the heart of what might be considered Trump Country. I wrote the essay. My friend — who speak impeccable English — is going to translate it into German and will publish the essay in his newspaper.
I want to share with readers of High Plains Blogger what I wrote for my German friend. So, with that …
***
Politicians of both major U.S. parties agree on precisely one thing regarding the upcoming election of our president.
It is that we are going to conduct “the most consequential election” in memory. Perhaps in the history of our republic.
I tend to believe that the election we are about to conduct falls into the latter category of consequence. This one means more than any previous election we ever have had in our country’s history.
What is at stake? Let me count as many as I can think of at this moment.
Donald Trump has emerged as the most dangerous man ever to be elected president. I did not vote for him in 2016 and I will not vote for his re-election this time. The danger he presents is manyfold.
Trump brought no public service experience to the presidency. He has no appreciation for public service or for those who perform it. He states a bizarre affection for authoritarian leaders, citing specifically North Korean killer/tyrant/despot Kim Jong Un and Turkey’s strongman Recipp Erdogan. Trump’s affection for Russia’s Vladimir Putin is well-known.
I believe Trump sees himself as an authoritarian figure and wants to bend our system of government to conform to his desire to be the man who controls everything. Our nation’s founding fathers built a government that is based on limited presidential power and the sharing of power with Congress and the federal courts. Trump does not understand that concept. Why? He is ignorant in the extreme.
I spent more than 30 years as a print journalist and in my years since retirement I have continued to comment on political matters through my blog, High Plains Blogger. I live in Texas, which many Americans consider to be the heart of Trump Country. Yes, he won Texas’s electoral votes in 2016 but I am happy to report at this moment that the contest for our state’s electoral votes is anyone’s guess. Polling shows former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden running practically even with Trump.
Still, my blog tends to paint me as a political outlier, given that I am surrounded by Trump supporters. Indeed, I have many friends – and even a few family members – who align with Trump. I love them all in spite of our differences.
We vote in Texas in an “open primary” system, which means that when we vote in the primary, we simply choose which party we want to vote in on Election Day. I tend to vote Democrat, but I have voted Republican at times, depending on the local races involved. This presidential election has been difficult for me in one regard: I am solidly behind Joe Biden’s candidacy, but almost all my friends either are leaning toward Trump or are dedicated to re-electing him. I do not discuss presidential politics with them. It has become commonplace in Texas, I believe, for friends and family members to avoid discussing politics when there are differences of opinion regarding the presidential candidates.
Trump’s presidency has changed the mood in the United States. His divisive rhetoric has driven a wedge between family members. I have heard too many stories from people I know about how their family relationships have been damaged or even destroyed by those differences. It is one of the many tragedies surrounding this man’s presidency.
None of this shames nor embarrasses me. It does make me angry. The level of disagreement has reached a level I do not recognize from previous political eras. There is a saying in Texas that “politics is a contact sport.” I fear that it has become more of a “collision sport,” with both sides intent on inflicting permanent damage on each other. I am retired these days from daily journalism, so I am decidedly less inclined to expose myself to the collisions that are occurring all around me in Texas as my friends, neighbors and family members continue to debate the issues surrounding this campaign.
Trump’s dangerous presidency needs to be replaced with a president who understands how government works. Trump campaigned for president in 2016 vowing to “put America first.” He has insulted our international allies in the process. Trump’s threats to withdraw our nation’s support of NATO – the pre-eminent international alliance on Earth – has been frightening in the extreme. Those threats play directly into the desire of Putin, whose aim is to undermine NATO, which as you know was formed to deter aggression from what was known then as the Soviet Union.
Let us extend the danger to Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. I believe we are the only major nation on Earth to stand apart from those accords. Dangerous? You had better believe it!
Trump has long boasted about how smart he is, how rich he is, how worldly he is. Trump’s intelligence is now an open question, as is his wealth. My own view has been that individuals who are truly smart and truly wealthy should have no need to keep telling others about their intelligence and wealth. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney once described Trump as a “phony” and a “fraud.” Trump’s continued boasting of his wealth and intelligence confirms Romney’s view.
Americans face a critical decision on Nov. 3. It is the most critical election certainly in my lifetime. It stands as the most critical election in our nation’s history.
America’s Electoral College allowed for the election of a guy who played to Americans’ fears. We are paying the price for acting on those fears. It is my sincere hope we can snap out of it in time to elect someone who has an actual understanding of how government works.
And who knows? Texas, which for a long time has been a Republican bastion, has become what we call a “battleground state,” meaning that both presidential candidates are focusing more attention – and spending more money – to win our votes. There might be a glimmer of hope that when the ballots are counted, I might no longer be an “outlier” in a state known for its rough-and-tumble politics.
It is utterly impossible to avoid putting a political spin on news that Donald and Melania Trump have contracted the coronavirus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
I wish a complete recovery for the first couple.
I also believe that Trump should pay the ultimate political price because of what has transpired. He has tested positive for a virus he once called a “Democrat hoax,” which he has sought to play down because he didn’t want to “panic” Americans, which he keeps telling us is “under control” and which he has said will be disappear miraculously.
Donald Trump now becomes the leading exhibit for discussion about the falsehoods he has been telling for most of this year.
The pandemic is not getting any better. We’re in the middle apparently of yet another surge in illness and death.
Donald Trump is running for re-election partly by touting the “fantastic job” he says his administration has done. He has ignored medical experts’ advice about wearing a mask or keeping a social distance from others.
He is now paying a price. Trump is likely to pay a steep political price as well … as he should.
Trump mocked Joe Biden earlier this week because the Democratic Party presidential nominee wears a mask. Unbelievable! Biden shrugged it off with a chuckle.
We are heading now into the final month of the most unusual election season in anyone’s memory. Yes, the election will be a referendum on Donald Trump’s mishandling of the initial response to the pandemic. Indeed, his continued response has been an exercise in fecklessness, too.
There will be no more claims of “Democrat hoax.” Nor will there be any more mocking of those who wear masks or keep their distance from others. That’s all fine. The damage politically has been done to Trump, in my view.
If there is a silver lining behind the news that Donald and Melania Trump have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, it is that we no longer will hear (I hope) Donald Trump refer to the coronavirus as a “hoax.”
He had better take it seriously from this moment forward. He should set the example he should have set from Day One. Trump needs to understand as well that the administration has nothing “under control” and that the pandemic is still raging at full force.
The diagnosis is concerning in the extreme. The nation’s executive branch needs to function fully and it cannot when the individual at the top of the chain of command is recovering from a virus that could potentially do serious harm to him.
The “hoax” nonsense has now been relegated to being a thing of the past. It’s real and Donald Trump no longer can dismiss it publicly as something akin to the flu.
I just have to ask: How many of us were really surprised to awaken today to the news that Donald and Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus?
Not me. I mean, c’mon! The president speaks of the pandemic as if it’s “under control,” he dismisses the wearing of masks, he hold rallies with crowds of adoring fans packed shoulder to shoulder in front of him and one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, tests positive for the virus.
Now, having said that, I do not want the first couple to suffer grievously from the disease. Accordingly, I was pleased to learn this morning that their young son, Barron, tested negative; so let’s hope the youngster keeps his good health.
However, the very notion that Donald Trump would be so terribly dismissive of the pandemic and would mock Joe Biden — the Democratic nominee who is running against him — for wearing a mask only tempts me to say, “I told you so.”
I won’t speak specifically to what this bombshell news will do to the presidential campaign. It’s too early to tell whether it will sound the death knell for Trump’s effort to get re-elected.
The news, though, should bring the administration’s non-response to the pandemic back to the top of voters’ awareness. Trump’s mishandling of the initial response now has been essentially validated by Trump’s own words, as he spoke them to Washington Post reporter/editor Bob Woodward. He knew initially that the pandemic would kill many Americans, but lied to the public about the looming threat.
Trump has sought to change the subject. He cannot possibly change it now.
My wish is for Trump and the first lady to get well … and then for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to defeat him handily on Election Day.
The time has come for some truth-telling at the White House.
I am going to acknowledge something that makes me terribly uncomfortable, so bear with me.
Hope Hicks, who is Donald Trump’s closest non-family adviser inside the White House, has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Thus, the quandary. I truly am wrestling with how I should react if Donald Trump becomes infected with the virus. Do I shudder in fear for the immediate future of our government? Must I offer “thoughts and prayers” for Trump and his family?
Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden the other night because the Democratic presidential nominee wears a mask when he’s out and about; Trump forgoes a mask. Trump stages indoor rallies in front of large crowds comprising Trumpkins who also do not wear masks. The president violates the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So, back to the question: How do I respond to knowledge that Donald Trump himself might become infected with the coronavirus?
Medical experts say that anyone who is close to those who test positive for the virus should quarantine themselves for two weeks. Does that include the president of the United States and the first lady and the couple’s teenage son?
If the president is going to be reckless in his behavior about the pandemic, how is it that I should somehow be compelled to feel badly if he gets sick?
I think I have just talked myself out of feeling any concern about an individual who has lied about the severity of the pandemic and has denigrated the scientists who warn us to wear masks and to maintain “social distance” to keep ourselves and others safe from a potentially killer virus.
Has there ever been a presidential campaign — in the past century — that has evoked the kind of visceral anger between devotees of both major-party presidential candidates than this one?
Donald Trump’s minions are accusing Joe Biden’s fans of fomenting socialism. Biden’s side argues that Trump is unfit to serve as president. Trump’s team is suggesting that Biden’s mental acuity is slipping. Biden’s team says Trump has become unhinged.
They sides now are talking to each other. Trumpkins accuse Bidenistas of hating America. Reverse those accusations and we hear the Biden team suggesting that Trump’s side favors Russian interests over American interests.
Who is to blame for this?
Here it comes. I blame Donald John Trump fully, completely and without equivocation.
Trump has fomented this kind of anger with his own fiery rhetoric. His campaign launch in 2015 with a blistering attack on Latin American immigrants and continued with a call to ban all travel into the country from those who live in mostly Muslim countries.
It has hurtled downhill from there.
The nadir of Trump’s presidency might have been when he called Ku Klux Klansmen and Nazis “good people.” Hmm. My dear old Dad would have come totally unglued were he around to hear that one, given that he went to war in 1942 to fight those very Nazis.
The litany of divisive rhetoric is too lengthy to recount here. You know what I’m talking about. The consequence has been anger that has filtered into the ranks of those who adore Donald Trump and those who loathe him.
Joe Biden Jr. promises to heal the nation. He wants to restore our national “soul.” I pray that the American soul isn’t permanently damaged by the battering it has received during the tenure of the Donald Trump’s time as president.
I truly cannot believe I am saying this, but the decision we have made in our house to vote early is beginning to look more attractive with each passing day.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made the decision even more righteous by deciding to limit hand-delivered absentee drop boxes to one per county. That’s one place to drop off your ballots no matter whether you live in a small rural county or a large urban one. My wife and I reside in Collin County, home to 1 million Texans.
Let’s see how this works. Democrats blame the Republican governor of employing voter-suppression tactics by issuing such a restrictive order.
The Texas Tribune reports: Voting rights advocates say Abbott’s move will make absentee balloting more difficult in a year when more Texans than ever are expected to vote by mail. Drop-off locations, advocates said, are particularly important given concerns about Postal Service delays, especially for disabled voters or those without access to reliable transportation.
… Abbott described his proclamation as an effort to “strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state.” A spokesperson did not respond to questions about how allowing multiple drop-off locations might lead to fraud.
The USPS has come under intense scrutiny over the way it plans to handle a huge spike in mail-in voting in this pandemic age.
My wife and I intend to vote early in person at one of the polling locations set aside here in Collin County. We might vote at the Allen Event Center, which is a sizable venue that provides ample space for us to “socially distance.” Or we might vote at First Baptist Church in Princeton, where we’ve voted in earlier elections. We were impressed with how well the poll workers kept us safe during that election, so we might stay close to home to cast our ballots.
I would have preferred to wait until Election Day to cast my ballot. I now will heed the plea offered by Joe Biden and others in his camp who urge Americans to vote early. Vote “in person” if we can. Well, we can vote in person so we will do that and we will do so early.
I want my vote to count. I suppose, furthermore, that perhaps Donald Trump has sown enough suspicion in my own mind and heart about the Postal Service to make sure I vote in person at the earliest possible moment.
