Tag Archives: 2024 election

national news

Wait for the trials … and convictions!

Norm Ornstein is one of those Washington, D.C., gray eminences whom the media turn to for a look at the political landscape and whether it is changing under our feet in real time.

Ornstein believes that Donald Trump’s current standing as the “frontrunner” for the 2024 presidential election is going to change “when and if the convictions” start rolling in from the felony criminal trials that await the former POTUS.

I believe he is correct. At least I hope he is correct. You see, the polling data showing Trump ahead of President Biden in several key battleground states simply baffles me beyond all measure.

Ornstein suggests that Biden could be in serious trouble if he is unable to persuade Americans that the successes he has enjoyed are the real deal. I believe they are, but he continues to underperform among voters who continue to tell pollsters that the country is headed in the “wrong direction.”

Huh? I don’t get it! Unemployment remains below 4%. Jobs keep piling up. Inflation, while still troublesome, is beginning to level off. The Fed appears set to put the brakes on interest rate increases.

Yes, we have war in the Middle East. And in Ukraine. Biden has held our alliances together.

The border crisis? It still is a serious problem, but it’s good to remember that we’re still detaining and deporting thousands of undocumented immigrants weekly.

“One of the things that I think is clear here is that most voters have paid no or little attention to Donald Trump’s legal problems,” Ornstein told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. “That will change when we get criminal trials. And especially if and when we get convictions.”

It’s good to ask ourselves: Are Americans really and truly so stupid, gullible and ignorant that we want to elect a convicted felon as POTUS?

If we are, then this nation of ours is headed straight into the crapper.

We are much better than that.

national news

Polling data = real-time snapshot

All the polling data we are seeing these days showing a neck-and-neck race between President Joe Biden and the man he defeated in 2020 remind me of historical precedent.

Which is to say that today’s polling data don’t mean squat this far out from an upcoming election.

Yes, I have commented on my frustration that Donald Trump even can collect 35 to 40% of the electorate’s favor, given all he has said, done and demonstrated since he became a politician in 2015.

But I want to revisit some recent presidential polling history to remind you of how volatile these polls can become.

Remember that public opinion polls are merely a real-time snapshot of what is on people’s minds. Opinions change.

Prior to the 1984 election, Walter Mondale was seen as a legitimate challenger to President Reagan. The president was re-elected with an 18% margin and a 49-state Electoral College wipeout. In 1992, Ross Perot actually led President George H.W. Bush and former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Perot finished with 19% of the vote and zero Electoral College votes, while Bill Clinton breezed to election.

Four years later, Sen. Bob Dole was neck-and-neck with the president, but then lost decisively. In 2008, Sen. John McCain was seen as a possible winner against Sen. Barack Obama; it didn’t happen. Obama was in danger four years later of losing to Mitt Romney; he won comfortably.

Today’s polling data mean next to nothing. Trump is going on trial on at least two of the indictments leveled against him prior to the GOP primary season. Americans are going to get a snootful from courtrooms about the way he conducted himself during his time in office and, most damaging, after he lost the 2020 election.

I am going to stand squarely on my view that Donald Trump is not electable in 2024. Period. He has no vision for the future, other than telling us how he intends to exact revenge on his foes. His unfitness for public office cannot be stated any more starkly than that.

The polling data will be there to remind us … in real time.

national news

Foundations take a stand for democracy

This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day, but it has and the fate of democracy in the United States well might benefit greatly from this statement.

Six presidential foundations have issued a statement calling for a revitalization of democratic principles ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign. The statement came initially from the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas; cosigners are the LBJ Foundation in Austin, the Obama Foundation in Chicago, the George and Barbara Bush Foundation in College Station and the John F. Kennedy Center and Library in Boston.

The statement didn’t name names, but it didn’t need to. We all know who is the object of the statement’s warning … it would Donald J. Trump and his fixation with autocracy.

“As a diverse nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, democracy holds us together,” the groups said. “We are a country rooted in the rule of law, where the protection of the rights of all people is paramount. At the same time, we live among our fellow citizens, underscoring the importance of compassion, tolerance, pluralism, and respect for others.”

Presidential foundations call for return to democratic values ahead of 2024 elections (ketr.org)

Indeed, our nation’s founders launched a revolution against a government that sought to subjugate colonial residents to the iron fist of autocratic rule. What emerged from that conflict in the 18th century was a nation founded on the notion that peaceful dissent is part of our governing fabric.

Let us never lose sight of what our founders intended.

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Who is this new carnival barker?

Who in the world is Vivek Ramaswamy, who I believe is trying to emerge as the Republican Party’s new snake-oil vendor of choice?

Dude is 38 years of age. He’s never held a public office. I don’t yet know how he acquired his wealth … I’ll have to look it up. He talks some wild game about opposing further aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and then says Donald Trump’s actions on 1/6 were “abhorrent” but he remains in Trump’s camp if the twice-impeached, four-times indicted former POTUS gets nominated by the GOP next summer.

Ramaswamy is weird, man.

This political newbie might be making some waves among Republican base voters, aka the MAGA morons on the far-right wing of a once-great political party.

What part of Ramaswamy’s background concerns me the most? It might be his lack of political exposure or experience. We saw what happened the last time Americans elected such an individual. He shot off his mouth and got impeached for seeking a political favor from a foreign head of state; he got impeached again for inciting the mob to storm the Capitol Building to stop the counting of Electoral College votes after the 2020 presidential election.

Do we want to hand another political neophyte the nuclear launch codes?

Hmmm … hell no!

national news

GOP group shows cowardice

Admission time: I did not watch the initial Republican Party presidential “debate” in Milwaukee.

There. That said, I cannot comment on what I didn’t witness in real time. I can, however, offer a brief response to what I understand happened when a Fox Propaganda Channel moderator asked of the group of eight whether they would pledge to support the GOP nominee if it happens to be Donald Trump, who could be convicted of felonies against the U.S. government.

Six of them raised their hands, meaning they would support Trump if he’s the nominee. Two of them declined: former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

What does that tell me? It says that most of the individuals running for president are cowards, in that they cannot bring themselves to be critical of the prohibitive frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.

Sickening.

crime news

Trump ‘defenders’ go on attack

Donald J. Trump’s “defenders” have a curious and frankly ingenious method of standing behind their cult hero.

Many of them acknowledge Trump’s multiple failings, but then engage in that curious game of “whataboutism” relating to President Biden.

They say things like, “Sure, Trump is crooked … but what about Joe Biden? He is, too! You know?”

A fellow with whom I am acquainted only casually is a frequent critic of this blog. He keeps insisting he doesn’t “give a sh**” about Trump. Except that he does. How do I know that? Because whenever I post a critical blog item about Trump — calling attention to his crooked past — this fellow jumps out of his skin long enough to tell me that Biden is even more crooked than Trump.

He mentions the Hunter Biden stuff (of course!) and then declares that Daddy Biden must be corrupt as well because someone alleges some connection between Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the president, who once served as VP.

The intent of this fellow’s whataboutism is to harm President Biden and benefit Trump. So … he doesn’t “give a sh** about Trump?” Of course he does! Just as I, too, “give a sh** about the ex-POTUS, although certainly not for the same reasons.

I simply must applaud the Trump cultists, though, for devising this strategy, which is proving to be effective. It has kept President Biden’s approval ratings down from where I believe they should be.

In the final analysis, though, this non-defense defense of an ex-POTUS will not return him to the White House. I take considerable comfort in believing that Donald John Trump is toast.

media news

To watch or not watch GOP debate

I want to be candid: I do not yet know at this moment whether I intend to watch the Republican Party’s presidential primary debate tomorrow night.

The so-called “frontrunner,” Donald John Trump, says he won’t attend. Which brings me to this: What’s the point of watching if the main man ain’t there?

GOP operatives say Trump is scared sh**less of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has made Trump’s unfitness for office the focal point of his campaign. Christie no doubt will push hard on that notion in Trump’s absence.

I have no clue what runs through what passes for Trump’s mind. He doesn’t have a heart, so there’s no need to wonder about that, right?

Well, I reckon I’ll probably watch it just to get a grip on how far the rest of the field will go in taking down this charlatan/fraud/pretender.

Then again, a major part of me also wants to see how Trump would defend himself against the allegations that will bombard Trump’s empty podium.

crime news, national news, political news

This doesn’t happen every day

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Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we could conduct a presidential election in which one of the major-party candidates is under criminal indictment.

What’s more, never would I have imagined that the four-times indicted, twice-impeached former POTUS would actually — in the gullible “minds” of followers — be considered a viable candidate to return to the office he once held and disgraced.

To say we live in the craziest era imaginable is to commit a gross (and grotesque) understatement.

Yet here we are.

The Republican Party’s presumed frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination may actually run for the White House while awaiting a sentence after being convicted of trying to overturn the previous election. The conviction might come early in 2024 if prosecutors are able to stave off Donald Trump’s expected efforts to delay the proceeding until after the election.

The feds have indicted Trump on two matters: inciting the 1/6 assault on our government and squirreling away classified documents after leaving the White House. State grand juries have indicted Trump on making an illegal payment to a porn star to keep her quiet about a tryst she said the two of them had and for working to interfere in the Georgia presidential election returns.

He stands accused of committing 91 crimes. Ninety-one of them!

Just think of how stupid the Republican Party faithful can be if they actually nominate this individual next summer.

OK. I have said all that but now I must stand behind my initial reaction to Trump’s latest presidential candidacy. I am going to remain hopeful that the GOP will come to what’s left of its senses and turn to someone else. I say that even though it is less than my initial belief that Trump in no way would ever be nominated. I am not as confident these days in the smarts of the GOP MAGA electorate.

Still, to see this unfit liar in position to lead the party down the path of destruction in 2024 is something I never imagined seeing.

Who knew?

national news

‘Are you better off … ?’

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If only Ronald Reagan hadn’t used that all-time campaign zinger in 1980 while running for president of the United States.

Joe Biden well could co-opt or repurpose the question today as he seeks re-election to the office. It’s a tough sell, given that millions of Americans recall when Reagan posed the question during a debate with President Carter. The answer then, of course, was “no, we’re not better off!”

Today, were Joe Biden able to pose the question, the answer would be a resounding “yes!” We are better off today because we have gotten through a killer pandemic, we have recovered many millions of jobs lost during that terrible time, our jobless rate has returned to near-historic lows, manufacturing is up.

Yes, we have that nagging inflation issue, but that, too, is getting better.

It does puzzle me that President Biden’s job approval rating remains low, in the low to mid-40% range. Why it remains low is a mystery. I guess it has to do with the effectiveness of the opposition’s messaging machinery.

The MAGA morons have planted seeds of fear in the minds and hearts of voters, many of whom believe the clap-trap swill being offered by the MAGA goons.

I ain’t buying it. Nor should other American patriots.

We are better off today than we were at the start of the Biden term because the president has made good on his pledges to: fix the infrastructure, reduce the cost of drugs, whittle down the annual federal budget deficit; invest in clean energy development … and act like a president who governs all Americans not just those who voted for him.

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Chris Christie: the Terminator

What gives with Chris Christie? The former New Jersey governor is turning into a one-man wrecking crew as he campaigns for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2024.

He has taken on one by one, in order, Donald J. Trump (the GOP frontrunner … supposedly), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and now South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

He’s ripping them a new one as he seeks to show the GOP primary voting bloc how tough he is. Hey, make no mistake about Christie. He is a former federal prosecutor who wears his legal chops like a badge of honor. That’s fine.

He’s also exhibiting a level of fearlessness we haven’t seen among many of the GOP contenders, particularly as it relates to Trump. Most of ’em seem afraid of the twice-impeached, twice (for now)- indicted former POTUS.

Christie is beginning to stand out as the sole non-coward in this bizarre contest for the GOP presidential nomination.

He reminds me of the Terminator.

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