
Republicans never think ahead. Even Project 2025 or Agenda 47 or whatever they call it, will do more damage in the long run. But they don’t care. All they want is to remain in power.
Last week might have started off great for the 45th President with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissing the federal charges against Donald Trump in Florida, but it quickly went downhill from there. Mainly, his pick of J.D. Vance as the running mate has left a lot of people scratching their heads. Why Vance? It’s not for electoral votes. They only have 17. Ohio lost one due to the 2020 Census. It’s obvious that the Republican Party movers and shakers wanted Vance not Trump.
Years ago, Vance didn’t care for Trump. He even compared him to Hitler. So, what has changed? Obviously, Vance is a conservative Christian who has far-right views and an agenda. But he’s only been a U.S. Senator for a year and a half. It is a strange move. And it might be the the beginning of the end of Trump’s campaign. He might have been riding high following the shooting in Butler, Pa.
However, you can only cry wolf so many times before people start questioning everything you do. It didn’t take long for people to question whether it was real or staged. And it didn’t take long for the Trump campaign to start selling merchandise. The next day, he went golfing. However, when he showed up at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, he had a gauze pad on his right ear, from where he claims a bullet grazed his ear. (Actual reports are indicating it was shards of a teleprompter.)
Trump’s cockiness and arrogance is his undoing. He didn’t call the family of Corey Comperatore, a local firefighter who was fatally shot trying to shield his wife and kids. President Joe Biden did even though the widow, Helen, refused to talk to him. It was still a kindly gesture. She said Trump hasn’t called her. Instead, he made a prop out of Comperatore’s uniform by giving the helmet a kiss before he began a diatribe of about 93 minutes at the RNC, the longest on record.
Warren Beatty said of Madonna in the documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare, “She doesn’t know how to live off-camera.” The same can be said for Trump. He doesn’t know how to act when the cameras aren’t rolling. What he should’ve done is gone to see the two men who were injured at the rally. No press should’ve been notified. Just an informal meet and greet with the injured to see how they’re doing. If someone wanted to take cell-phone videos and pics, then so be it. But Trump couldn’t take that risk.
Someone will say that it wasn’t too safe. Yet, it was safe enough for him to go golfing. At this point, trying to get people to vote against Trump is an exercise in futility. This election is either about putting Trump back in office or making sure he can’t get back in as the Georgia and Washington D.C. criminal cases can move forward. The likelihood that Trump might be around in four years at 82 seems less plausible.
To call it the Republican National Convention is foolish, it was four days of kissing Trump’s ass, something he enjoyed. There is no Republican Party anymore. It’s all for him or not at all. Nikki Haley said in January she wasn’t going to kiss the ring. She didn’t. She sucked it like a golf ball through a garden hose. The irony is no one from Trump’s administration was speaking at the RNC, except for Haley who was an ambassador.
They were really hoping to go after Biden’s administration. Now, that won’t be the case. On Sunday, July 21, Biden dropped out of the race after weeks of being pressured by Democrats and media scrutiny. Was it the right choice? I don’t know. Vice-President Kamala Harris has already filed and Biden wants to us to support her. The Democratic National Convention is Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. Even if Harris files, it’s still not a sure thing. She has to have the delegates and there are no primaries.
But let’s face facts – Harris is really the only one who can face down Trump, especially now that so much has come out about Vance. Republicans may not be voting for Trump, they are voting for Vance. I don’t see many people around the country getting behind Vance the same way they supported Trump. Mike Pence was MIA at the RNC for obvious reasons. Pence helped Trump get the Christian votes back in 2016.
While Vance has strong Christian traditional values, it might be a little bit too late for that. One thing that helped the Democrats in 2022 was the issues over abortion and women’s reproductive rights. A lot of young women will be voting in November who may not have been able to vote in 2016 or 2020. Do they really want two men telling them what they will do with their bodies? Vance wants a nationwide ban on abortion. He also thinks divorce shouldn’t be allowed even if the woman and children are being physically abused.
Also, Vance’s wife, Usha, might be a major turn-off for some hardcore Republicans. Let’s face facts. Trump won in 2016 because he got the racist vote. Trump is a racist. He got the racists all riled up. And I’m sure if Harris the Democrat nominee, I know that race (as well as gender) will become a big issue in this election. Usha has ancestry that goes to India. But it doesn’t matter to some voters. “She’s a Muslim. She’s an Arab.” That’s what they’ll say.
Vance might have been the biggest mistake for Trump. And watching the spectacle that was the RNC didn’t help the Grand Old Party. Hulk Hogan ripped off his shirt to reveal a Trump/Vance shirt. Kid Rock performed. People already noted similarities with Idiocracy. Kai Trump thought we should vote for her grandfather because he gives them “candy and soda.” But the most outrageous moment came when Melania appeared and tried to make it look like she loved Trump. I think the only reason she remains married to him is she knows she’s entitled to the marital assets, if there are any.
But the RNC was really nothing more than lying about how bad a President Biden is and how great Trump was, even pulling the “Are you better now than you were four years ago?” Yes. Because we were in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and there were protests in cities where vigilantes were shooting people. People were losing their jobs left and right because businesses were closing down. Also, protestors were hit with tear gas so Trump could make a photo op holding a Bible.
Trump is too arrogant to stay on the straight and narrow. And even though his campaign says they were anticipating Harris, they may have thought Biden would stay in for the long haul. The Dow Jones is doing good. Unemployment rates are down. Gas prices may be high but people know it’s corporate greed not inflation that is going on in America. Old Boomers can whine that things don’t cost a nickel anymore. But they can’t deny the fact they’re the ones that voted for the increase as well as got the most of inflation in regards to real estate.
And most Boomers seem to support Trump but a lot are moving away especially if it means the end of their disability and Social Security. Over the past week, Lou Dobbs passed away. At one point, he was one of the most respected journalist on TV. And then he jumped on the Trump Train, derailed and crashed as he continued the lies of election fraud. At least when Sen. Jim Inhofe supported Trump, he still voted to certify the results on Jan. 6, 2021.
I know it’s hard for someone like Trump to imagine that people don’t like him, but that’s what happened in 2020. One of the factors that got him elected in 2016 was that people didn’t vote or they “threw away” their vote on another candidate either than him or Hillary Clinton. But in 2020, people saw how important it was to get him out of the White House. More people got out and voted. But the people who still believe the lies are usually the ones collecting Social Security. Are they going to be around by November?
Is Trump going to be allowed to vote for himself? He may be in prison. I’d like us to remember that. Trump still faces sentencing on 34 guilty felony convictions in New York state. He can’t pardon himself if he is elected. Are people going to vote for someone who is a convicted felon. They don’t have Hunter Biden to kick around anymore. Biden is out. The Trump campaign and the GOP have to regroup. And they don’t want to right now.
Call it a Queen’s Sacrifice. But people who may have been on the fence for how Biden’s health was, will throw their support behind Harris or whoever it is. (But it will most likely be Harris.) What better way to go after a political party that wants to make The Handmaid’s Tale a reality than having a woman being the main opponent.
Word is that Biden tested positive for Covid-19 days before he announced he’s dropping out. Hopefully, things are ok with him but if the President is in any way incapable of performing duties, then that means the Vice-President steps in. I mean, let’s face facts here – did anyone really think Biden at 81 would’ve stayed in the Oval Office another four years. Jesus, look what happened to Barack Obama. He turned grey and must’ve aged 15 years. No wonder he went kite-surfing shortly after leaving office. If I didn’t have all that responsibility, my first opportunity would be to go buck wild.
Even Hillary Clinton talked about in her book What Happened that she realized for the first time after the end of the 2000 election she had all this time on her hands. I mean, this woman went from being the First Lady of Arkansas to the First Lady of America, then the U.S. Senator from New York, to the U.S. Secretary of the State. Then she began her own campaign for the Presidency. That is over 30 years of continually being in the public and political spotlight. Then, one day you realize you don’t have anything planned today, tomorrow and the rest of the week.
We all knew that eventually Biden would have to step down and Harris to step up if he got re-elected. There’s six more months of Biden being in office. Who knows what could happen? I don’t wish the man any ill-harm. But he’s done his service to the country as a Senator, a Vice-President and a President, it’s time to step aside.
And the past 24 hours, it seems Harris might be the right choice. Reports are coming in that Harris received $81 million in donations. That’s within 24 hours. It took Twisters the entire weekend to get that much. People Magazine is reporting the the Trump campaign is upset over Biden dropping out with Vance calling him the worst President since he’s been alive. House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for Biden to step down. Of course, they want to go after Harris’ abilities as a President so they can use it. But Lyndon B. Johnson stayed in office even though he didn’t see re-election.
What’s so funny is that in the past, July-August would be around the time both parties would be finalizing the candidates. It seems this election started the day after the 2022 general election ended. France and the United Kingdom were able to do more in less time than the 100-plus days we have left to the general election. It might be something we should consider for future elections in putting dates on when people can even start seeing campaign ads.
One good thing Harris has going for is that she isn’t Hillary Clinton. Let’s be honest – a lot of people didn’t vote in 2016 or they voted for someone other than Clinton, because they knew good and well she was a sure thing and people wouldn’t elect Trump. And some people just really didn’t like Hillary Clinton. That’s why more people turned out in 2020 to get him out of office. They didn’t make the same mistake twice and they’re not going to make it again with Harris.
It’s going to be a tough election. This is no cakewalk for Harris, but I think this has some resurgence in the election that will get more people interested. More important, it stole Trump’s thunder. That is what will hurt him more than anything else. The assassination attempt is now old news. He can talk about taking a bullet but even gun enthusiasts who support him know good and well a round from an AR-15 would’ve done more damage even if it grazed him. This isn’t the movies. And Democrats are joining Republicans with grilling the Secret Service top officials which shows they’re at least wanting an answer because it’s a matter of security for all in the Presidential race.
It is quite possible Biden, Harris and their campaign had planned this weeks ago waiting to see who Trump and the Republicans would select as his running mate. And it’s possible that if the Republican Party had a do-over after Sunday’s announcement, they’d get another running mate. (And they just might. At this point, expect the unexpected.) However, they’re hoping Vance will get them the centrist populist vote, but Vance’s past history and his vocal distaste for Trump will come back to haunt him.
And Trump’s ranting and raving on Truth Social saying it’s unfair for Biden to drop out is typical of the overgrown child he is who doesn’t always get his way. But the Democrats haven’t chosen anyone at this time to be their nominee. That’s the beauty part of getting to go second sometimes. And Trump ranting on a diatribe for an hour and a half spewing the same lies, hate and misinformation is growing tiresome. Even people on the conservative Newsmax were criticizing it. And now the onus is on him to show that at 78, a mere three years younger than Biden, that he is fit mentally and physically to run for President.
And everyone knows that’s not the case. Biden may have had a disastrous debate in June, but Trump rambles on like Grandpa Simpson. As a matter of fact, Grandpa Simpson is more coherent and at least will fall asleep after ranting for a few minutes. Trump has nothing but hate and animosity to keep him going. His ego keeps him alive. You know good and well, in Milwaukee, he slept late every day to stay up later to attend the RNC each night. And seeing him sitting down most of the time, you know he was nodding off during some of the more boring speeches.
I expect the Trump campaign to change it up and focus on immigration as they always do, even though Biden did go harder on immigration with a bipartisan bill sponsored by Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a Republican. But Trump reportedly told the Republicans to kill the bill because it would prove a win for Biden. Now, that’s going to come back and haunt them as they try to bring it up. Of course, there are the people who will believe whatever Trump or the conservative news pundits tell them.
But it’s a different world than it was in 2008 when Obama ran. It’s not much different. But if the Republicans are planning on using racism again to move them ahead, I don’t think it will work. More conservatives support interracial marriages. More conservatives support same-sex marriage. More conservatives support women’s reproductive rights. While more conservatives try to bring down the hammer harder, people are realizing it’s going to hurt more if that happens.
Recently, Oklahoma Education Secretary Ryan Walters said the Bible will be part of all Oklahoma schools curriculum. However, the Bixby School District has said it won’t teach the Bible. This is a topic for another time. But Bixby is a suburb south of Tulsa and has more conservative population. All it takes is for one big school district to say no. It’s obvious Walters is setting this up for a possible Supreme Court battle.
While some racists like Laura Loomer cheer the death of Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who recently passed, I think it might hurt the Republicans. As usual, Trump and his campaign will focus on the basis of a rigged election. It won’t help the ignorant that as President of the Senate, Harris will oversee the certification of the Electoral Votes. If she wins (and let’s really hope she does), I expect his campaign to go full extreme saying such a thing has never happened before. But it happened in early 1989 when George H.W. Bush presided over the certification.
I also don’t think this time around law enforcement and National Guardsmen are going to be standing idly by. If he doesn’t win, I guarantee you Trump won’t be allowed within one mile of Capitol Hill. I look for two things to happen if Trump loses. One, he will fight extradition from Florida to New York to serve his prison term if he is sentenced.
Or two, he will leave the country. Losing an election with his own end goal is to get back at people and then having to report to prison isn’t on his horizon. But by doing so, Trump will do what he’s slogan has read – he’ll make American somewhat great again.
What do you think? Please comment.
Its one clown getting exchanged for another, from what I can see. With all respect, I see little of substance in Kamala Harris. Maybe she’ll prove me wrong, but all I can think of, between Biden, Harris, Trump and Vance, speaking as a Brit on this side of the pond- is this the best that America can do?
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