Here’s how the Electoral College can be eliminated: Trump wins the national popular vote but loses the EC. Suddenly, Republicans would call the EC undemocratic! They’ve depended on it for minority rule for decades, but now they’d see the danger in it. Democrats would then say, welcome to our world, and the Constitutional amendment would be on its way!
Denigrating Puerto Rico, as happened during Trump’s rally last night? Really? How is that an effective strategy? First of all, he wants more Latino votes. Secondly, Puerto Ricans are Americans, not illegals, and can vote. Thirdly, Puerto Ricans are citizens in swing states. I don’t get it. Other than being a preview of his attitude toward non-whites if elected, thus energizing his racist, working class white base, I don’t get it. Not that I’m complaining about his foot-in-mouth disease!
Another case of Trump projection - and an outrageous one. For weeks he’s been slamming Harris for supporting gender-change health costs for prison inmates at taxpayers’ expense. Now it’s revealed that the Trump Justice Department offered gender-affirming treatments to inmates while he was president.
The tired old scare tactic of Republicans, going back to the days of Rush Limbaugh, that the economy will crater if a Dem is elected president has resurfaced. Sorry, MAGA, but history proves the stock market does better under Democrats than Republicans. And renowned economists fear that Trump’s tariff and deportation policies, if he’s elected, will actually lead us into a recession.
#politics Tom Nichols in his recent article in The Atlantic had it right. Trump’s base LOVES his outrageousness, his racism, his misogyny, his immorality, his disparagement of military heroes. Because it’s an affront to the people they hate, and giving them the middle finger is great! Thinking that each new Trump scandal/threat to democracy/violence approval/sedition will turn his supporters away - “We’ll, they have to come to their senses now.” - misses the point.
#politics If someone claims to be an undecided voter, make no mistake - they’re either a Trump. voter or a non-voter. Maybe there is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of voters who are so clueless as to be overwhelmed with indecision, but get real, people. Stop thinking those citizens will decide the election. Concentrate on getting your people to the polls. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the so-called battleground states. As Obama keeps saying, they need to vote!
Did Trump think he would get away with his McDonald’s stunt? I don’t know, but I do know he doesn’t care. His base will believe anything he tells them, including how he actually won California in 2020 (He lost by five million votes). So Trump pretends to work the drive-through window at a McDonald’s that was actually closed, handing out “orders” to car drivers that were told to pretend they were customers. And this was supposed to denigrate Harris’s claim she worked at McDonald’s? Huh?
I’d be curious to know, during WWII, what percentage of Americans thought we’d lose the war. I would guess it would be in the minority, for a defeat would have been too terrible to contemplate. I see a parallel in the 2024 presidential election, and for the same reason, I am confident Harris will win, because the alternative would be too much of a disaster. I’m betting on right over debacle, since that’s what history, albeit over time, has shown us. Karma? Yeah, I think so.
Why can’t a political rally or a law enforcement press conference, or a government briefing EVER START ON TIME? The endless camera view of the empty podium while the newsperson’s voice-over says, “Any minute now . . .” Folks who have gathered to hear the presentation, waiting hours in some cases, have lives too. Show them a little respect, okay? I challenge anyone to tell me an example where the event started when it was scheduled to start.
#politics I hope to be proved wrong next month, but in the states that will decide the election, there seems to be more men who can’t stomach the idea of a woman president- and a Black one at that - then there are all other voters. How else to explain Trump, an old, misogynist, racist, lying, dictator-loving felon in cognitive decline, running even and even ahead of Harris in those states? Yikes! I fear for our country.
C’mon, Duck. You think the government would step in to limit purchases? Did it do that during the pandemic? No. Individual stores did it. And speaking of WWII rationing, there’s evidence that much of it was bogus - done for patriotic morale, so the nation would feel involved in the war effort. Anyway, until January, at least, the “crisis” is over.
Toilet paper? Really? It’s being hoarded again because of the longshoremen’s strike. TP does not come from overseas, people. It’s manufactured here in the U.S.A. We still cut down American forests to make it. Imported cheese and champagne - well, you’ll have to tough that out. Unless you want to try (gasp!) cheese from Vermont and Wisconsin and bubbly from California.
So what if Walz beats Vance in the debate, that most say he will? Big yawn. What does it matter? Answer: it doesn’t. Republicans will say Vance mopped the floor with Walz, and Democrats will say the opposite. But Vance is unpopular, right? One of the most awful picks for VP of all time? Who is saying that? Democrats. Well, duh.
Can someone explain to me why pro athletes get to live year-round in the U.S. and play against the U.S. in international competitions like the Olympics and the Presidents Cup? Jason Day hasn’t lived in Australia for decades, yet gets to play for Australia against us in the Presidents Cup. Will he be part of the mass deportation promised by Trump? Just wondering.
I had to laugh when I read what Harris said in response to a shooter on Trump’s golf course in Florida, apparently targeting him: “Violence has no place in America.” Well, such platitudes are expected, especially from the one running against Trump, but really? America is one of the most violent countries on Earth. Likewise, “This is not who we are.” It’s exactly who we are. Come to grips with it, people, and at least make it harder for the violent among us to commit mass violence.
Retired surgeon, now a novel writer (thrillers mostly) in North Carolina