Friday, November 17, 2023

The 2024 Election, Part VIII. Speeding toward the missing bridge

 

One Year Until The General Election.

Ugh, there's a time when that would have seen like a long time.


And it still should.  Would that it would have been only 90 days prior to an election that anyone could even announce.

A full year of watching the clock count down.

A full year of pundits like Robert Reich telling you can't vote for a third party, and must vote for one of the two absurdities that are the current majority parties.

A full year of bizarro weird diction from Donald Trump.

A full year of two really old men compete for the votes of voter less than half their ages.

Nifty.

November 6, 2023

The latest polls show Trump beating Biden in the Fall election.

Simply amazing.

It'll all come down to five states, and about 100,000 voters, who will decide which of the two ancient men will lead the most powerful, if declining, nation on earth.

Both, FWIW, are showing signs of cognitive decline.  This has been obvious for a while, but it was mentioned in regard to Trump for the first time on one of the weekend news shows.  He's now getting noticeably confused and increasingly erratic.

Regarding cognitive decline, the fact that these are the nation's choices make it appear as the United States itself is suffering from cognitive decline.

While there will be plenty of it "it's not too late" comments, it pretty much is unless the Democrats dump Biden. The electorate doesn't want him, or Trump. And yet the parties insist on offering both of them. At least with the GOP, it's because their base really does want Trump, as frightening as that is.   The Democrats do not want Biden.

November 8, 2023

And yet another poll shows Biden slipping further behind, even as the Democrats did well in yesterday's election.

If Biden isn't replaced as the candidate, there will be a second Trump term.

November 9, 2023

Donald Trump, yesterday:

Kim Jong-un leads 1.4 billion people, and there's no doubt about who the boss is, and they want me to say he's not an intelligent man.

Geez Louise, this is wrong in so many ways.

First of all, 1.4 B is the approximate population of China.  North Korea has about 24M.

And nobody is saying that Kim Jong-un isn't intelligent, they're saying he's bad.

Trump has a thing for dictators. . . 

During the GOP debate, one of the candidates proposed bombing targets in Iran.

cont:

Joe Manchin will not be running for reelection to the Senate in West Virginia.

Manchin was quite conservative, a fact which had given him a power broker role in the Senate.  His departure, while not wholly unexpected, does put the GOP within striking distance of taking back the Senate.

November 10, 2023

Jill Stein has opted to lose again as the Green Party's candidate for President.

November 13, 2023

Tim Scott has dropped out of the GOP race.

In terms of serious candidates, that leaves Haley, Christie, DeSantis, and of course, Trump.  There are others, but they're already reached the point of now return. The winnowing process is now well-developed.

Overall in the Republican race right now, the following are the serious candidates in terms of still (sort of) being contenders against Trump.

Trump.

Doug Burgum

Chris Christie

Ron DeSantis

Nikki Haley

Asa Hutchinson

Of the above, Hutchinson should drop out, as his campaign is gaining no traction and is essentially the same as Christie's.  Burgum should drop out as well as his campiagn has generated little interest, mostly due to his own waffling on Trump.

GOP candidates still around that nobody is paying any attention to are:

Scott Alan Ayers   

Ryan Binkley

Robert S. Carney 

John Anthony Castro

Peter Jedick   

Perry Johnson

Perry Johnson   

Donald Kjornes

Mary Maxwell   

Glenn McPeters

Glenn J. McPeters    

Scott Peterson Merrell   

Darius L. Mitchell   

Vivek Ramaswamy

Sam Sloan   

David Stuckenberg   

Rachel Swift

Of these, only Ramaswamy is newsworthy, but most due to his being noisy and somewhat of a gadfly.  So, in terms of real candidates, what the GOP actually has is:

Trump.

Doug Burgum

Chris Christie

Ron DeSantis

Nikki Haley

Asa Hutchinson

Vivek Ramaswamy

On the Democratic side, there are actually just about as many people running, but really only Biden and Dean Phillips are serious candidates. . . so far.


While it'll put me outside the mainstream, I very strongly suspect that Joe Manchin and Joe Biden have had a conversation about Biden dropping out, and Manchin stepping in.

Manchin is in his early 70s, which is still old, but younger than Trump.  He's also a bonafide centrist.  Liberal Democrats would hate this development, centrist Democrats, independents and traditional Republicans would welcome it.  It would be a smart move.  Right now, I'm predicting, as radical as it is, that Biden will drop out this month, followed by Manchin announcing a run.

In other news, Californian Republican House member McCarthy is indicating he may not run for reelection.

November 14, 2023

Apparently a retired lawyer has filed a 14th Amendment challenge to Trump, and oddly Cynthia Lummis who doesn't run again until 2026, in court.  Secretary Gray sent out a press release on the matter.

Secretary Gray Condemns Attempt to Remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis from Future Ballots in Wyoming

     CHEYENNE, WY – In response to a recent filing in Wyoming District Court seeking to remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis (whose term ends in 2026) from future ballots in Wyoming, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced his plans to vigorously defend against the filing (Newcomb v. Chuck Gray).

     “The attempt to remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis from the ballot is outrageously wrong and repugnant to our electoral process,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “I am preparing a vigorous defense to stop these blatant, radical attempts to interfere with Wyoming’s elections. The weaponization of the Fourteenth Amendment to remove political opponents from the ballot undermines the sanctity of the Constitution. We are preparing to file a motion to dismiss to block this attempt at election interference. And we are committed to protecting the integrity of our elections and ensuring that the people of Wyoming can choose who to elect for themselves.”

November 15, 2023

A Michigan Court has rejected a 14th Amendment claim against Trump.  It will be appealed.

November 17, 2023

Rep. Hageman went after Tim Newcomb's lawsuit regarding Trump being disqualified from being on the ballot for insurrection.

This isn't really surprising, Hageman is in political debt to Trump, but it's interesting in that she partially attacks the effort as unconstitutional and for using the legal system.  Attempting to use the legal system is exactly what Trump attempted in order to try to retain office, and Trumpites have continually taken refuge in that fact.

Last Prior Edition:

The 2024 Election, Part VII. Drama


No comments: