CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 146th Edition. What does the SAVE Act, Groypers, A coup in progress, Dominionism, Women staying barefoot and pregnant, and the Lumpenproletariat have in common? A movement, it's leaders, and it's really dim backers. More labels.

The 2026 Election, 7th Edition, Do not stand with those who promote the sins that cry out to Heaven.

 

April 14, 2026.

The Donald Trump Effect, voters running from candidates endorsed by the deranged octogenarian whose administration is protecting the rapist of teenagers, starting wars, and causing rising inflation, is having a noticeable nationwide, and even international, effect.  Voters in special elections all over the US are dumping MAGA candidates and electing Democrats.  It's an absolute certainty at this point that, unless something dramatic happens, that the Republicans are going to lose badly at the midterms and retake the House.  And now it appears they're likely to take the Senate. The Cook Political Report shifted four Senate races this past week to favor Democratic and pundits are now openly saying the Democrats will take the upper house.

Of course, Democrats have a way of shooting themselves in the foot.  Nonetheless the momentum is clear.  Trump has lost independents, who he needs in most places for the GOP to remain in office, and he's lost Hispanics.   This past week his actions were such that if he has not lost non Hispanic Catholics, its only because those voters value Trump more than the Faith or are engaging in some really self delusional thinking, keeping in mind that you never actually have to vote Democratic and that in the primaries there is usually a Republican willing to run who isn't a slave to Trump.

California Republicans refused to endorse a Governor's candidate in a convention that was just held and snubbed Trump's endorsement of one. They see the handwriting on the wall.

But still you have this.

An entire group of Wyoming candidates acts like this adoring girl.  Shoot, they'd like to be squeezed by Trump too.

An article on the topic:

Donald Trump and Wyoming’s crowded House race

This all follows, of course, this:

The 25th Amendment Watch List. A Fourteenth and Special edition. Attacking the Catholic Church.

If Wyomingites are going to wake up, and that's unlikely, there's be a point, if we are not already at it, where voting for the GOP candidates who associate with themselves with Trump would be a no go.  And some of those candidates would already be no gos.  

Chuck Gray, who barely won the Secretary of State's office and only did so by lies and screeds about an imaginary pack of left wingers always oppressing him is running on being perpetually pissed off at at the left and being in deep love with Donald Trump.  Reid Rasner promises to be Trump's number one fan.  Megan Degenfelder  has "Endorsed by Donald Trump" on her campaign signs.

All three are Catholic.  If they can still stomach Trump at this point, there's literally no value they hold that they actually hold.  No Democrat is going to win, so lashing themselves to Trump is either cynical or self delusional.  It's inexcusable.

Degenfelder's signs out to read "Endorsed by Blasphemer Donald Trump".  Gray and Rasner, who are both young enough, ought to joint the Marines and put their bodies where their mouths are.

Another far right Catholic figure in Wyoming is Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, who is now running for Secretary of State as Rachel Williams. She's never said anything about Trump of which I'm aware, but as a Freedom Caucuser she ought to fell uncomfortable with the company she's been keeping.

It'll also be interesting to see how columnists like Jonathan Lange, a Lutheran minister, approaches what is now too obvious to ignore. . . Trump doesn't care about religion at all and feels free to outright mock it.  Granted, he's not Catholic, but for sincere Christians what was depicted is blasphemous irrespective of which branch of Christianity a person might be in.

And then we have this:

Cheyenne Attorney Files Complaint For Criminal Investigation Of Chuck Gray

There's no excuse for what Gray did.

Even some Republican states are opposing giving voter data to the Federal Government, but Chuck was the first to comply.

We'll see how this plays out, but if he loses, given his position, he ought to get the maximum penalty.

Anyhow, we're in the thick of the election now, but every day, Donald Trump gets weirder and weirder.  He's insane.  Standing by the insanity is not excusable.

April 15, 2026

Three Rematches Set, So Far, In Wyoming's House Races

Here's an absolute shock:

Five Wyoming U.S. House Candidates Condemn Trump’s Jesus-Like Image

This may be showing that the bloom is actually off the Trump rose.  Generally, Wyoming Republicans have been complete Trump toady's.

The five are Kevin Christensen, who called the post blasphemous, Matt McGinnis, and John Romero-Martinez.  Romero-Martinez, who is a devout Catholic, added that it was not only blasphemous, but sacrilegious.

Kinney the Democratic candidate and Johnson the Libertarian also criticized the act, but less forcefully.

Johnson made the excellent point that this is one of a string of outrages.

Predictably, according to the Cowboy State Daily:

Two more Republican candidates, Casper businessman Reid Rasner and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, didn’t condemn Trump’s actions. They leveled criticism at one another instead.

Both Rasner and Gray are Catholic and if that's all they could muster up people who sit next to them at Mass on Sunday ought to ask them what's the matter with them.

Elsewhere this was an act that finally had a reaction.  Like Johnson noted, you have to wonder where these people were all along.  Trump fan Riley Gaines noted:

Seriously I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?

Gaines must have been asleep for the past decade to actually post a query on Trump's character.  He's self centered and narcissistic, and she seems surprised.

This trend locally and nationally shows that the wheels are really coming off of MAGA.  A Turning Point USA convention that was just held was grossly under attended.  Locally Republicans for the first time feel able to criticize Trump.  There's a significant movement in the state to boot out the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  A bipartisan movement in the House caused the removal of a Democratic and a Republican sex abuser, bypassing the pathetic Mike Johnson.  It appears the Democrats are going to take the Senate and the House.

For the Republicans, the good thing is that they are finally out of the cave to a degree.  The GOP has been wrecked by Donald Trump, but this may actually give them a chance to start to rebuild it, whereas waiting until after the November election will be utterly too late.

cont:

I recognize that a lot of young voters don't love the policy we have in the Middle East. Okay. I understand that. Don't get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one topic. Get more involved. That's how we ultimately take the country back.

J. D. Vance.

WTF?

Vance did oppose the war. We know that as he leaked like crazy.  But getting involved would mean booting the GOP into the dustbin, maybe forever.

Vance has remade himself repeatedly.  A person now stating that this is how "we take the country back" is raising interesting questions about where he himself is headed.  He's including himself in the "we" who are young and who oppose the policy in the Middle East.

Is Vance having a Humber Humphrey moment?

It'll be interesting to see if this is Vance's first cautious step into independence.  He's not dumb, and he obviously sees and even acknowledges that the GOP is going into the dumpster.  That statement would seem to be a declaration of independence from Trump.

April 17, 2026

Governor Gordon confirmed that he is not running for a third term.

While we're unlikely to mention this race again, Sheriff Harlan is running for reelection in Natrona County, Wyoming.

Rep. Harshman of Natrona County is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  He'd make a very good choice for this position, but it puts his house district in play.   A far right wing candidate was challenging Harshman as well as a Democrat.

Albert Sommers is running for the seat he lost in the last election, House District 20.  It fell to a WFC member.

April 19, 2026

Yesterday was the day of dueling mail flyers for the U.S. House race.  Identically sized campaign flyers for Chuck Gray and Reid Rasner arrived in the mailboxes of Natrona County residents.  Apparently the Gray ones went statewide.

They were really laughable.  Gray's depicts the diminutive Californian standing next to Donald Trump, looking slightly above him. Trump is something like 6'2" tall where as Gray is absolutely tiny.  I'm not a very large person, 5'6", and I look down on Gray, which says something.  Gray has also taken up wearing western wool shirts in an effort to make him look like a Wyomingite, but which really point out that he isn't.  His campaign is based on far right MAGA platforms and sticking next to, and apparently slightly above, the demented belle of the far right ball, Trump.

Rasner, who has no chance, attacked Gray in his, and frankly some of his attacks are landing.  He  may carve votes away from Gray.

Locally, small business owner Neil Jeske announced he was running to take on J. R. Riggins in House District 59, which includes part of Casper and all of Mills.

Riggins is probably in trouble as he only won in that race in the first place as he was the only one running.  He missed the first legislature he was supposed to serve in entirely due to heart problems.  I saw him at a political event before the last legislative session and he really appeared to be out to sea.  

Unfortunately, Jeske is the candidate that Natrona County doesn't need.  He already is on the reduce spending and reduce regulation platform.  Wyoming already has so little regulation that the state government would have to go out and regulate something in order for their to be regulation to cut, and the legislature is so cheap that Wyoming has very large financial reserves that just sit there as the state won't distribute funds to local governments, their only real way of getting them.  We probably need more regulation and less financial restraint.

Jeske is apparently a truck driver.  I don't know what Riggins is.  At any rate, truck driving in 2026 is sort of like being a teamster in 1916.  It's a real job. . . and one that's about to disappear.  Hopefully somebody else will step up and run.

April 21, 2026

Based upon his campaign propaganda, Jeske, mentioned above, is a worst pick than Riggins.  He's another out of state implant and of far right wing views.  He's going on the don't vote for list.

Riggins, on the other hand, based on his public lands voting, appears to have risen to his position.

April 22, 2026

In the move The Hunt For Red October the pursuing Soviet submarine commander orders the safeties taken off of his torpedoes so he can hit the Red October from close range.  The U.S. submarine USS Dallas deflects the aim of the fired torpedo which circles back and hits the Soviet sub.  As it happens, a Soviet submariner tells his captain, "You arrogant ass, you killed us".

That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing to the GOP.

More particularly, that's what he did by demanding that Texas redistrict out of cycle.

Worried that thing were turning against him, Trump demanded that compliant Texas Governor Abbot cause the GOP controlled Texas legislature to convene and specially redistrict.  Abbot, to his everlasting shame, complied.

Trump is apparently so dim that he didn't realize the same strategy could be used against him. First California did it, and now Virginia did.

Even accepting the conventional math, there are now more Democratic districts that added to the map for the fall than there are Republican ones, although only barely so.  Still, the results are remarkable.  In Virginia, where it was done by the voters, it will mean that Virginia returns to being an overwhelmingly Democratic state in terms of is House or Representatives delegates.  Trump actually completely flipped an entire state from Republican to Democrat prior to the election itself.

The GOP, in order to keep this game up, must now have Florida do the same thing.  It's not assured, however, as Florida is starting to go to the Democratic Party a bit all on its own.  Redistricting may simply assure that occurs.

And ironically, the Texas result may have added Democratic seats in Texas.  Texas actually has more Democratic voters than Republicans.  In recent years its only been a Republican state for the same reason the rest of the South is.  But Texas also has heavily Hispanic districts. Trump took them in 2024, but now that's changing.

And this from a guy who claimed to master "the art of the deal".

A note here about one state that tried to redistrict and couldn't, that being Utah.

Most Western states have a much better system than the rest of the country and require fair and balanced redistricting.  Much of the rest of the country which had Democratic administrations was moving that way. Republicans, who were rapidly becoming a minority party in the 1990s, resisted it.  That's why in Californian and Virginia, redistricting is being democratically.  It's also the reason why in one Midwestern state that's currently done this way the legislature refused to consider redistricting even though its Republican controlled. They knew the voters, in that instance, would take it out on them.

In Utah, a court turned the effort around.  It was only one seat, but that shows something interesting.  Utah has a Democratic Congressional seat.  Utah's the same state that sent Mike Lee to Congress for some reason, but not every district fits that mold.

And in a state like Wyoming, which of course only has one Congressional seat, this couldn't happen as it would be against the state constitution.

cont:

Wyoming Public Radio reports that for the House race, Reid Rasner, who will go down in August like a kerosene doused biplane flying through a blast furnace, has raised $1.2 M in this campaign, the majority of which is a loan from himself.  Chuck Gray has done the same and nearly approached $1M.

Committing that amount of money to a job that pays a fraction of that per year should flat out be illegal.  We need to address that in our "don't vote for" list, which has been switched over to being a page on the website, rather than a thread.

Related threads:

Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 6th Edition, Campaigning before defeats.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Carpetbaggers, Chad Auer, Chuck Gray, Frank Chapman, Harriet Hageman, John Romero-Martinez, Megan Degenfelder, Politics, Reid Rasner, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Choices and the 2024 Election. An Observation.

It's a real oddity that in a nation which adores choices, we've chosen not to have very many in politics.

You can go to the grocery store and find an endless number of option for bottled water, and I don't mean the mineral waters from far off regions.  Just regular old water.  Water comes right to the house at a cheaper rate through the municipal water system, but people still buy it contained in plastic bottles from the store.

And yet we have only two political parties we choose to take seriously, no matter how much they've failed us, and are failing us.

Not only that, we seriously listen to those who argue we must not consider any other options.

Indeed, it's sort of an interesting example of the Adam Sandler Effect.  That is, everyone agreeing to something because everyone else seems to agree that we should agree with it, combined with the Jo Jo Rabbit Effect of only hearing those right around us.

Everyone has had the experience of something being heralded in a locality with no real reason.  "It's great", they all say, even though it isn't.  

American politics right now in that sense, are like two restaurants in the same small town strip mall.  They're competing against each other fiercely, and even have their adherents, but frankly neither is very good.  Basically, you can go into one and have the crap sandwich on white bread, or the other the sh** sandwich on rye.  Out in the parking lot, however, there are food trucks with different menus.

Both restaurants agree you shouldn't go to the food trucks.

Well, if you live in a state where one of the two restaurants seems to be permanently closed for renovation, you can definitely go to one of the food trucks.

The 2024 Election, Part XXV. The GOP yells "get off my lawn" edition.

 

The Harris/Trump debate took place last night.  I missed the first 45 or so minutes.

I don't know what happened in that time frame, but in the part I saw, watching Donald Trump was like watching a racoon on crack.

Even Fox News declared Harris the "clear" winner, while whining about ABC moderators fact checking "everything" Trump said. Given that Trump is a massive liar, the fact that they did fact check was a public service.

One newscaster, post debate, stated that it was like watching "an old man yelling at clouds", which apparently is a reference to an episode of the Simpsons.  Apparently Simpson meme's went wild after Trump repeated the J. D. Vance bizarre canard about immigrants stealing pets for food (completely untrue).  Trump specifically stated:

In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.

The claim was immediately debunked by moderator David Muir, but people were quick to pick up on it.

 

And even as the newscaster made the yelling at clouds comment (and also mocked "get off my law") the memes were flying.

A rational party, which the GOP no longer is, would sideline this candidate.  The problem now is, however, that as J. D. Vance went out on a limb and admitted he would have acted illegally in regard to the bogus election claims, he's unfit for office and there's nobody to go to.

Whether it really matters or not is another matter, but post debate Taylor Swift endorsed Harris.

Wyoming's Congressional delegation declared Trump the winner of the debate, which was predictable.  Seriously, however,. if even Fox News states that Harris was clearly the winner . . . 

September 12, 2024

Trump found Taylor Swift coming out against him, citing herself as a "childless cat lady", two days ago.  Now Linda Ronstadt has:

Stevie Nicks (whose music I can't stand) has also done so, citing herself as a "childless dog lady".

J. D. Vance has proven to be the gift that just keeps giving to the Harris campaign, given the numerous and provocative statements he's made.  He also has been due to philosophical stances he's taken, which is another topic.  At any rate, trends in regard to Trump aren't favorable to him, even if he should be successful in the election.

September 13, 2024

Trump on the leader of the Taliban in a press conference this week: 

He called me 'Your Excellency.' I wonder if he calls that to Biden. I doubt it.

There's something really bizarre about Trump.  Being called "your excellency" apparently really matters to him, so much that he thinks being called that by the Taliban is nifty.

That's weird.

Something to consider on his odd behavior:

Trump's speech and cognitive concerns.

In psychiatry, the tendency to conspicuously and rigidly repeat a thought beyond the point of relevance, called “perseverance,” is known to be correlated with a variety of clinical disorders, including those involving a loss of cognitive reserve. People tend to stick to familiar topics over and over when they experience an impairment in cognitive functioning—for instance, in short-term memory. Short-term memory is essentially your mental sketch pad: how many different thoughts you can juggle in your mind, keep track of, and use at the same time. Given the complexity of being president, short-term memory is a vital skill.

If a patient presented to me with the verbal incoherence, tangential thinking, and repetitive speech that Trump now regularly demonstrates, I would almost certainly refer them for a rigorous neuropsychiatric evaluation to rule out a cognitive illness. A condition such as vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease would not be out of the ordinary for a 78-year-old. Only careful medical examination can establish whether someone indeed has a diagnosable illness—simply observing Trump, or anyone else, from afar is not enough. For those who do have such diseases or conditions, several treatments and services exist to help them and their loved ones cope with their decline. But that does not mean any of them would be qualified to serve as commander in chief.

 Richard A. Friedman, a psychiatrist, in The Atlantic.

September 14, 2024

Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants or the one who (supports) killing babies Both are against life.

Pope Francis on Harris and Trump. 

The Pope counselled to "choose the lesser evil".  If you live in a state, however, that's going overwhelmingly for one candidate or another, you don't actually have to, and can vote for a third party like The American Solidarity Party.

Laura Loomer, about whom I know nothing, but who is apparently an extreme right wing personality, has been traveling around with Trump.  He's now criticizing her but she's been seen a lot with her including some photos in which they are uncomfortably close.  Trump has a knack for appearing with embarrassing people.

In a campaign speech over the last couple of days Trump promised the largest mass deportation in history, starting in Springfield Ohio and Colorado.

September 15, 2024

Penultimate conservative George F. Will endorsed Kamala Harris.

September 16, 2024

A second assassination attempt on Donald Trump occurred yesterday.  In this instance, the Secret Service spotted the would be assailant before he staged his attempt and opened fire first.

The assailant was Ryan Wesley Routh, who had been convicted in 2002 for possessing a machine gun. He used that weapon in a stand off with the police.  How he had a AK47 type rifle in this instance is an obvious question.  Based on news reports of his social media, he at one time claimed he was going to go to Ukraine and fight (he clearly didn't), and he had pro Palestinian and anti Chinese posts as well.

cont:

Trump and Canada's big water faucet:  Canada Has A Big Water Faucet.

What the crap?

September 17, 2024

Scientific American endorsed Kamala Harris.

September 20, 2024

Lummis Co-Authors Book On Why People Should Vote For Trump

cont:

Pro-Trump Georgia election board votes to require hand counts of ballots

This is, quite frankly, stupid.

cont:

Absentee ballots for uniformed and overseas Wyomingites go out starting Sept. 20

September 24, 2024

Governor Gordon’s Executive Order Directs State Agencies to Prevent, Report Non-Citizen Voting Efforts

September 19, 2024

---

Recognizing voter concerns over non-citizens attempting to vote nationwide, Governor Mark Gordon issued an Executive Order (EO) directing state agencies to take further steps to ensure Wyoming’s elections continue to be safe and secure.

“Recognizing the Biden/Harris Administration’s disastrous border policies compel us to do all we can to protect the integrity of our elections, I, alongside fellow Republican Governors, have taken the action afforded to me by the Constitution and the Laws of Wyoming to confirm the security of Wyoming’s elections,” Governor Gordon said.

“I remain confident Wyoming’s elections are the most secure in the nation,” the Governor added. “As required by the laws enacted by the legislature, our county clerks are thorough and diligent when determining, investigating and verifying voter citizenship. With this Executive Order, I reaffirm my commitment to that ideal.

Residents can be confident that this order removes any confusion and clarifies for our agencies – should there be any doubt – that they will not enable or facilitate any noncitizen to register to vote or help them to vote.”  

Executive Order 2024-11 directs State agencies to take a variety of actions to ensure that non-citizens do not vote or register to vote. State agencies may not provide voter registration materials to non-citizens and must confirm that they are not required to provide those materials to non-citizens when contracting with federal programs or agencies.

In addition, the EO encourages the Secretary of State and the County Clerks to continue to effectively and efficiently use the tools provided to each of them by Wyoming’s election code to investigate and verify voter registration. The Wyoming Constitution requires every person to be a citizen of the United States before they can legally register and vote in Wyoming. 

As he did earlier this year, the Governor continues to urge the legislature to provide clarity on the definition of the term “bona fide resident.” Wyoming’s county clerks have indicated to the Legislature  that this clarification is needed, and the Governor agrees.

A poll places incumbent Senator Ted Cruz in a dead heat with his Democratic challenger, Colin Allred.

Cruz going down in defeat would be a major blow to Republican efforts to secure the Senate.

September 27, 2024

First shoes, then Bibles, now watches.

October 1, 2024.

You just can't make this stuff up.

I will shut down all entries through Kamala’s migrant phone app. She’s got a phone app. It’s meant for the cartel heads. The cartel heads call the app, and they tell them where to drop the illegal migrants… It’s not even believable.

Donald Trump.  Indeed, for the rational, that is not believable.

They come from the Congo in the Africa. Many people from the Congo. I don't know what that is, but they come out of jails in the Congo.

Many people, from the Congo, which he doesn't know what it is?

October 2, 2024

Debate Recap: JD Vance, Tim Walz talk foreign policy, climate change and immigration

October 4, 2024

Melania Trump has cut a Trump/Vance ad in which she notes that she's pro infanticide, one more step in the GOP abandoning its formerly pro life plank.  Vance has already boarded the IVF ship fully, in spite of that involving the death of fertilized eggs.  Melania was baptized a Catholic, although there's no real evidence that she's practiced in any recent period, and Vance is a convert who is now demonstrating again that politics will prevail over conviction for him.

The American Solidarity Party is the only real pro life party in the race that I"m aware of.

For at least those who are not in a swing state, this is one more reason that the American Solidarity Party candidates should be voted for, and are perhaps the only moral vote in such states.

Related threads:

The Christian, and more particularly the Catholic, vote. 2024

Does a "Freedom" Caucus victory in the primaries mean the Democrats have a chance in the general?

Last edition

The 2024 Election, Part XXVI. Touching Down

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2024 Election, Alaska, Bill Clinton, Conscription, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, Kamala Harris, Populism, Republican Party, Theodore Roosevelt, Tim Walz, Vietnam War, Weird, Wyoming

Sunday Morning Scene: The Cafeteria.

 

An interesting article:

President Biden as a Scandal to the Faith

Given the political tone that is sometimes expressed here, people would be entitled to believe that I'm a real Biden fan.

I am not.

I am, rather, horrified by Donald Trump.

As an observant Catholic, I do not think I can vote for Biden in good conscience for the reason pointed out here.  Indeed, it might even be sinful in my situation, something which is aided by the fact that I live in a region that's so ignorantly supportive of Trump and Trumpism, that the state is going to vote for Trump no matter what.  Therefore, I have absolute license to vote for a third party, and will likely vote for the candidates from the American Solidarity Party.

At the same time, I'd note, those Evangelicals and American Protestant (and Catholic) Christians who repeatedly cite Donald Trump as some sort of Christian prophet recalling the Old Testament Jewish Prophets are being stunningly blind to his horrific personal conduct.  I can't think of a single real Jewish or Christian saintly or prophetic figure who lived the life of Donald Trump. Even his wealth alone would risk the camel ejecting him trying to go through the eye of the needle, but his conduct towars women and people in general. . . well it speaks for itself

And hence the real danger to people of faith, and indeed to people's mortal souls.  Biden and Trump are reflections in the mirror.  Americans don't want things hard, they want them easy.  That means they dislike the things they don't personally engage in and excuse the things they do, whatever those may be for various individuals. On the left, and frankly on the right, that's sex with absolute license, the only difference being at what stage a person is entitled to murder your offspring.  On the left, which accuses the right of being sex obsessed, it's license to be sex obsessed in every conceivable fashion.  On the right its become turning a blind eye to a lot as well, just of a largely more conventional nature.

Today thousands of American Christians will claim to observe the Lord's Day in some fashion.  A lot of them will not be striving to enter the narrow gate, but rather they'll be assuming they can drive a double wide trailer of personal license through a really wide one.

Our current leaders are partial examples of why we believe that.

Blog Mirror: Solidarian Political Strategy

 

Solidarian Political Strategy

The 2024 Election, Part VI. The 14th Amendment Edition.

AMENDMENT XIV

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.

 

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of

 

President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

It is increasingly clear that the 14th Amendment is going to be used as a legal basis to challenge Donald Trump's ability to be a Presidential nominee this election.   

And legal scholars, weighting in, have read this language to bar his ability to do so.  Two non-profit legal groups have made it known that they are going to be filing suits.

I suppose we should list running, at the present time, in this sad show.

President.

Democrats:

Joe Biden; the incumbent.  

While a majority of Democrats and voters in general are disenchanted with the aged President, he will take the nomination absent something unexpected occurring.

Marianne Williamson.

Gadfly. Williamson mostly serves to remind voters that there are some real wackadoodles in the Democratic Party.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  

As if Williamson wasn't enough of a wackadoodle. Kennedy is receiving attention, but his candidacy isn't likely to go anywhere.  Known for some unconventional views.

Republicans.

Donald Trump. 

The former President, who is facing multiple felony charges, but who has a large number of fanatic followers in spite of having nearly every deficit as a candidate imaginable.

Nikki Haley

In a normal election cycle, we could expect Haley to do well.

Vivek Ramaswamy.  

Youngest candidate, oddly tacking to the right of Trump on some things, and getting increasingly extreme as the election goes on.

Perry Johnson,

largely unknown businessman.  Age 75.  Because we need more old people to run for this office.

Larry Elder 

Conservative African American radio host.  71 years of age, and first time candidate.

Asa Hutchinson. 

Former Governor of Arkansas and conventional, non MAGA, Republican. Age 72.

Tim Scott.

African American Senator from South Carolina.

Ron DeSantis

Governor of Florida.

Chris Christie

Former Governor of New Jersey. Blunt anti Trump candidate.

Mike Pence.

Boring, if briefly heroic, former Vice President.

Doug Burgum

Governor of North Dakota who can't muster up enough courage to discuss Trump's coup.

Will Hurd 

Congressman from Texas.

Steve Laffey 

A politician you've never heard of but who is apparently on the New Hampshire ballot.

Ryan Binkley 

A Texas businessman and Protestant Pastor.

Green Party

Cornel West.  

West would be familiar to watchers of news shows and PBS from the late 20th Century, but his candidacy here nearly reduces him to gadfly status.

American Solidarity Party

Peter Sonski  

Sonski is a businessman who is the ASP's choice for President this year. The party is a Christian Democratic Party that ought to receive more attention, and would in a fairer system.

Lurking on the outside of all of this is No Labels, which in spite of the existence of third parties, threatens to launch a non-party third party run at the Oval Office.  Joe Manchin is continually mentioned as its potential candidate, although the Democrats desperately hope he'll stay in the Senate.

In terms of more local races:

U.S. Senate

Republicans

John Barrasso, maybe?

The long serving Senator has not announced if he's running or not.  Right now, because it's pretty obvious that Mitch McConnell is headed on to the next realm, he stands to potentially be Senate Majority Leader.

Reid Rasner.

Rasner has announced and is running essentially as a far right populist.  If Barrasso stays in, his campaign will be forgotten within days of the primary election.

September 3, 2023

The Heritage Foundation and others have worked out a Project 2025 as a plan to radically reshape the Federal Government should Trump come to power.

As the Heritage Foundation would have it:

The fourth pillar of Project 2025 is our 180-day Transition Playbook and includes a comprehensive, concrete transition plan for each federal agency.  Only through the implementation of specific action plans at each agency will the next conservative presidential Administration be successful. 

Pillar IV will provides the next President a roadmap for doing just that.  To learn more about Project 2025’s vision for a conservative administration, please read our recently published book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.

September 7, 2023

Six Colorado voters have filed an action seeking to bar Donald Trump from running for election under the 14th Amendment.  The complaint is a phenomenal 115 pages long and is effectively a brief.

The relief sought is as follows:

This is the second such lawsuit that's been filed. The first was dismissed, although I haven't researched why.  Lack of standing would be my guess.

One of these suits is going to hit home and succeed.  Some might note that Trump is not likely to prevail in the general election in Colorado anyhow, but this would mean that Colorado's primary votes would go to another GOP candidate, should it succeed.

As noted, somewhere it will, and depending upon when it happens, this issue will have to go to the Supreme Court rapidly.  While predicting the ultimate outcome is hazardous, my guess is that there's a fair chance that the Supreme Court will ultimately hold that Trump is not qualified to run.

cont:

So on the same day a lawsuit was filed in Colorado, Secretary of State Gray wrote to the SoS of New Hampshire, stating:

How much sway Wyoming has with New Hampshire, or for that matter any state's SoS with another's, is an open question, but the direction of this seems clear.  Some state is going to find Trump can't be on the ballot and this will have to go to the Supreme Court.  That will determine the issue for every state.

Gray touches upon, but doesn't really answer, an important issue here, that being, how is it to be determined that a person was in an insurrection?  Being convicted of having been in one, under a statute that could give rise to that determination, is one thing, and in fact odds are good that Trump will have been by November 2024.  But that clearly isn't, I think, required by the 14th Amendment for the reason that Secretary Gray notes, the Civil War example.  Nobody was tried for the crime of having engaged in a treasonous rebellion against the United States following the Civil War.  Clearly at the time the mere presumption of Confederate service was enough.  As that's the only example, it would seem that presumption would operate here as well such that, if a SoS determines that Trump aided and abetted an insurrection, it would be up to Trump to prove that he did not.

The lawsuits will work differently, of course, as they have that as part of their allegations, and therefore That issue will be for them to prove at trial, or perhaps by motion.

September 11, 2024

Latest polls put Trump ahead of Biden in the General Election.

That presumes, of course, that they both win their nominations.  Democratic spokesmen fielded to the weekend shows are trying to brush it off by noting that the economy is strong, unemployment low, and there are 14 months left to go.  But it's a bad sign for Biden, no matter what.

This would suggest that both Democrats and rank and file (not populist) Republicans need to wake up.  If Trump takes the Oval Office, it will complete the conversion of the GOP into a right wing populist party which will have huge impacts on the country for the foreseen future, and certainly during the next four years.

If Republicans are to take him on, what they really need to do is to meet at this time and determine that those leaning into Trump should get out.  They're not going to do anything.  They need to get their field down as small as possible.

For the Democrats, they need to meet with Joe and propose a moderate substitute.  

September 14, 2023

Legislators have criticized a ballot initiative to limit property tax in Wyoming, noting that it would strip funding for schools.

They're correct.

A lot of the local anger over property taxes is frankly ironic. For decades, Wyoming communities have encouraged relocation into the state, which ipso facto brings in wealth and raises property values overall.  Indeed, many relocatees upgrade their dwellings by doing so.  Meanwhile, local government and infrastructure needs remain, if not in fact grow.

The solution is more distributist, localist and involving subsidiarity and solidarity, which was the case all along.

Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to cut the federal workforce by 75% by the end of his term if elected, which is frankly absurd.\

Mitt Romney has announced that he will not be running for reelection. This brought out the predictable assortment of Trump trolls condemning Romney for not being a Trump troll.  It also brougth the following comment from the former President:

There is something deeply weird about comments like this coming from Trump.  With all the attention to Biden's mental status, there's little with Trump, but something is off with him.

September 19, 2023

President Trump was interviewed by the new host of Meet The Press.

The interview is revealing for the way in which Trump has become so proficient at lying, he sounds credible while doing so, helping to provide some insight to why his followers believe him.  He spouts lies with such routine blandness that they sound like somebody repeating what he believes to be the truth.  If people only listened to Trump, you may well be convinced that the falsehoods reflect reality.

September 21, 2023

The Natrona County GOP invited WyoRino to a meeting they held to debate him/her/they.  Some members of the county's Republican Party have been in the crosshairs of the anonymous blogger.  Predictably, he didn't show up to the event, and so conservative Cowboy State Daily's not so conservative Op Ed columnist Rod Miller had nobody to debate.  From reading about it, some other populists did show up, however.

Now, one of the non Natrona County GOP legislators, Larry Craigo of Johnson County, is the subject of an anonymous mailer.  He's called that person/persons cowardly.

There's something interesting going on here.

Whoever is behind these efforts, and it of course may be a collection of people has spare money to devote to this effort.  I've seen a large vinyl WyoRINO banner locally, and WyoRINO bought a billboard here as well.

Spare cash, far right wing, those are the clues really.

Trump has announced that he's going to Michigan rather than the next debate.  This will likely be pretty scripted, as the UAW isn't exactly pro Trump, even if many of its rust belt employees share many of his non labor views.

Of course, Bernie Sanders has weighed in. . . 

Last Prior Thread:

The 2024 Election, Part V. Wooing the primary voters.

Related Threads:

The Post Insurrection. Part VII. The Insurrectionist.

This is why we can't have nice things. "You can't vote for a third party". Oh yes, you can.