If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble….It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901.
August 20, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
And the primary results are in! We're off and running for the general election.
Of course, the biggest race of the year, pitting a meandering, lying, babbling Donald Trump and his National Conservative running mate J. D. Vance against a fairly committed left wing but cogent ticket made up of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz wasn't on the ballot. At one time, in Wyoming primaries, you actually did get to voice your opinion on who should run in the Republican or Democratic Party for President, but it was just that, an opinion vote. The ticket was still chosen at conventions, with the Democratic one being open, and the Republican one being closed.
I guess that was confusing or pointless, so that isn't done anymore.
By way of a full confession, I started typing this out before August 20, and I'm posting right as the polls close, so the first part are predications, but probably fairly safe ones.
John Barrasso, twice endorsed by Trump, will have handily defeated Reid Rasner, who is a genuine Trumpist. At one time it looked like Rasner had a chance, but Barrasso out Trumped him and easily won.
Barrasso will face Democrat Scott Morrow.
At least that's what I think occurred.
Harriet Hageman I'm sure won race against the Quixotic effort of Steve Helling. Hopefully Helling quits these races at this point as this is embarrassing.
Hageman will face Kyle Cameron.
cont:
Senator Barrasso's victory was a total blowout.
So was Harriet Hageman's.
Locally, Senator Anderson beat Bryce Reece, but only barely.
Given the campaign Reece ran, that's disappointing. Reece was backed by what frankly were lies.
The longest serving legislator in the U.S. currently, Sen. Charlie Scott, beat out challenger Rob Hendry handily.
Elissa Campbell took retiring House member Jerry Obermueller's seat, keeping the seat in the rational Republican category.
Julie Jarvis handily defeated incumbent far right controversial populist Jeanette Ward for her House seat. It'll be interesting to see if this trend crosses the state, and it'll also be interesting to see if Ward moves on.
For County Commissioner in Natrona County incumbent Dave North came out on top followed by new candidate Casey Coates.
For Casper City Council veteran former legislator Pat Sweeney came out on top with incumbent Amber Pollock second for Ward I, which makes for an interesting reentry into politics for Sweeney.
The Natrona County Senior District passed, but only barely.
August 21, 2024
The big new of the night is that the Freedom Caucus, while Ward went down in Casper, gained in the House overall and there will now be a populist House of Representatives, a very bad development for Wyoming.
Wyoming Freedom Caucus Has Huge Republican Primary, Could Gain 11 Seats
To clarify Ward I for Casper, Pat Sweeney, Amber Pollock, Ken Dockweiler and Julie Collins-Thiel, made it through the primary.
The senior district passed by only 110 votes.
cont:
Freedom Caucus Firebrand Jeanette Ward Upset For House District 57
Rod Miller: The Wyoming Freedom Caucus Wins Some Big Pots
The effective head of the Democratic Party issued an immediate statement:
Am I the only one kinda floored that the GOP candidate for the United States President, is trolling social media like a disgruntled teenage boy who's girlfriend just dumped him? 🙄😬
Kamala Harris is disgraceful. We’re going to talk about a story out of those 13 brave, innocent Americans who lost their lives, it’s that Kamala Harris is so asleep at the wheel that she won’t even do an investigation into what happened, and she wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up. She can…she can go to hell.
Some people don't eat bacon anymore. This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. When it doesn't blow, we have a problem.
I do the weave. Do you know what the weave is? I’ll talk about 9 different things, and they all come back brilliantly together. And friends of mine that are like English professors say, ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen, but the fake news say, ‘He rambled.
Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it. He took her best summer dress, put it on and went to town.
“Proposition 1: $7,300,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to reconstruct the aging, failing, and undersized Metro Animal Shelter to better provide for animal health and safety.” (The current shelter is located at 2392 Metro Road.)“Proposition 2: $5,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to fund a portion of the total construction costs of a second sheet of ice adjacent to the existing Casper Ice Arena.” (The arena is located at 1801 E. 4th St.)“Proposition 3: $4,200,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to install a new quad capacity chair lift to replace the aging and outdated lift and add lighting at Hogadon Ski Area.”“Proposition 4: $4,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to construct two fastpitch softball fields for league competition and high school use.”“Proposition 5: $4,400,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to partially fund costs associated with the replacement of the City Casper’s outdated Fire Station #1.”“Proposition 6: $5,000,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to fully replace the outdated and obsolete equipment for the 911 Dispatch Center.”“Proposition 7: $3,600,000 and interest earned thereon to the City of Casper to build a new auxiliary gym to provide much needed space for programming at the Casper Recreation Center.” (The Center is located at 1801 E. 4th St.)“Proposition 8: $1,500,000 and interested earned thereon to the City of Casper to design, reconstruct, and preserve the historic Washington Park Bandshell.”
September 5, 2024
Liz Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris for President.
September 6, 2024
Donald Trump proposed giving Elon Musk a government role as an efficiency expert.
He also proposed to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%. The corporate tax rate should be hiked, not cut.
Ugh.
I am promising low taxes, low regulations, low energy costs, low interest rates, secure borders, low, low, low crime.
Americans seem incapable of grasping the fact that they are grossly undertaxed, which is a big part of the reason the US deficit is out of control. Rates in the past have been much, much higher than they currently are, particularly on the upper income tax bracket Trump and Musk are part of.
Also, energy costs, interest rates and crime is all low when judged by almost any historical standard.
In a meeting of businessmen Trump was asked a question about health care costs and then went into tariffs.
?
Some good political news:
Perennial Candidate Rex Rammell Says He’s Done With Politics, America Doomed
Gadfly candidate Rammell says he's giving up on politics and his interview with the Cowboy State Daily is his last.
cont:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris.
September 8, 2024
George and Laura Bush will not be endorsing anyone this election cycle.
In doing so, a spokesman noted that President Bush had retired from politics "years ago".
He's one month younger than Donald Trump. . .
cont:
Donald Trump has indicated that in Florida he intends to vote yes on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana.
September 10, 2024
The White Stripes have sued the Trump campaign over its use of the song Seven Nation Army.
cont:
I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we had,
J. D. Vance.
Absolutely shameful.
Related threads:
Something for Wyoming populists to consider.
Carpetbagging Carpetbaggers criticize carpetbagging.
The 2024 Election, Part XXV. Primary Election Day, Wyoming's real election.
And:
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