Tag: Election 2024

  • Weird

    Funny how one well placed word can unravel a person. The right word, said at the right time can cut to the core of someone, revealing what they fear most. And once that word is out there, being applied to that person, no matter how they try to defend or deflect, that word sticks to them.

    And “weird” was that word yesterday – just slicing through so much MAGA bravado, and leaving grasping Alpha Men with nothing to say except, basically, “I’m not weird! You’re weird!” But it was too late, damage was done.

    And the “weird” label hit MAGA Men at their most vulnerable spot – questioning if their world view was actually normal. The MAGA reaction says to me that most of them, MAGA Alpha Bros that is, know deep down what they are saying and believing in, is abnormal, if not outright weird. I can hear them thinking; “The shit that Trump says; it is weird.” “Maybe I am the weird one, but not in the outsider who’s cool kind’a weird; just the bad weird.”

    What I find most ironic is that this used to be a Trump skill. You know, he’d find that one word that encapsulates his opponent; “Lying” “Sleepy” “Cheating” “Meatball” “Little.” I hate to admit it, but Trump was really good at it. He would throw out a name, it would stick, and no matter how hard they try, that label stuck, and Trump would repeat it, over and over and over and over…

    So, the tables have turned. The bullies are being bullied by words. Poetic justice is just the tip of the cliches I can use here.

    I doubt that “weird” will live beyond this week’s news cycle.

    But it has been fun to watch.

  • We’re All Gun’na Die, Still (Election 2024)

    This has been a dramatic past week for politics. Really, it’s been a crazy three weeks.

    Up until Sunday, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’re all gun’na die. I had resigned myself to the fact that Biden wouldn’t drop out, and that there was no way Trump would lose. After, you know, everything that has happened… Hence the feeling that we’re all gun’na die.

    Yes, I am a tad on the overly dramatic side of things, but I remember that feeling when Trump was declared the winner in 2016, how everything took on a feeling of dread. I also remember feeling that way non-stop for four years. Looking at the 2024 election, I started having flashbacks of all of those feelings.

    When Biden dropped out, which is what I was for but like in January of this year, I did have a moment of relief, that things just might get better. That there was a chance, dare I say hope, in this world again.

    But I have been around long enough to know that when the Democrats get the ball and all they have to do is score a layup, that’s when they try to kick a field goal… and miss…

    So, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    Yet, I also know that Biden dropping out wasn’t for me. I was voting against Trump no matter what; this move changed nothing for me. The question will be if the Biden/Harris switch will get 10,000 people in each of nine swing starts to change their minds?

  • ODDS and ENDS: Vacation, Euro Final, and The End of the World

    (And I knew there was no turning back…)

    I had been out of town for the past week and a half. You could call it a vacation, in the sense that I left the place where I lived and went someplace new. I was Texas, but it was a new town in Texas that I had never been to before. It was Sanger, TX which is small town country Texas. It had been over twenty years since I had been in a region of Texas that was so far removed from everything else in the world. Though that far out in the country is not a place I would like to live (I am a City kid, after all) having grown up in Texas, there is something comforting and reassuring about being in that world of Texas. Not that I even spent a huge amount of time in the country, but if you dive an hour in any direction from the DFW area, you hit flat land, dusty winds, and a feeling that the world goes on forever. I enjoyed my time in Sanger. Yes it was small, but it was small town friendly, and a good place to have a wedding. (I was there for a wedding, if I didn’t say that yet.) It was also fun to show my daughter, who is a real City Kid, what the country is really like.

    And as I was in Texas for a wedding, I wasn’t able to finish my Euro Cup observations. Well, though I was rooting for England, I never really thought they were going to win. Spain just looked dominating, and they seemed destined to win it all. Now, I will say that England put up a hell of a fight (at least that’s what the highlights I saw showed) and it was entertaining, but England will always be the bridesmaid of international football. England had better players, but Spain was the better team. I have a very odd feeling that this was Harry Kane’s last international tournament. With Southgate resigning, which was expected win or lose, I don’t see Kane wanting to stick around. Not that Harry wouldn’t make the squad, but something strikes me that Kane is ready to pass the torch, so to speak. Botton line, I thought the Euro Cup 2024 was exciting and fun and well worth paying the cable fees so I could watch all the matches.

    I don’t like being this guy, but lately, it does feel like the world is coming to an end. Hopefully, it will pass after November, 5th.

  • ODDS and ENDS: The Debate and Then Some

    (Hello, Hey You! Who Said That?)

    I didn’t watch the debate last night. The first and biggest reason is that no matter what happened, it wouldn’t change how I am voting. Second is that after 2020’s debates, I had no intention of giving my time to the Trump Shit Show. And from what I have seen and read this morning, if I would have watched it, I would have thrown up in the middle of my living room.

    Trump came with a muted Shit Show, but it was his normal shit show of lies and falsehoods. Trump’s performance will go over well with his supporters and kept them loyal. For Democrats, Trump only reminded them why his unfit for office. For the undecided, it was the same old Trump, and I don’t think Trump did anything to sway them to his camp.

    But Joe. He needed to get the Undecided on his side, and all Biden did was confirm that he’s very old, and not as sharpe as he used to be. You can’t convince people to unsee what they just saw. And if the election comes down to 12,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania, then Biden’s performance was campaign killing.

    As of this morning, Trump has won the Electoral College, but not the popular vote. I believe the Anti-Trump vote is so strong that Biden will win the popular vote, but Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada have slipped out of Joe’s hands.

    Biden needs to withdraw, and do it fast. A July 4th speech would be a good and patriotic time to do it. That gives over a month before the Convention for the Democrats to sort it out, then roll out the Unity Candidate. Sadly, this doesn’t guarantee a Trump loss, but it gives Democrats a chance. And a chance is better than a sure fire Biden loss.