In the good old summertime

       It has been a typical northern NY transition from winter to spring to summer all in about 2 weeks.   From winter coat weather in mid May to sweltering last weekend to cool and wet weather for the last week, we have had it all.

      In the garden, the radishes and arugula appreciate the cool, wet conditions, but the heat lovers, including summer squash, peppers and tomatoes have stalled.   The garlic is beginning to scape and the leaf lettuces are thriving.  Maggie Mae has rediscovered her affinity for broccoli and carrots, so chances are there won't much harvested except by her.  The beets and swiss chard are also doing well.   All in all, the gardens are doing well, despite the weather.

Ups and Downs

       Once again in the Bizzaro world that is the Republican party we see the deficit hawks decrying the present state of the national finances.   We are $34 trillion in debt they say and the only way out is to slash the social safety net and any discretionary spending.   What they don't tell you is a non trivial portion of the debt, indeed most of it was added under Republican administrations.  As Paul Krugman points out in today's NYT, all it would take to stabilize the debt would be to raise taxes by 2.1%...crickets is all you would hear from them regarding this proposal.

     Meanwhile, in honor of D-Day, president Biden commemorated all the "losers and suckers" who died in defense of democracy.   Of course the losers and suckers comment was uttered by the former guy who refused to visit a WW2 cemetery because the weather might muss his hair.

     We face a crisis this November.  The choice is between a fundamentally decent man and an addled mountebank who will do or say anything to regain power.  Stay tuned.

a convicted criminal for president?

     I know there is an irreducible minimum of about 35% of the electorate who would wade through a field of broken glass to vote for tRump for president.  These people make up the "basket of deplorables" who likely embrace their inner Nazi on a regular basis.  They are for the most part racist, homophobic and misogynist and in a just society they would be shunned.  

     There is another 10-15% who do not fit the above description but are still willing to vote for a convicted criminal for a variety of reasons, mostly political or economic.  they are also still open to persuasion.   tRump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a total of around 80,000 votes.  It may seem cynical,  but Democrats need to put a huge push in those three states to ensure a Biden victory in November.   That includes making tRump's new status of convicted criminal the number one issue.

Finally

        Mexican voters elected their first woman president over the weekend.   It is amazing that a macho culture like the one that prevails in Mexico would elect a woman before the USA.   Of course, both major party candidates were women, so it is hard to tell what would have happened if Claudia Scheinbaum had run against a man.  However, she garnered over  58% of the vote, so she may well have won regardless of the sex of her opponent.

      I'm afraid the only way a woman can get elected in America is if both Democrats and Republicans nominate women for president.  Once this hurdle is overcome, the idea a woman can lead the country should be normalized.  Although, Barack Obama's election has not done that for Black men.  His election sparked a backlash which shows no sign of receding.   Hopefully 2 women of color will compete in 2028.  Wouldn't that be something.

All projection all the time

      I can still hear the echoes of "lock her up" during campaign rallies in 2016.  tRump was accusing Hillary Clinton of not protecting the national security due to sloppy use of an email server.  Fast forward to 2024 and the only difference is tRump has actually been indicted for stealing state secrets.   His only hope to avoid another felony conviction is a friendly judge allowing him to avoid trial til after the election.

     I could go on in the same vein for hours, but you get the picture.

Posts of Conviction

       Sorry for the rather indifferent approach to blog posting lately.   In the current political climate all I have felt like doing is posting screeds of impending doom which turns most people off.  However, on a more hopeful note, justice was served in a courtroom in New York yesterday and it deserves a post.

      Donald tRump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 elections.   The American system of justice worked in this particular case, unlike the other 3 criminal trials the newly convicted felon is still facing.  Of course, instead of accepting the jury's verdict, tRump and his surrogates immediately went on the attack, blaming everyone in sight instead of looking in the mirror.

     We are about to test the validity of tRump's assertion he could commit murder in broad daylight and not lose support among his faithful.  My execrable congresscritter, Elise Stefanik, has already attacked the system for holding criminals to account in this case.  Many more will follow this dangerous path.  It is up to the rest of us to uphold the rule of law on November 5.

When the bottom falls out

      For the last 6 months or so, I have been doing what I advise everyone else not to do, namely following the trajectory of the stocks in our portfolio on a daily basis.  Some days it's a high and others a miserable bust.   Recently the Dow Jones Average topped 40,000 for the first time in history.  You would never know it happened if you listen to right wing media outlets.  If the same milestone had been surpassed while tRump was in office, a mighty fanfare would be played by these same outlets.   

      As Paul Krugman points out, the stock market is a lousy forecaster for the overall economy, but it does have a cachet among the general population.   I will start to worry when the NYT starts publishing stories about the middle class getting into the market.  Shades of 1929!

Small town treasures

      The Divine Mrs. M and I participated in the Champlain Valley Voices spring concert yesterday.   The weather was picture perfect and the audience was larger than many expected as there were two other concerts scheduled at the same time.  A good time was had by all.

      Living in a small, rural area in upstate NY, we have a vibrant musical community with many excellent musicians who perform on a  regular basis.  Even non musicians like yours truly are welcomed into groups like the CVV which operate on shoestring budgets.   Like many other musical groups it depends on the dedication of its members to raise the money necessary to bring high quality choral music to our area.  We often take the hard work for granted, but these people  are truly local treasures.

Empathetic Uncle Joe

       Democrats face a conundrum, according to most pundits.   the economy is doing well, inflation and crime are down and wages and employment are up.  Yet, Biden gets little or no credit for the economic numbers and it is seemingly driving him crazy.   

      Instead of empathizing with voters' concerns even if they are driven by a media environment where a minor blip in inflation is a chicken little moment, Biden's latest speeches are becoming more and more shrill.  Lecturing voters is not the way to win their hearts and minds.  There is no easy answer to combatting an overwhelming desire to educate people who can't distinguish fact from fiction.   However, what Biden and company are doing now is manifestly not working according to the latest polls.

What Democrats do understand about rural America

        Today, the NYT offers up yet another screed about Democrats abandoning the voters in rural America.   The authors, two Democrats who won a state senators' race in backcountry Maine, seem to think knocking on 20,000 doors and listening to voters concerns is the way to win elections.  In a perfect world, that may be so, but in a rural world dominated by Fox News and populated by elderly voters who would prefer you to get off their lawns,  their campaign is more a one off than a blueprint for a successful strategy.

      For years, congressional Democrats have pushed rural based programs to help mostly Republican areas.   They have gotten little or no credit from the natives.  The GOP runs on culture war issues like same sex marriage, abortion, immigration and crime and though voters consistently say they are more interested in the economy, that is not the way they vote.  In my own congressional district, the execrable Elise Stefanik will be re-elected again this year despite having done nothing for the district except to try and take credit for infrastructure spending courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act which passed with no republican votes.

      This is the reality of rural America.   

Is the electorate this dumb?

       In the wake of a new bunch of swing state polls showing tRump ahead of Biden with less than 6 months remaining before the election I think it is fair to ask if the children is learning, to steal a phrase from the Shrub.

      Thanks in part to the compartmentalization of the media, as much as half the voters live in a media bubble inflated by the likes of Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, and other fact free news sites.  In this bubble, crime is rampant, the economy is imploding most Democrats live in an urban hellscape and illegal immigrants are bankrupting the country.   Oh, and Joe Biden is a senile tool of George Soros and at the same time a criminal mastermind.

       If you can hold all of this in your head without it exploding, you are probably a tRump voter.  They  may or may not be dumb, but their decision about who to vote for this November will probably decide the fate of our democracy.   Is the children learning, indeed.

Stupidity hurts

      In the furor surrounding the tRump hush money trial, the everyday stupidity we are being subjected to by House Republican is mind numbing.  They recently voted on the "Hands off our home appliances Act'' which would prohibit the Department of Energy from setting energy efficiency standards on washing machines, refrigerators, etc.   All in the name of "freedom".

     The GOP has fallen into the abyss of crazy and seems determined  to drag the rest of us down with them...

Knowing what's important

      Palestinians are dying by the hundreds, Sudanese by the thousands and Russians and Ukrainians continue to kill each other.  However, I'm sure a majority of Americans were tuned into the ''hush money" trial of Donald tRump yesterday as Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford testified about her one night stand with the disgraced, twice impeached ex president in 2006.

     The details were salacious, as advertised, and by Ms. Daniels' account of the encounter flirted with a sexual assault accusation.  tRump was described as "blocking" Daniels' ability to exit the room.  However, she described the sex as consensual, albeit marked by an imbalance of power.  The clear question being posed to the national audience was do you really want this gross pig of a man to be the most powerful person in the world?  while the title of this post is somewhat tongue in cheek, the question remains.

Israelis and Netanyahu

        It looks increasingly like the IDF will assault the city of Rafah sometime this week.  The acceptance by Hamas of a peace plan seems to have caught Bibi Netanyahu by surprise, but he and his ''war cabinet'' reacted swiftly by rejecting the plan brokered by the Egyptians and Qataris with some speciously Orwellian word salad. Netanyahu needs this war to avoid prosecution for his many crimes and the deaths of thousands of Palestinians are a price he is more than willing to pay,  Meanwhile, Biden and Blinken continue to wring their hands as if they are doing everything possible to rein in the Israelis.  It's Kabuki theater on steroids.

Status Quo

        Sam Alito is a monarchist.  If confronted with evidence showing his hatred of democracy, he would staunchly deny it.  Magically sent back in time to the 1770's, Alito would have been a Tory and probably the owner of some of Clarence Thomas' ancestors.  

      There has been a strain of anti-democratic feeling in this country dating back to the theocratic leanings of the pilgrims.  Rarely has it been so obvious as it has over the last 40 plus years dating back to the Reagan years.   Fully 30% of American voters would be in favor of an authoritarian government with a dictator in the presidency.   Virtually all of them are coincidentally tRump voters.  As Ben Franklin might have said, '' Nice little democracy you have here.  Think you can keep it?"

Deja vu one more time

     For baby boomers in our mid to late 70's, the pro and anti Palestinian protests taking place on college campuses this year call to mind the anti Vietnam war protests in the late 60's.   However, instead of the big three (CBS, NBC and ABC) and the print media being the last word in news coverage of the protests, social media is where most people get their information.  

     Much like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Gaza war protests are fueled by amateur news providers armed with i phones and a Tik Tok app.   The images being shown to the world underline the callous indifference of the IDF to the suffering they are causing among the civilian population.  Yet there seems to be little or no acknowledgement among the protestors of the horror of the October attack on innocent Israeli citizens.  Unlike the Vietnam protests which split the country, the Gaza protests seem to me to be background noise except to those directly involved.  

      To the protestors today, their cause is all consuming.  It remains to be seen if the rest of the country feels that way.

Believe it or not

        Kevin Drum has  an interesting take on the conservative case for Donald tRump for president.   While both conservatives agree the Republican tax cut in 2017 was perhaps Cheeto Jesus' biggest if not only accomplishment, Drum provides a laundry list of "accomplishments'' often cited by conservatives as reason to re-elect this buffoon.

        Among these supposed accomplishments were a ban on travels to majority muslim countries, canceling the Iran nuclear deal, pulling out of the Paris environmental accords, fighting to cancel Obamacare, appointing conservative judges and on and on.   Most of this is tongue in cheek on Drum's part, but liberals can ignore the list at their peril.  Real people, including many of your neighbors actually believe this stuff and plan to vote according to it.   

Springtime in northern New York

       It has been a less than optimum spring so far this year.  Today is typical for the past couple of weeks; overcast with temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s.   Radishes, arugula and spinach are up and growing in the raised beds.  lettuces, kale and Chinese broccoli are up in the cold frame, but have hardly grown over the past week.  The tomatoes have yet to sprout.  I know the averages will catch up with the garden, but it is cold comfort to the gardener in the waning days of April.  Truly the cruelest month.

Chicken littles

      When you mainline liberal cable news channels, it's easy to get caught up in the hype.   Donald tRump and his evil empire are coming for you and there is nothing you can do about it.   The plucky Democrats will be overwhelmed by the cunning Republican operatives.   Conversely, Republicans are the Keystone Kops of the 21st century and Dems will steal their lunch money every night.

       It's easy in late April to get political whiplash listening to these conflicting narratives on a daily basis.  But it's not easy to forgo the occasional frisson of pleasure as tRump's hush money trial unfolds.  Oh well, speaking of evil empires, the Yankees are in the hunt again!

About as expected

      the Supreme Court managed to live down to the worst expectations of the liberal pundit class as they heard oral arguments in the tRump presidential immunity case.   it looks like there are 5 votes to at least send the case back to the lower courts for further consideration.  This will allow the disgraced, twice impeached former president to "run out the clock" on Jack Smith's election interference trial, thereby denying voters the chance to see what a jury thinks of the charges.  My faith in the Court is shattered.

Out of the frying pan

       As readers (or is it reader) of this blog know, the Divine Mrs. M and I recently returned home from a trip to Italy.  We arrived in late March in Sicily and spent 18 days touring the island and a good part of southern Italy.  As always, we were struck by the welcome the natives rolled out for us and despite the usual tourist ripoff attempts we thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

      Our tour group was one of the first of the season and the weather was unusually warm for this time of year, yet many locals told us the heat will be literally unbearable as the traditional tourist season begins in late spring and early summer.   Temperatures in the triple digits become common and readings over 110 degrees are not unheard of.   Europe is warming faster than any place on earth and Italy's proximity to northern Africa exacerbates the problem.

      Our tour guide expects it will be too hot to conduct tours in July and August in the boot heel of Italy and Sicily in the near future.  After all, heat stroked tourists are not a good look for the country.  Climate change is real and is affecting many sectors of the Italian economy.  The booming tourist business is like the canary in the coal mine.

The authoritarian mindset

      I often wonder what causes people to gravitate to charlatans such as Donald tRump or the execrable Steve Bannon.   Their fairly transparent lies so deviate from reality in such easily proven ways that a media savvy 10 year old could debunk them in minutes.   Yet millions of adults lap up these lies and beg for more.   Boiled down to its essence, tRump and Bannon's worldview is the population is made up of two components;  them, and the vast majority people whom them view as marks or dupes.

     Why do so many attribute positive character to tRump?  Part of it is the propaganda networks such as Faux News which repeat the lies tRump and Bannon spew as if they are truth.  But, as research has borne out, many people buy into authoritarianism because it answers a powerful need they feel to be told what to do and what to believe.  Religion has answered that need for thousands of years, and would be dictators like tRump tap into that same need.   I doubt there are any "Atheists for Trump" groups out there.

    As always, facts and reality tend to wear away the veneer of "truth" tRump, Bannon and others use to hide their ambitions.  It will be interesting to see how a jury responds to fact vs. fiction in the coming weeks.

Buckle up

      The tRump election interference trial in Manhattan promises to be 6-8 week non-stop spectacle for the entire nation and a boon to the cable networks covering the show.   The twice impeached, disgraced former president's guilt or innocence is almost besides the point.   Their seems to be little argument Cheeto jesus is guilty of the paperwork violations he is accused of.  The big enchilada is proving to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt tRump authorized hush money payments to Stormy Daniels in the belief he needed to do it to improve his chances of winning the 2016 election.   Bring on the popcorn!

Nuts and bolts

      By the middle of the coming summer, most Americans will be ready to throw their televisions against the wall in protest of the tsunami of ads we will be forced to endure as the election approaches.   Barring some egregious errors by the prosecution or a hung jury, tRump will be a convicted felon in New York  by August and possibly standing before a jury in Jack Smith's insurrection case in D.C.

      There is a certain portion of the electorate who would believe tRump if he told them he was the second coming of Jesus Christ despite the evidence he is more of an AntiChrist.   They make up about 30% of Republicans and there is nothing Dems can do to change their minds.  That leaves a large number of persuadable Republicans that need to be convinced to either vote for Joe Biden or stay home on election day.   Aside from energizing their base, this is the party's number one priority.

The more things change

      After spending a wonderful two plus weeks in Italy with the Divine Mrs. M, we arrived home to discover the news was the same as when we left.  It seems Donald tRump and the war in Gaza are the only things the media deems worthy of coverage and it look like both stories will be with us through the US elections in November at least.

     

i'm rubber, you are glue

       The spectacle of right wing media melting down over NBC's decision to fire Ronna McDaniel after feedback from their on air talent is delicious.   Jesse Watters calling NBC a political operation is particularly rich considering the 787 million dollar judgement his network had to payout to settle a libel judgement against FAUX news.

      McDaniel has been gaslighting the media in general and left leaning outfits like MSNBC in particular for years and she is an unrepenetent purveyor of the big lie.   It was a horrific lapse of judgement by the network.  At least the people that hired her had the grace to admit it was a stupid decision and the backbone to correct themselves.

Trading on the inside

      It seems there is a firestorm brewing at NBC in the wake of the network signing former RNC chairperson Ronna McDaniel as a commenter.   As Chuck Todd put it, after years of gaslighting and character assassination by McDaniel of journalists covering Republicans in the age of tRump, what exactly does she bring to the network?

      It's as if Fox News hired Katie Porter for regular appearances.  The MAGA hordes would rise up in indignation and probably boycott the network.  MSNBC has already said McDaniel is persona non grata on their programs.  This is an own goal on NBC's part,

What's wrong with we the people

        Paul Krugman's lament in the NYT this morning; "What's wrong with Ohio'', can just as easily refer to any state where a majority of working class white people vote for a political party that doesn't even pretend to address their economic interests.  Instead, transgender bathrooms and abortion bans are the order of the day.

       A glance at the House Republican budget is instructive.   Aside from using the word ''woke" 37 times, the document advocates raising the retirement age for social security purposes to 70 years and dismantling Obamacare.   this in the face of evidence the lifespan of the average person without a college degree is actually going down.   Many thousands of people under that scenario will die before ever collecting a dime from Social Security.  I guess they will die happy, knowing SNAP benefits will also be cut under the GOP plan and billionaires will probably snag another tax cut thanks to their sacrifice.

      Meanwhile, they seem to favor a former reality show star who has been judged a rapist, a fraudster and who is being tried as an insurrectionist.  The mind boggles.

A nation of immigrants

        Immigrants, especially the brown skinned ones crossing the southern border, are being vilified by the media, Republicans and some Democrats.  It's the same old same old.  The press plays up the lines at the border as a dire crisis, egged on by the GOP.  Democrats fall into the familiar defensive crouch.  

       The attacks come in two distinctive directions.   In the MAGA worldview, these immigrants are "poisoning the blood" of America and must be stopped.  The more orthodox Republican view is the migrants are taking jobs away from honest, hard working (i.e. white) Americans and must be stopped.

     It turns out neither view is correct.  Many spanish speaking immigrants have political views nearly identical to the MAGA crowd and will probably become reliable conservatives much like the Cubans have  over time.   Also, as Paul Krugman points out in today's NYT, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that immigrants wind up doing jobs native born Americans won't do.   At the same time, this much younger cohort of foreign workers are contributing to medicare and social security, thereby pushing back the date where benefits will be cut.  

     For the most part, immigration is a win-win situation for Americans..   But as in previous generations, my Italian and Irish ancestors included, immigrants are targets of opportunity for demagogues.

The buying of a president

       For a mere half billion dollars, you too can own a president!   I have no doubt that pitch or something similar is being made to rich men and dictators around the world on behalf of Cheeto Jesus.   The reported addition of Paul Manafort to the tRump campaign is another indicator.  As the NY attorney general prepares to start seizing the tRump organizations assets if it cannot come up with a billion dollars or so to secure a bond for the amount of the judgement against tRump and his minions, the pressure builds on him to do anything to secure his legacy.

     Maybe Elon Musk would like a president who toadies to a rich and famous man.  Or maybe Kim Jong Un would come through for his dear friend.  Or a long list of national security risks who would demand a quid pro quo for any monetary help they might provide.  You get the idea.

Are you kidding me?

      Another weekend, another tRump rally, another head scratching take on a subset of my fellow Americans.   How can any thinking, feeling human being sit through a session of the word salad that makes up most of tRump's stump speech and not come away feeling mentally and emotionally dirty?

      He spews lies and hate the way most of us breathe.   He encourages his cultish followers to wallow in the intolerance he personifies.  He compares migrants to ''animals'' who are "poisoning the blood of America".  He wants to round up tens of millions of people in the country illegally and intern them in giant camps while they await deportation to countries many have not seen since they were toddlers.  He gets rapturous applause for this hateful rhetoric.  What are the rest of us to make of this spectacle?

     He threatens a "bloodbath'' if he is not elected in November and then promises to be dictator for a day upon assuming the presidency.  Meanwhile his many legal teams attempt to delay or derail the criminal trials he faces.    Yet, his followers remain doggedly faithful.  Is it the man or the message?  

Spring

       Although we are still 5 days away from the vernal equinox and the official start of spring, three reliable harbingers of spring occurred yesterday!   The Peru girls' softball team started spring practice, the local golf driving range opened and i planted the first spinach of the season.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature is foreclosing spring activities in the near future, but we have staked a claim for the changing of the seasons.

Fool me three times...

         It's getting hard to make the case the press and the mainstream media are being fooled by the flood of disinformation directed at them by Republicans.  At one time it was thought the media played up any little scandal attached to Democrats to counterbalance the horrific scandal machine that was tRump.  

      In 2016, despite the sleaze surrounding the Republican nominee, the press insisted on flogging Hillary's e-mail practices despite knowing there was no serious irregularities.  Under tRump, the White House became as porous as a sieve with Jared and Ivanka doing the same thing the press excoriated Clinton for.  

      Fast forward to 2024.  tRump is criminally indicted in 4 different jurisdictions, has been named a sexual abuser in the E. Jean Carroll case and convicted of fraud in a civil case in New York.  What is the press obsessing about?   Joe Biden's age and Hunter Biden's laptop.  I rest my case.

Tik Tok, etc.

      I freely admit I know little to nothing about Tik Tok outside the fact it is used as a primary source of information by millions of people.  So is Facebook, instagram and X, formerly known as twitter.  Seemingly, the only difference among these various platforms is possible Chinese government involvement in Tik Tok.  

      Until tRump's lukewarm endorsement of Tik Tok yesterday, the right wing of American politics was beside itself with rage at the possibility the Chinese were polluting the minds and scraping information from American youth.  Let''s see where they land today in light of the Dear Leader's endorsement.

You can't make this stuff up

      Katie Britt's response to the SOTU and Scarlett Johansen's spot on parody on Saturday Night Live could have been run interchangeably as far as I can tell and it says something about today's Republican party.  Not in a good way.   Britt's breathless delivery as she delivered a string of lies about the Biden administration's policies was perfectly captured by Johansen's characterization of the Alabama senator as "the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot".

     After being fact checked on a particularly egregious lie about human trafficking, Britt was forced to walk it back at various right wing media spots over the weekend.  At least she was willing to do that much.  As we all know, tRump would never apologize for lying to the American public.  In fact, his policy is to double down on the issue, the truth by damned.  Welcome to today's Republican party.

Whaddya know, Joe

      the Democratic nominee for president showed up last night at the State of the Union address to Congress and for the most part he wowed the nationwide audience.  Joe Biden looked and sounded invigorated by the spotlight as he pounded tRump and the GOP for an hour and a half while giving the Dems something to cheer about.

      If this is the Biden who hits the campaign trail in the weeks and months to come, he'll be giving the opposition nightmares as November nears.   The president wasn't perfect, but he didn't need to be.  He just had to show that while his body may betray him on occasion, his mind remains sharp and up to the rigors of the campaign trail.

Wages and prices

      Wages for the bottom 20% of American workers have increased in real terms faster than any other segment over the past 4 years.  In large part this is because in many states, the minimum wage has risen to over $15./hr.  This has in turn put pressure on prices which leads to apocryphal stories of $18. Big Mac meals (our local McDonalds is at $12.19 for that deal).

     Fast food prices have always been a source of discontent for consumers who have counted on cheap food to boost their spending power.  Any rise in prices is seen as an affront.  Wages typically make up the biggest single factor in fast food pricing, so, rising wages affect pricing more directly than other inputs such as rent and food pricing.

     Ironically, as lower income workers wages increase, middle income workers resent the gains, feeling they come at their expense.  Overall, reductions in wage inequality are good for the economy.  However, long run gains come at the cost of short term pain.  In other words, a $12. Big Mac may be the price we all pay for worker dignity.

Same as it ever was

        Having read Evan Osnos' 11,000 word essay on Joe Biden's quest for a second term I was torn between two responses.   The 72 year old me on the one hand wants to cheer the 81 year old president for his surprising stamina, while at the same time being horrified by the toll he is inviting on himself.  As with many of us, the spirit is willing, but will the flesh respond?

      Osnos gently grilled the president on issues both domestic and foreign and Biden responded with alacrity.  You may not agree with all of his solutions, but you have to respect his reasoning.  His Achilles heel is his age.  He really can't do much about it.   Running the country while campaigning non stop for months is something new for him.  Cheeto Jesus has no such impediments.  It will be a photo finish, but as Rachel Maddow pointed out on Monday night, it is a binary choice.

It ain't over til, etc.

            The most recent polls of the presidential race have Democrats doomscrolling and reading a spate of articles suggesting the party dump Joe Biden in favor of "Johnny Unbeatable" or whoever is the flavor of the moment.   Let me just say the time for Biden to step aside would have been a year ago at the very least.   Despite talk of a brokered convention, there is no way short of a health emergency that Biden will not be the nominee.   It is time to think positive.

         The race is now in a statistical tie.   A sizable majority of the population has no idea who the nominees will be at this point.  In the first tRump-Biden matchup, the more people saw the unhinged GOP candidate, the less they liked him.   There is no reason to think it will be different this time around, especially as tRump exhibits more and more symptoms of dementia.

      The economy continues to do well and more and more people are buying into Bidenomics.  The only other issues people continue to harp on are crime and immigration.  Statistics say violent crime is at a 50 year low.  Meanwhile an immigration bill designed to address border concerns was blocked by tRump.  The Dems have 8 months to change minds on these issues.  All in all, I would rather be a Democratic strategist than a Republican at this point in the race.

Hot tubs and frogs

     We set a couple of new record high temperatures last week and it looks like another record will fall today as we get into the upper 50s to lower 60s here in New York's north country.  Most of us will be glad to shed our winter coats for the day and I'm sure some kids will be wearing flip flops to school, but, (play ominous music), this is not just a freak thaw.  It is a continuation of long term trends.  I feel like a frog in a hot tub with the temperature set too high.  It feels good right now, but... 

Always be lying

       As I have said before, unlike political junkies such as myself, the vast majority of Americans don't pay attention to politics until a couple of months before the election.  The latest Supreme Court ruling doesn't play in Peoria since understanding it would require more effort than most people are willing to expend. A sizable minority probably can't name their congressional representatives. 

    A political economy such as this is ripe for a congenital liar to exploit.  tRump lies as naturally as breathing and most of us allow the lies to slide, creating a slippery slope to believability.  This is especially pernicious with the "I'm rubber, you're glue" type of argument at which he excels.  He has managed to convince a fair number of people that Biden is an abortion opponent moments after bragging he is responsible for the demise of Roe vs. Wade.

    It is going to be a long eight months to the 2024 elections.  We are in for a tsunami of lies and misleading statements from Republicans in general and tRump in particular.  Keep your BS detectors on.

The long con

       I watched "The Big Short" last night as part of an assignment in a class on finance I am taking along with 15 other "senior scholars" and I was transfixed by the movie version of the book by Michael Lewis.  you can laugh at the Wolf of Wall Street and other movies dealing with finance, but The Big Short exposes the greed and stupidity of the entire system and the belief of these masters of the universe that any mistakes or crimes they commit will be forgiven and the government will ultimately bail out the financial system because it is too big to fail.  i urge anyone reading this to watch The Big Short.  it makes the phenomenon of tRump all too easy to understand.

Rage and hate

       I'm beginning to think the default emotional setting for many, white, rural Americans is rage against the system, aka, the government and hate for brown or black skinned people who they perceive as inferior.   This hatred comes in more and less virulent strains.  I live in a semi rural area which overwhelmingly supports Cheeto Jesus and his anti immigrant policies.  Many realize tRump has no policy which will alleviate the economic distress they feel, but his rhetoric gives them the permission to substitute hate for any perceived grievance, so here we are.

     In his column in today's NYT, Paul Krugman tries to diagnose the problem, but comes up with no solutions.  For many rural whites, the solution is a strong, white Daddy who will deport millions of immigrants and make sure blacks know their place in society.  To them, as with millions of whites in the south during the Jim Crow era, poverty is bearable as long as someone is beneath you.   There is no way to reason with theses people.   Only by beating them repeatedly at the ballot box and rebuilding the rural American economy in a more inclusive way will we overcome the rage and hate.

Civics 101

       I don't expect every American to spend as much time as i do obsessing about politics.  Like many Boomer retirees, time is one thing i have in abundance.   I read several newspapers during the day as well as blogs I agree and disagree with.  I think i have a pretty good bullshit detector.  But, according to a recent poll only 39% of voters believed Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2024.  Come on people!!

Say it ain't so, Joe

       The "Joe Biden is too old to be President" campaign reached a fever pitch among political junkies the other day.  Ezra Klein published an audio essay advocating Joe Biden should step aside and allow an open convention to choose his successor as the Democratic nominee for 2024. 

    I am of two minds on this topic.  As a septuagenarian myself, I am mystified why anyone over 70 would want to be president, unless to avoid prison, like the Republican frontrunner.  In Biden's case, I would hazard a guess he is running because he can and because a second term would firmly cement his legacy in the pantheon of presidents.

     Unfortunately for those who feel like Klein does, I can pretty much guarantee that barring some sort of serious injury, Biden will be the nominee.  Deal with it.  In the face of a death to democracy second tRump term, Democrats need to unite around Biden for the good of the country.

      

Media fellow travelers

       The news that Hunter Biden's main accuser and the source of breathless media coverage about the possibility of the House impeaching Joe Biden based on this source's tale of a $5 million bribe funneled to the then VP  was arrested and charged with lying to the FBI should have been front page news.   Instead, the NYT put the story on page 16.

       The right has written off the mainstream media, especially newspapers, since that requires their cult members to actually read.  The Times' readership therefore expects a truthful, factual account of the story it is covering.  In an effort to keep the horserace narrative alive,  this requires legacy media outlets like the Times to minimize the news that favors Biden and maximize that  favorable to the Orange Voldemort.  I guess the prospect of covering 4 more years of tRump chaos rather than 4 more years of good governance is enticing to their bottom line.   But you would think the imminent death of democracy in the wake of a tRump victory might curb their enthusiasm for Cheeto Jesus.

The GOP agenda

      It's hard to keep in mind how on the one hand, Republican candidates seem to be running on a policy free agenda.  Mostly, they are telling us not to worry our little heads about what they will do once installed in office.  Lately, they have been right.  Governing is not their strong suit.   Even if they controlled both houses of Congress it is unlikely they could do much to damage the country.  However, there is a heavy industry of Republican think tanks waiting in the wings to reshape and constrain democracy should tRump win the presidency in November.

     Doing away with free and fair elections will be first on the agenda.  Subjugation of women via abortion bans and even banning birth control is also an aspiration.  The list goes on.  Imagine every right you have taken for granted during your life is under attack.  It is that bad and could conceivably get worse should Cheeto Jesus somehow win.  Dog help us all.

Getting Worser all the time

      It breaks my brain to imagine the spectacle of a disgraced, twice impeached, multiply indicted former president on stage at a sneaker convention, hawking gold colored kicks emblazoned with the American flag and the tRump logo for $399 a pair.

     Of course, this is the same guy who at least attempted to sell tRump vodka and tRump steaks, not to mention tRump University.   All of these grifts ultimately failed as I have no doubt so will the latest example.   But, as one commentator put it I'll let PT Barnum and H.L. Mencken have the last words.

What's old is new

      The GOP clown car continues to roll.  Impeaching a cabinet secretary for the crime of disagreeing with the Republican mantra there is a crisis at the southern border.  Losing George Santos' seat to the Democrats in a preview off the 2024 election in swing states.  Finally, the MAGA wing of the party threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine to satisfy tRump and Putin.  A prodigious body of stupidity accomplished in 24 hours.

Be afraid, be very afraid

      The mainstream press and media talk about Donald tRump as if they are of two minds.  On the one hand many pundits maintain Cheeto Jesus is an existential threat to democracy.  On the other, he is irresistible click bait for both his fans and his detractors.   Add to this his ongoing legal saga and he continues to command 24/7 coverage and enough neutral to friendly reporting to convince a lot of people he is merely a blowhard who need not be feared.   Some people are sounding the alarm, but too many in the media seem to prefer the spectacle of a mentally impaired tRump to a quietly competent Biden.  

Dark Brandon strikes again

      With flames shooting out of his eyes, Dark Brandon once again confounded the MAGATS watching the Super Bowl in hopes of seeing Taylor Swift's favorite team and player humiliated.  Underneath the picture of Joe Biden''s alter ego was the phrase '' Just like we planned it".   About the only thing missing was Swift and Travis Kelce standing on the 50 yard line and endorsing the president's reelection bid.  Don't worry, it's coming..

Have they no decency

      The gratuitous verbal slander in special prosecutor Robert Hur's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified documents was calculated as it was over the top.  As one commentator put it, adjectives and adverbs have no place in a prosecutorial summary, especially when explaining a decision not to prosecute.  Much as in James Comey's infamous press conference on Hilary's e-mail management, Hur used his office in a glaringly partisan way, putting his thumb on the scale to slur the president.

      Of course, Democrats, and especially Merrick Garland, bear a share of the blame also.   In the tradition perpetrated by Republicans, only GOP prosecutors are allowed to investigate presidents of either party.  Going all the way back to Watergate there is an unbroken line of Republicans scrutinizing presidents with nary a democrat in the mix.

     Hur knew his comments would provoke another round of "Biden is senile and incompetent " stories.   A craven media ecosystem is likely to let him get away with it.

Supreme Kabuki

        The Supreme court will hear oral arguments today on the question of whether or not Donald tRump can appear on the ballot in Colorado or indeed in any state.   Millions of pro and anti tRump partisans will listen to the arguments.   Meanwhile, the issue has already been decided by the so called  "originalists'' on the court.  They just have to choose which rationalization to use to make the decision plausible.

      

Dropping shoes and crashing clown cars

       If you read newspapers and follow cable news, it seems virtually impossible that tRump and his legal troubles and the chaos surrounding the MAGA party are not top of mind of any thinking citizen.   Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.   A majority of the electorate is still tuned out and thinking more about what's for dinner tonight than the fate of American democracy.

       Meanwhile, those of us who would rather read Heather Cox Richardson than a  take out menu were gratified an appeals court rejected tRump's claim of presidential immunity.   Add the spectacle of house Speaker Mike Johnson's failure to count votes for the impeachment of the Homeland Secretary and you have a hilarious round of schadenfreude served up in time for dinner.  Next up, the death sentence for the tRump organization.  Bring on the popcorn.

Immigrants and the American Id

       In another round of performance cruelty, Republicans shot down another attempt at border reform originating in the Senate with input from the administration.  It would have been a less humane package and would surely have pissed off liberals who favor orderly immigration, especially from countries which have been screwed over by American policies.  

      Meanwhile, America's birthrate is falling and immigration is a key to maintaining a vigorous country as the native population ages.   The GOP elite gets this as does their billionaire sponsors.  However, chaos at the border energizes the MAGA base and despite the evidence these troglodytes are no longer the key to winning elections, I guess it is easier to keep throwing the red meat to the base than appealing to a larger electorate.

     Despite the mythology of the ''nation of immigrants" we teach in schools, a pretty fair percentage of the population is xenophobic.  It is hardwired in many peoples' brains and is likely not  something we can educate them out of.

bread and circuses

       One of the pillars of the American system since the middle of the 20th century is cheap food for the masses.   Ever since the days of parity in the late 1940s,  American farmers have been crushed by government regulations designed to keep food cheap.  The industrialization of agriculture drove many small family farmers out of business.  My own father was one of these victims.  He owned a small egg producing farm on eastern Long Island and wound up losing it as egg production shifted to factory farms with hundreds of thousands of birds in cages rather than the free range operations with a few thousand layers.

     Thousands of other small egg producers were also driven off the land in the 50s as well as small meat and vegetable growers.   The same happened to many small supermarkets run as mom and pop operations.  By consolidating all these farms and stores food prices have remained lower here than in most countries.   

     Now people are complaining about grocery prices as mega farms, processors and retailers seek to increase their margins.  More and more people are relying on cheaper highly processed foodlike substances which are causing widespread obesity problems.  All because the government actively and passively encouraged the consolidation which politicians now rail against.

Up is down, etc.

      I have probably written about the MAGA world's casual connection with reality before, but it seems to be getting more tenuous by the day, so here we are again.

     In the old Superman comics,   Bizzaro world or Htrae is the inversion of everything on earth one.  The more stupid you are, the more you are admired.  Ditto for lying your ass off.   You can see where I am going with this.  tRump is the Bizzaro superman whose sole power is the ability to lie to his cult followers.  It is enough.

Living and dying by the lie

       If the Judge in the New York state fraud trial against tRump rules as expected today, the disgraced, twice impeached, quadruply indicted former president may have to start selling assets in order to pay the expected hundreds of millions in penalties that will be imposed.   In addition, tRump will probably be barred from operating his business in New York.

      tRump has operated his entire adult life by lying his ass off to customers, banks, regulators and anyone involved in his businesses.   He has refused to admit any culpability, which has led to an $83 million judgement in favor of E. Jean Carroll.  Schadenfreude is all well and good, so relax with a bowl of popcorn tonight and enjoy!

January gloom and doom

      It's that time of year again in New York's north country.  Cloudy and cold with occasional snow showers almost every day is the forecast for the week.  I think SAD ( seasonal affective Disorder) is rampant among residents, making for short tempers and lugubrious outlooks on life.  At least the Divine Mrs. M and I can look forward to a trip to Southern Italy in early April.  Most of our fellow residents will just have to put up with winter for at least 3 more months.  Ugh!

The Cult is strong

          An exit poll taken during the New Hampshire primary asked GOP primary voters if they felt tRump was qualified to be president even if he was convicted of a crime and a majority answered yes.   That's about as damning an indictment of the Republican party as can be imagined.   

        Of course, it's hard to blame the average Republican Joe for his belief that Cheeto Jesus can do no wrong.   After all, he probably uses FOX news as his major source for information and virtually every GOP elected official has endorsed the orange savior.  Leaders of political parties are supposed to help their rank and file members make informed choices in local and national elections.  Instead, they allow and even endorse the lies tRump tells every time he opens his mouth.  The GOP is a broken party which has been hijacked by a cult leader with the complicity of its erstwhile leaders.  

The new normal

       The normalizing of tRump and by extension the Republican party is on the minds of many pundits as Cheeto Jesus continues to consolidate his candidacy for the GOP's presidential nomination.  Corruption, lies, racism, proto-fascism and misogyny have been either ignored or in some corners of the media, celebrated.  

       The 2024 elections are still 9 months away and I am already exhausted by the outrage and ennui this candidacy inspires.  

Participation trophies

       The headlines in my local fish wrap today concerned the political fortunes of two prominent Republican women;  Nikki Haley and Elise Stefanik.   The stories were mainly a rehash of Haley's presidential run following the New Hampshire primary and Stefanik's not so subtle campaign to be chosen as tRump's running mate in the 2024 election cycle. 

      Haley's campaign is apparently running on fumes and wealthy donor money as the primary sweepstakes shifts to South Carolina where you would expect her to have a political advantage as a former governor.  Not so.   The state is tRump country and he has used a combination of threats and promises of rewards to line up nearly 150 endorsements, including both senators and the present governor.  As one Democratic official put it, "she is going to get creamed" in the February 24 primary unless she is blessed with the hamburger from heaven event.

     Meanwhile, the shame of NY-23, Stefanik, continues her shameless kissing of the disgraced, indicted former president's backside in an effort to be named the VP candidate.   Love her or hate her, she has some serious political skills and no conscience whatsoever.   The adjectives, repulsive and despicable were used by her Democratic predecessor to describe her politics.   tRumps' advisors are probably telling him she brings nothing to the table except complete subservience.  However, for cheeto Jesus, that may be enough.

Owning the Libs is the point

          Aside from giving them the green light to hate religious and ethnic minorities, the enduring popularity of tRump rests on his ability to own the libs.   The haters who attend his rallies look forward to his ritual humiliation of the reporters sent to cover him.  beyond that, they love his promise of "retribution'' against their perceived enemies.   In many cases, it's not blue collar folks who cheer on and venerate Cheeto Jesus.  It's comfortable middle class jerks who seem to have been looking for an avatar of hate whose infantile insults against liberals and intellectuals touch some primal need to pull down those they perceive as their betters.

     For some reason, pundits of all ideological stripes avoid calling out the 25 to 30% of the electorate who would as soon burn down American democracy as save it.  Hillary Clinton euphemistically called the "basket of deplorables" and was roundly criticized for it.  These are people who fly the confederate battle flag at rallies and consider the end of slavery a tragedy.  They were probably Democrats in the pre civil rights era, but switched parties in the 70s and 80s as the GOP devolved into  the party of white racial grievance.  

    So, here we are, watching people who should know better (looking at you, Elise Stefanik) embarrass themselves by worshipping at the altar of tRump, hoping once more to own the libs. 

Ronnie, we hardly knew ye...

          Goodbye and good riddance to Meatball Ron and his campaign.    As his donors found out, they could have used the couple of hundred million they invested in the Florida governor if they had donated it to homeless shelters to burn for heat.

        DeSantis was hailed by pundits as tRump without the baggage.   The trouble was he was an unlikable a--hole who believed without evidence he was the smartest man in the room.  To top it all off, he pledged fealty to Cheeto Jesus despite or maybe because of the humiliation visited upon him by the latter's campaign.   Move over Scott Walker, you now have company at the losers' banquet.

Break out the torches and pitchforks

      According to wage income data provided by the Social Security Administration, the average wage for the bottom 90% of earners has increased (in 2022 adjusted dollars) from a little over $30,000 in 1979 to a little over $40,000 in 2022.   That's less than 1%/year.  the 90-99th percent did better, averaging about 3% per year.  The real winners were the top 1% who tripled their income over the last 40 years..  The biggest winners of all were the top .1% .  Their income soared 344% during that period.  The billionaire class today can now afford to buy senators and supreme court justices whose legislation and judicial rulings will keep this new aristocracy in power for the forseeable future.  The last time such glaring inequality was sanctioned was in France, just before the Revolution.   Pitchforks anyone...

Of snickers bars and blowhards

      In today's NYT, the chief economist for UBS wealth management argues the average consumer should place less emphasis on the price of snickers bars and more on the price of wide screen TVs.  Prices of so called durable consumer goods have fallen precipitously over the past year.  Unfortunately for Joe Biden, the price of snickers bars remains higher than last year.  Hence, consumer malaise.

     This is another BS argument.   A couple of months ago it was the price of gasoline which was spooking the American consumer.   Now that gas is below $3.00/gallon in many places, economists need another whipping boy.  On to the snickers theory of economic precarity.  The simple fact is right wing media has led a relentless drumbeat of misleading, cherrypicked data showing the economy in the worst possible light.   Meanwhile, if you asked these same, mostly republican consumers about their own situation, most are satisfied.   Coming next week, the toilet paper theory of consumer confidence!

Who are these people?

        50,000 or so Iowans created or sustained the candidacy of a disgraced, indicted libertine former president and fed a media firestorm which supposed that somehow this tiny minority of idiots should somehow have an influence over a nation of nearly 350.,000,000 people.

        Most of tRump's supporters in Iowa seem to be low information, poorly educated evangelical  self professed "christians" with an ideology more proto-fascist than biblical.  While there may be a few true believers among them, the majority embraces the white supremacist view that America was chosen by god to be the redoubt for white, European protestants.    Other religions, ethnic groups and especially blacks need not apply.

      Fortunately, evangelicals play an outsize role in the nominating process, but due to attrition, they make up a smaller slice of the electorate each year.  Hopefully after a conviction or two, tRump may start to lose  some of his luster with women and young people of faith.   There will be little or no drop off in support among his core supporters; old, white men.  They need to go to their reward as quickly as possible.

Trust

       Like many in my generation, I know government statistics are compiled and charted by an apolitical bureaucratic (in a good way) system.   Regardless of the political party in power in the executive, the stats are collected and documented in a non-partisan manner, without fear or favor.  Remarkably, these numbers track very closely to the perception of most of us when asked about our personal economic situation.

      Problems develop when people are asked to opine about the national economy.   A majority of us, influenced in no small part by right wing media scare stories, tell pollsters things are terrible for other people. 

      Despite overwhelmingly positive stats about the economy, Joe Biden has polled as low as 33% in a recent nationwide survey.   If nothing else, it proves that relentless negative propaganda works.

Perspective

      I was a high school junior on April 4, 1968,   That was the day Martin Luthor King jr. was assasinated in Memphis.   I really can't remember anything about the day.  Yet, I vividly remember the day JFK was killed in 1963,   Perhaps it was the difference in news coverage of the events.  the killing of a sitting US president would generate far more coverage than the murder of a civil rights leader.   But it is more than that.

      We lived in a far more racist society in the 60's than we do today.  It was understood in our small towns on eastern Long Island that "negros" were farm laborers for the most part and were grudgingly accepted by most whites as long as they understood that they were second class citizens.  We were a world away from the civil rights movement and most of us, myself included were not about to put our lower  middle class identity at risk to fight for equal rights for blacks.  

       Today's high school juniors are as far removed from MLK's death as my class was from the first world war.   For many, today is a respite from the rigors of academia.  For a few, there will be brief acknowledgement of how far we have yet to go in the matter of racial equality. As 1968 slides further into the rear view mirror of history, I hope future generations will join MLK on the mountain top and see into the promised land.   

Immigration and economics

      The title of this blog post could easily be expanded into a very boring book, but it can be boiled down to a couple of paragraphs and still be cogent and coherent.

      The simple reason behind most illegal border crossing is people's desire for a better life for themselves and their children.   In many cases, their mission coincides with corporate America's search for cheap labor.   When the economy is growing, the need for labor which would otherwise result in higher wages is supplied by the stream of immigrants who are illegally hired by corporations who look the other way at forged documents.

     There are laws on the books with penalties for hiring illegals.  If the government enforced the laws and applied the appropriate penalties, illegal border crossings would plummet as word got out that there were no jobs to be had without proper documents.  It is that simple, but both Democrats and Republicans refuse to demand the laws on the books be enforced.

How great thou art

       There has been an abundance of thinkpieces dedicated to exploring the unholy alliance of tRumpism and evangelical protestentism.   Mostly the pundits who write these essays opt for branding evangelicals as cynical hypocrites who have sold the proposition that Cheeto Jesus was sent by their god to champion the return to some imagined earthly paradise which exists only in their fever dreams.

     I think there is another interpretation of evangelicals attraction to a twice impeached sexual assaulter and serial adulterer.  At least some of the aforementioned community believes an all knowing and loving god bestows both good and bad ''blessings" upon the faithful.  

     The Divine Mrs M keeps a subscription to a book which features 365 daily devotions.  A rotating cast of evangelicals attempt to reconcile earthly tribulations with a divine plan.  Today's musing was how despite the manifest horror of the covid pandemic, somehow we must see this as a blessing from god.   It is only a short step from that proposition to believing the Creator sent us tRump as a manifestation of his love for us.  

Stormy weather

      While I was clearing my driveway this morning of 4 inches of heavy, wet snow, i was listening to the Nice Polite Republican on NPR.  I was somewhat shocked when their media reporter opined that the present gloomy public sentiment regarding the economy was at least partially driven by negative reporting from mainstream media as well as the usual suspects on the right.

      Despite the overwhelmingly good numbers on unemployment and falling inflation along with strong consumer spending, a majority of Americans are seemingly willing to tell anyone who will listen they are unhappy with the national economy.    Of course most of the doomsayers also say their own situation is good.  The tsunami of bad economic stories coming out of midwest diners blame Joe Biden for the fact that eggs are not 50 cents a dozen like in the halcyon days of yore.  

      Meanwhile, winter is making up for lost time in the north country.  We have had two storms in the last few days and more is on the way.

Deforming the system

        Suggesting a Supreme Court justice will "do the right thing" regarding a ruling on an active case is just the latest example of the deforming effect tRump's candidacy for the Republican nomination to the presidency is having on America.

      Paul Krugman in today's NYT speculates that any move by the Federal Reserve to cut rates will be met by howls of outrage by MAGA world.  tRump and his minions would prefer a recession hit the country in the run up to the 2024 elections.  the GOP, a wholly owned subsidiary of tRump will project his own desire to manipulate interest rates onto Joe Biden in an effort to game the system to his advantage.

    Other areas of America's intellectual infrastructure, including the press are deforming under the relentless corruption of the disgraced, indicted former president.  

total embarrassment

       Once again i feel the need to apologize to my fellow Americans for the behavior of my Congressional representative.  Elise Stefanik was obviously auditioning to be on tRump's short list of candidates for his running mates when she appeared on Meet the Press and responded to a question about whether the January 6 insurrectionists should be held to account by saying she was "concerned about the January 6 hostages".

      Stefanik has gone from a center right Republican who bragged she could work with Democrats to an extreme MAGA superfan who licks any body part tRump exposes in an effort to advance her career.  She should realize that short of major plastic surgery, the somewhat dumpy and unlovely representative from NY will only see the VP's residence in DC as a tourist.

He is the disease

        My argument this morning is tRump is the disease afflicting the Republican party, not a symptom of its decline from legitimate political party to a cult of personality.  Most media pundits seem to be of the opinion that if Cheeto Jesus did not exist, someone else would have stepped up as the standard bearer of a party devoted to sham social issues that mask its slavish devotion to the priorities of the 1%.

       I'm here to tell you it is virtually impossible to contain all the above contradictions in a single candidate.   Just look at Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.   Meatball Ron's downfall started with his war on the "woke" Disney corporation.  there is no way tRump would have picked that fight.  The same with Haley and her non denial that slavery was the chief cause of the Civil War.  In both cases, the disgraced, indicted former President would have vomited some word salad which would have appeased the public and confounded his critics.  Reagan may have been the teflon president.  tRump is the nonsense president.

     The peculiar sociopathic skill set which both energizes his deplorable base and confuses his critics is not easily duplicated.   A rational mind cannot contain the contradictions.  tRump is truly a once in a generation talent.  I'm not saying the GOP will regain its collective sanity when the Orange Julius fades from the scene.  Too many wannabes will want to try their own mix of despicable social and political policies, but as Haley and DeSantis are finding out, it's impossible to out trump tRump.    It will take several electoral disasters for the party to regain its status as a viable alternative.

Behind every silver lining

       After extolling the economic recovery in Paul Krugman's sunny column yesterday, the NYT had to muddy the waters with a partly cloudy '"news" article designed to rain on Krugman's parade.  Although, in all honesty, even the cherry picked data the reporter used was pretty weak.  About halfway through the story, the reporter all but admitted deflation was as much a possibility as inflation in 2024.   If you managed to read all the way to the end, you can read her pet economist assert there are "risks'' to the economy on the horizon.  Meanwhile, we wonder why many people are pessimistic about said economy.

Happy Days...

        According to most if not all economic indicators, we are in happy days are here again territory.  Employment remains strong, workforce participation is high and consumer confidence is surging.  

        Despite all the good news, right wing "news" outlets and the MAGA enthusiasts who listen to the drumbeat of an economic hellscape would have us believe the next great depression is happening as i write this.   Of course, denying the evidence of your lying eyes is par for the course in today's GOP.  When your electoral prospects depend on pacifying the lowest common denominator in your party, that's what you do.

       Fortunately, the Democrats' and Biden's poll numbers are beginning to reflect most Americans lived experience.