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New York City Council Endorses Donald Trump for President: This Isn’t an April Fools Joke

October 24, 2021
by Peter Feinman
NYC Public Design Commission calls for toppling statues of slave-owner Ramses II at Abu Simbel (Wikepedia)

In a stunning and surprising move the Public Design Commission in New York City voted to endorse Donald Trump for the presidency in 2024. Amazingly, this action was taken three years before the election. It occurred in a jurisdiction that voted overwhelmingly against him in both 2016 and 2020. One might legitimately wonder why the Commission is so eager to encourage people to vote for Trump.

To answer that question, one should consider two facets of the puzzle: the historical and the political. The decision by the Commission to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson from the Council chambers is both a political issue for the election itself (and possibly the 2022 Congressional elections as well) and an historical one as America prepares for the 250th anniversary of the signing of a document Jefferson wrote at the birth of the country.

NEW YORK AND THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY

During the 2021 legislative session, the New York State Senate and Assembly authorized the creation of a state commission for the 250th. Besides the obvious historical reasons for such a commission, as a matter of procedure, federal money for the 250th will be distributed through state commissions. Therefore it behooves states to create such commissions.

The bill is waiting for the Governor signature. Under the previous Governor, bills like this one tended to linger until the fourth quarter when they would be authorized. As an example, the bill for the quadricentennial of the non-New York 1619 event was not finally signed until 2020, meaning after the anniversary had occurred. A commission was to be created perhaps to be made public in March, 2020. That also was the time of covid, so in the end there never was a 1619 Quadricentennial Commission in New York.

A similar delay will not occur here. The new Governor obviously is quite busy right now including preparing for her own election campaign in 2022. I have been told that she soon will sign the bill. It definitely is to her advantage to own the 250th as New York was very involved in the American Revolution and in its continued legacy.

In some ways, there is no rush. While the Federal program is gearing towards 2026, things in New York will just be getting started then and will continue until Evacuation Day, November 25, 2033. In fact, the first big event in New York occurred just after July 4, 1776. The event is the toppling of the statue of King George III on July 9, 1776, at Bowling Green, just a few blocks from City Hall and the city council chambers.

So the first big event in New York as part of the 250th will be the response by New Yorkers to the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Undoubtedly this will be a big tourist event. The toppling of the statue will be re-enacted. Perhaps there will even be a convoy to Connecticut where the metal from the bronze statue became bullets for the Patriot army. The only one missing from this Declaration event will be Thomas Jefferson. He will be missing because:

“Jefferson embodies some of the most shameful parts of our country’s history,” said Adrienne Adams, Queens, co-chair Black and Latino caucus, New York City Council.

One possible disposition of the statue under discussion is to the New-York Historical Society. However in response to that suggestion current New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron said:

“I don’t think it should go anywhere. I don’t think it should exist. I think it should be put in storage or destroyed or whatever.”

The physical removal of Thomas Jefferson from the New York City Council chambers is easier than cancelling him from the American Revolution and its legacy. The legacy of the Declaration continued on in the efforts to end slavery in the United States. The legacy of the Declaration continued on in the efforts of white women to gain the same rights as white men. The legacy of the Declaration continues on to this very as an ideal by which to measure ourselves and to bend the arc of history. But not in the New York City Council. Will it cancel George Washington too?

THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS

Why do I say the action of the Public Design Commission in New York City is an endorsement of Trump? I certainly do not mean to suggest that the individual members of the Commission support him or want other people to vote for him. I am saying that their actions encourage people to vote for him. The Commission has taken a stand in the culture wars. Not everyone agrees with that decision or supports that side in the culture wars.

At this point there is no reason to pretend that we are not a divided country. We are an intensely polarized country. Masks have been weaponized. Vaccinations have been weaponized. 1619 has been weaponized. The American flag itself has been weaponized. People who fly it or show it or have it painted on a truck are presumed to have a particular political and cultural point of view. In an article entitled “A Fourth of July Symbol that May No Longer Unite”( NYT 7/3/21), the issue of the connection between the flag and a political party was raised. Peter Treiber, a farmer who has a flag painted on his potato truck, often is presumed to have political views which he does not share. He is concerned that the left has all but ceded the flag to the right.

Joe Biden, of course, embraces the flag. But in the Democratic Party, he is the remnant of the dying past and not the wave of the future. One should always keep in mind that he is the only Democrat who could have defeated Trump in 2020 and at this point is the only Democrat with a chance of beating him in 2024. There is no Plan B. Whether Democrats understand that or not is problematical. Whether the Woke care or not is even more problematical.

One should understand the Woke actions of the Public Design Commission in this light. For those toppling, removing, cancelling or whatever Thomas Jefferson, the joy and satisfaction may be fleeting. At the same time the Commission was taking this action, columnist Tom Friedman appeared on CNN. First he appeared on Anderson Cooper and then portions of the interview were replayed by Don Lemon. Clearly they understand the importance of the message Friedman is delivering: “Our next presidential election could well be our last as a shining example of democracy (September 29, 2021, print).

Friedman did not really say anything new, only more emphatically and with greater urgency. His recent op-ed piece asked “Have We Reshaped Middle East Politics or Started to Mimic It? (September 15, 2021, print). We now have Sunnis and Shiites where an “epidemic of tribal political correctness from the left served only to energize the tribal solidarity on the right.” His thinks Democrats are digging themselves into a hole and should stop digging. He defines American as a center-left to center-right country. By contrast the politically-correct-Woke-Progressives are all left all the time. And they communicate in an elitist derogatory manner. Whereas Trumpicans claim the Joe Biden presidency is illegitimate, the Woke claim the country of the United States is illegitimate born in original sin. Far from accepting the advice of Friedman to tone it down, they will instead double down.

The political consequences for the Woke assault on the legitimacy of the United States will be detrimental to the Democrats. It did not help them in 2020 Senate and House elections. The Virginia governorship is at risk this year. It will not help Democrats in the 2022 elections. It already is taken for granted that the Democrats will lose the House of Representatives. Then the January 6 Committee will be replaced by the first of the impeach Joe Biden committees. At the moment the 2020 presidential candidate loser is going like gangbusters within his own party and chomping at the bit to declare his candidacy for 2024. He can smell the blood in the Biden polls.

In the meantime, America’s third civil war rages on. It is being fought at the local level in school districts throughout the country. School Board members are seeking protection. Covid has enabled parents to see online what is being taught in the schools. People can relate to 1619, systemic racism, critical race theory, and diversity-equity-inclusion in their own communities. They can see which party waves the American flag and which does not. They can see which party praises the Founding Fathers and which party topples them. There are plenty of online venues where these issues are being discussed. The front-page headline of my local paper today (October 24) is “Are schools making progress on diversity?” Parents already are voting with their feet to remove children from republic schools and to recall school board members. They are energized.

These issues go right to the gut of voters. America’s greatest con artist can fake being a patriot, the Woke cannot. One should keep in mind that regardless of the vote in 2024, roughly half the country will not accept the results or even agree on the results. The only real issue is what happens then.

Can West Virginia Save Ezra Klein?

October 11, 2021
by Peter Feinman
"Civil War" was a top trending topic on Twitter on Sunday after remarks from an attendee of former President Donald Trump's rally in Iowa were widely circulated online and by the media. Trump held a rally at the Iowa State Fairground in Des Moines on Saturday. At the event, Trump supporter Lori Levi told MSNBC that she believes the U.S. is headed for a "civil war." Levi criticized Democrats and Republicans, saying most members of the GOP are "as weak as they possibly could be in Congress." "They're establishment. They don't care about the American people because they're in their elite little tower," she said. "So we're just sick of it, you know, and we're not going to take it anymore. I see a civil war coming. I do. I see civil war coming." (www.newsweek.com)

West Virginia is having a moment. So far in 2021, it has been the legislative year of West Virginia. How much longer can this last? What does it mean for the elections of 2022 and beyond?

JOE MANCHIN IS NOT MITT ROMNEY

In February, 2020, I wrote a blog entitled Where Will Mitt Romney Caucus in 2021? I said the following about Manchin at the time of the second impeachment vote:

It is rare for a Senator to break with a party on an impeachment vote. So far in American history, there is only one instance of a Senator voting to remove a President of his own party. Apparently, the Impeached One thought there was a Democrat who might vote against his party. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Senator, has long been considered one of the more conservative members of the Democratic Party. He has voted more often against his Democratic caucus than with it. There seems to have been a genuine belief that this Senator (and perhaps Doug Jones of Alabama for different reasons) might defect. Obviously that did not happen. The Democratic Party remained united.

The main subject of the blog was not the impeachment vote but the 2020 Senate elections. Different outcomes were possible. I conjectured that there was the possibility of a split Senate and what it might mean.

And then there is Mitt Romney. Suppose when all is said and done, the Trumpicans have 50 Senate seats… But suppose the Democrats win the presidency. Then Romney’s vote could make the difference. In this case, the Democrats only need a net gain of two to put Romney in the driver’s seat.

At the beginning of this year, I returned to the same subject:

Depending on how the vote in Georgia plays out, Mitt Romney may potentially have the opportunity to take a leadership role in healing the country. Of course, even if that opportunity presents itself, he may not rise to the occasion to take such a leadership position. Of course, if he doesn’t, who will?

As it turned out, I had the numbers right but the Senator wrong. One Senator has been in the driver’s seat and taken a leadership position but it has been the West Virginia Senator, Joe Manchin.

THE SENATE AND EZRA KLEIN

Manchin’s position will likely change after the 2022 elections. One possibility is that the Democrats will do well and pick up seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. Such a Democratic majority in the Senate would neutralize the significance of Manchin’s vote including for the filibuster. Another possibility of course, is that the Democrats will lose their leadership in the Senate in which case Manchin will be meaningless.

The Democratic prospects in the Senate contributed to a major op-ed piece in The New York Times yesterday entitled “David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear.” Klein paints a dire picture for the Democrats in accordance with the prognostications of modeler Shor. My purpose here is not to regurgitate Shor’s predictions or Klein’s response. Rather I will hone in on the Senate-related comments.

Klein notes that the Senate configuration overweighs rural states. He cites the Republicans adding a flurry of states in 1889 and 1890 that continue to vote Republican to this very day – North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington (Democratic state level). Klein mentions the last gasp in the present Congress for additional Democratic states in Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. to rectify that imbalance.

The consequences of this division is doom for the Democrats. Essentially, Democrats can pile up the votes in states like California and New York and have little to show for it. I have always thought Democrats in California should create their own Homestead Act in other states. Imagine relocating 1-2 million Democratic voters from California to Republican and/or battleground states. In part, something like that has happened but it is Republicans in California moving to Texas instead. Think of New-York-City-dwelling Democrats who move to Florida and are replaced by immigrants who vote Democrat for a net change of zero. By contrast, when upstate Republicans move to Florida, they are replaced by no one. The result is an even more Democratic state.

In my local paper, there was a report of Westchester County Republicans becoming desperate. Once the county was Republican. Now all county positions are Democratic and all county legislators are Democratic except for one who is Conservative. The Republican Party therefore if it wishes to be successful has to live in real world. It has decided to jettison Trump to get back in the good graces of the voters. Good luck with that effort as the Hitman gears up for the 2024 election.

I mention these New York and California anecdotes to point out that major structural change is needed if the Democrats wish to overcome the Senate and Electoral College obstacles. Small actions just don’t cut it. Once again, West Virginia shows the way.

THE WEST VIRGINIA SOLUTION TO THE SENATE AND ELECTORAL COLLEGE

More and more people now are openly talking about the current civil war and the possibility of secession. On one level, I am pleased to see people are now facing the real world. For years I have been writing about the civil, not cultural war. For years I have expressed my doubts over whether we will celebrate the 250th birthday of the country in its present form. At this point baring medical concerns, the 2024 presidential election will be a rematch of the 2020 election, the first rematch since 1956. To know this far in advance who the candidates will be really is remarkable. The Hitman already has taken his show on the road to Iowa. The campaign is underway.

In 2024, no matter what, the Hitman will claim victory on Election Night. What will Joe Biden do? January 6, 2021, is small taste of what will happen if the Hitman is not certified as the winner in 2025. The civil war will move beyond the talking stage to the fighting stage. We already know that whether we want to admit it or not. Since we know this scenario will play out, what if anything can be done to minimize the looming violence?

One step is the West Virginia example from America’s Second Civil War.  The key to minimizing the violence and uncertainty is following the precedent of West Virginia. In the Second Civil War, the people of what became West Virginia separated from the Confederate state of Virginia. They did not ask Virginia’s permission; they just did it and with Federal approval.

We need to follow that precedent. The eleven Confederate states need to divide into their constituent parts – part Trumpican and part American. The boundary lines should not be that difficult to determine. There already are gerrymandered districts at the Congressional and state level. Voting results are known at the county level. As part of the post-2020 census reapportionment, the Confederate state legislatures effectively will divide their states into two groups anyway. The next step is to take that division further by creating separate states based on those boundary lines drawn by the Confederates.

The result will be eleven new states. What worked for Republicans in 1889 and 1890 can work for Democrats in 2024. The new states directly address the issues raised by Klein and in a far more decisive manner. The eleven new states mean 22 additional Senators and a reallocation of the current Representatives. The 22 states will have 44 Senators, 22 Trumpican and 22 Democrat. These numbers compare to 18 Trumpican and 4 Democrat at present. The net increase of 14 Democrats creates a high hurdle for Trumpicans to overcome to achieve control of the Senate. The separation also eliminates the issues of voter suppression, rigged counting, and partisan Secretaries of State at least in the Confederate states. It also means the current Electoral College vote totals in Confederate states including Texas and Florida will be split between the two candidates instead of winner-take-all.

We all know that winter is coming. We all know that the storm is coming. We all know that Americans will not accept the results of the 2024 presidential election. Why wait until after the fact to respond? Why not act now to minimize the violence? Separate the Confederate states into Union and Confederate peacefully now while we still can. Trumpicans are hard at work to ensure the game is rigged in 2024; it is past time for the Democrats to rise to the occasion and fight back.

Critical Thinking and the Stacey Abrams for Governor Endorsement

September 28, 2021
by Peter Feinman

Tucker Carlson calls for the banning of peanuts since someone died from eating them.

Tucker Carlson calls for the banning of sex since someone had a heart attack while having it.

Tucker Carlson calls for the banning of drinking water since someone had a stroke after drinking some.

Most likely such pronouncements would not pass muster not even on Carlson’s cable show. However, we are now experiencing case studies not in Critical Race Theory but in critical thinking. In a democracy everyone has the right to vote. We no longer can test people to determine if they have the mental necessity to vote, that is, to be informed voters capable of making critical thinking decisions about the candidates. But what we are learning, is that not all people have such skills regardless of their age and their decision making reflects that shortcoming.

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

Critical thinking skills are not the ability to memorize people, places, and dates. I mention those three examples because typically they are the way people define history in the public schools. It is all about the boring need to remember people, places, and dates, information that is readily available online should one actually have any use of it. To some extent such a characterization of history as it is taught in the public schools is true. Supposedly, the situation changes in history classes in college. The emphasis shifts from memorization and regurgitation to analysis and thinking about questions posed by the teachers and raised by the students themselves.

As a general rule, there are no child prodigies in history. On average, the public school mind is not capable of the same level of thinking as the college mind. The college mind is less capable of thinking than the adult mind in part due to the absence of experiences. The ability to incorporate real world experiences into one’s thinking changes the critical thinking skills of the individual. Ideas can become more grounded in reality.

The brain changes as one matures.  It does not happen at the exact same age for everyone, it does not develop at the same rate once it does start, and it does not end at the same place for everyone one the process starts. There is a bell curve to critical thinking skills just as there is for most things in life. There are Anthony Faucis and there are Marjorie Taylor-Greenes. Bluntly put, there are people who never will be able to think as well as others. In a democracy the issue is the ability to think well enough to be an informed voter. One problem challenging the ability of a democracy to survive is that suppose not enough people have the critical thinking skills to be an informed voter.

Let’s look at some case studies now affecting the country.

STACEY ABRAMS FOR GOVERNOR

We have just witnessed an example of the seventh-grade smart-aleck-dumb-aleck mind at work. When such a person wakes up in the morning, he does not know what smart-ass remark he will blurt out during the day. The material is not planned. It just happens. Yes, there may be some standard nasty comments but the original remarks are unanticipated. They depend on what the teacher says, how the students respond, and the individual skill of the smart-aleck-dumb-aleck to improvise based on the moment.

In other words, there was no plan to endorse Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia over Brian Kemp. Instead the speaker was in the flow. He was grooving on insulting the person who had defied him and not helped me steal the Georgia vote and win the state. As he was speaking, the nastiest insult he could think of popped into his head. He would say a Democrat is better than a RINO. He would say that a woman is better than a man. He would say that a black person is better than a white person. He would say a loser (in 2018) is better than the winner. And he would do so in one perfectly calibrated insult: Stacey Abrams would be a better governor than you are. And it felt good saying it.

Did he think through the consequences of his insult? Of course not. The seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck simply blurted what felt good for the moment. He never gave a thought to the consequences because he was incapable of thinking of the consequences. The insult felt good at the moment so he said it. Sometimes he can show minimal thinking skills: going public with getting a colonoscopy would make him the butt of jokes. He knows what cracks he would make as seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck about a colonoscopy so he understood what would happen if he was the target instead of the attacker.

Unfortunately for him, there still are some Republican adults in Georgia. They understood the significance of his wisecrack. Stacey Abrams does too. One can anticipate seeing and hearing that endorsement multiple times during the campaign in the event she does run for governor.

But what about the audience? In general, the audience responds to the utterings of the seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck. They laugh along with his insults. If he tries some adult stuff like “get vaccinated” they respond by booing. But nobody seemed to boo at the Stacey Abrams endorsement. The question must be asked why didn’t the Trumpicans boo him after his endorsement of the number one enemy of the Georgian Trumpicans? Didn’t they understand the implications of what he was saying? Didn’t they recognize the consequences? Apparently not. Maybe now they realize the impact of what he said. But at the moment of utterance, they did not have the mental necessities to boo him for that remark.

CORONAVIRUS AND RED-STATE DEATHS

The inability to make an intelligent informed decision is most visible now in the deaths from the coronavirus. Initially White House Trumpicans did not care about a virus hoax that seemingly targeted AOC people. They did not understand that the virus strikes based on opportunity and vulnerability and not on politics and race. True we had to learn about the virus, but once we did as a nation we understood that politics does matter: adult human beings in a democratic society are making informed decisions not to be vaccinated. After all it is a hoax, it is no worse than the flu, I am healthy, the vaccination is more deadly than the virus, shortcuts were used to develop the vaccine. I have done my research on the web and have made an intelligent informed decision. Don’t bother me the facts that unvaccinated people in red states are now the ones being killed. What lie are you going to tell me next? That the election wasn’t stolen? That the forensic audit in Arizona proved the election was not stolen?

The coronavirus vaccines illustrate the absence of critical thinking skills in huge portions of the population. In the September/October 2021 issue of The Pennsylvanian Gazette, Penn President Amy Gutmann, nominated to be ambassador to Germany wrote:

For decades prior, Penn medical researchers Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó had been investigating synthetic messenger RNA as a new and completely different way to prompt specific antibodies to fight against a targeted disease. Quietly in their laboratories, without fanfare, they created the breakthrough technologies that underly (sic) two of the most effective vaccines being employed to battle the pandemic: the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

Shortly afterwards, the Lasker awards for 2021 for excellence in medicine was awarded to these two research scientists, a potential precursor to winning a Nobel Prize. In the meantime, the scientists have won the $3 million Breakthrough Prize and the $1 million dollar Albany Prize.

By coincidence, an enthusiastic Penn alum wrote a letter published in the same issue as the Presidential column above on these individuals. Her concern was:

What I fail to understand is why Penn is not screaming it from the rafters. Call CNN, PBS, specifically Fox, targeting the unvaccinated audience. Get on the news so people who think the vaccines were developed too quickly can be reassured that researchers have been working on them for decades.

One can feel the emotional urgency in this letter. The writer genuinely believes that this information can save lives. The Penn alum implicitly believes that the unvaccinated people exposed to this information possess the critical thinking skills to see the light, change their minds, and become vaccinated. The evidence suggests otherwise.  Such hopes are wishful thinking. Forget about mandates. Even death doesn’t change the unvaccinated peoples’ minds.  There has been a lot of discussion about achieving herd immunity. There has been very little discussion about culling the herd of the most vulnerable people, the unvaccinated, to attain it. The American gospel of “come let us reason together” presupposes that people have the critical thinking skills to reason together. No provision has been made for situations where they don’t.

Truth in Peril: Trump Fawkes Day

September 27, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Britain Celebrates Guy Fawkes Day by Burning Trump in Effigy (www.express.co.uk)

Last January 3, I wrote a blog about political thrillers. This genre perhaps peaked in the 1960s during the height or depths of the Cold War (World War III). They were stories of intrigue and deception as people battled for power at a time when the very existence of the world was at stake.

I wrote this blog due to the circumstances as I understood them on January 3. The Hitman (not yet known by that name) was trying to steal the election. In a few short days he would seek to overthrow the Constitution. I did not know that at the time. Since then I have learned a lot especially in the past two weeks as more and more information has become available. Undoubtedly we will learn even more. It is mindboggling how close his attempt to steal the election came to succeeding and how little consequences there have been for that effort.

TRUMP DAY, OUR GUY FAWKES DAY

America now has its own Guy Fawkes Day. The original holiday occurred on November 5, 1605, when Catholics in England sought to blow up Parliament, the Houses of Lords and Commons, as it was called into session. The intention was to spark a revolt against the Protestant state and restore the true Catholic monarchy to power. Spoiler alert: the effort failed.

Guy Fawkes and his confederates were captured, tried for treason, convicted, and hanged. In 1606, Parliament designated November 5 as Guy Fawkes Day in remembrance of the Catholic attempt to overthrow the government.  The holiday continues to this very day but in a more genteel fashion. It is a day of family, friends, and fireworks plus the hanging of Guy Fawkes in effigy. Sometimes the British even burn effigies of Donald Trump on that day. When January 6 becomes Trump Day in the United States, then he will be burned in effigy here. One should keep in mind, however, that while Guy Fawkes failed, the battle to overthrow the Constitution continues and its outcome is uncertain.

THE HOUSE COMMITTEE

Before January 6 can become Trump Day, the House Committee investigating the Hitman’s attempt to steal the election has to complete its task. In some ways its job as been made much easier. Bob Woodward and Bob Costa have investigated the attempted takeover and published their findings. If the Committee simply documents those findings as a matter of law, it would be sufficient to convict the Hitman and his confederates.

We now know the six-point plan for the Vice President to overthrow the election results on January 6. He was castigated by the Hitman for not doing what needed to be done. At the time, we did not know that he had been tasked by this plan to take specific actions. We can look forward to the two of them testifying under the oath about the plan.

We now know that the Trump campaign knew the charges of election fraud were bogus. More testimony to come.

The first round of subpoenas has been issued to the key confederates of the Hitman. Of course they will resist testifying. When finally forced to testify they will all suffer from memory loss and plead the 5th. They also know that they will be charged with crimes in the final report.

The same sequence applies to a future round of subpoenas to members of Congress who helped foment the January 6 assault on America and the attempt to steal the election.

The same sequence applies to a future subpoena of the Hitman himself.

One should not ignore the political consequences to these actions by the House Committee. Besides the legal jeopardy there is a political one. The Committee knows that it has to complete its work before the next Congressional session. There is too great a risk that the Trumpicans will seize power in House and disband the Committee. The report also needs to be completed prior to the commencement of the 2022 Midterm Congressional campaign. These calculations mean that in less than one year a House Committee will have issued a report calling for the indictment of the former President of the United States, sitting members of Congress, and others for their role in the attempt to steal the election and overthrow the Constitution.

Think about what that means. In September 2022, a criminal case in New York involving the Trump organization and perhaps the Hitman himself will be underway. The DOJ will be mulling over what to do in response to the report it just received from the House Committee. Does it indict the individuals immediately, meaning before the election, does it wait until after the election, or does it do nothing? We will not know until it happens. However we can easily anticipate what will happen if the DOJ indicts the Hitman and seeks to arrest him just as the Congressional elections begin.

THE CIVIL WAR

For several years now, I have been writing about the Third Civil War in the United States. I have expressed doubt that by the time of the 250th birthday of the country that it will still exist in the same configuration it does today. By employing the Civil War term and not just culture wars, I was referring to the violence which will occur as part of this process.

Initially, I expected the 2020 Presidential election as the time when the war would break out. To some extent January 6 falls in that category but like Guy Fawkes Day it did not spark a revolt. However it did spark an outpouring of legislative actions designed to prevent the reelection of Joe Biden and to guarantee the election of the 2020 loser. Also there has developed a widespread conviction among Trumpicans that the election was in fact stolen. Nothing, including the farcical Arizona “forensic” audit can sway them from their deeply held beliefs. In this regard the situation is much like the religious war circumstances of the original Guy Fawkes Day.

So what will Trumpicans do if their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, Say Hallelujah, is charged, indicted, and taken into custody about one year from now? The civil war eruption now scheduled for the 2024 Presidential election may then be pushed up to the 2022 indictment. Any attempt to hold the Hitman responsible to for January 6 and the attempt to steal the election is likely to trigger a violent response.

People more and more are finally accepting the reality that we are two houses divided that cannot stand together as one. The language on talk shows, the op-ed pieces, and the speeches more and more express the reality that the talk of the civil war is not just talk. It is a question of when and not if. The release of the House Committee report may be the catalyst for that violence over two years before the Presidential election. It may determine if the Hitman even can be a candidate in 2024. If the United States prevails, then January 6 will become Trump Day, the American equivalent of Guy Fawkes Day. If Trumpicans prevail, then January 6 will become the new July 4th for the United States of Trump.

Mr. Ed versus Dr. Fauci: Lessons from Covid

September 10, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The true source of the inside scoop on Covid

Covid has shed a light deep into the American society and continues to do so. Unfortunately the American Covid show is playing not only for American audiences but a world one. Perhaps more than with any other country, what happens here is showcased to a global audience. So as we and the world look at America and Covid, what do we see?

AMERICA’S TECHNOLOGICAL PROWESS

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the shining lights of America’s response to Covid has been the quick development of not just one but multiple vaccines. This development was a long time in the making. It built on years of scientific research that had no immediate payback. If ever there was a case study in the benefit of pure research it is in the disease that continues to infect America. Without all that behind-the-scene and below-the-radar work by research scientists we would not have been able to develop the vaccines as quickly as we did. Whether or not the American public realizes this development history is problematic meaning “No, it does not.” One only has to listen to people declare that the vaccine was developed too quickly with shortcuts to realize what has occurred. At least with the Moon Landing, people could physically observe the steps being taken along the way. By contrast, the America people do not know the Mercury and Gemini stages existed in the development of the vaccines; they just see the Apollo moon landing as if it happened out of nothing.

AMERICA’S STUPIDITY

Just as America’s technological prowess makes us the envy of the world, so our stupidity makes us a laughingstock of the world. Unfortunately these displays extend from the highest level in society to a surprisingly wide swath of the general population.

This is not the place to recount all the absurdities uttered by Little Donnee Disinfectant. He will be a case study all by himself in future crisis management classes. He will join the ranks of Nero fiddling while Rome burns (which is not fair to Nero!) as exemplifying ineptitude and incompetence during a crisis.

But the critical point is that he has paid little price for his shortcomings. True, he did lose the election but still received around 75 million votes. His continued support shows that true believers do not hold him accountable and they are eager to return to the office which he had stolen from him.

The bigger example of American stupidity is in response to the vaccine itself. Remember how you once thought the development of the vaccine would mean the end of the pandemic? Now here we are going from being on the brink of normalcy to having infection rates that are off the charts compared to what we once thought was the worst.

The only tracing that is occurring at present is from the anti-vaxx adherents who threaten “we know where you live. We will find you.” You would think the school boards were election poll workers who reported the results honestly the way they and others are being vilified today. All around the world even in trump-hole countries people are clamoring for the vaccine…except here.

Meanwhile governors and parents are eager to sacrifice children in the quest to be the 2024 presidential nominee, to spite Joe Biden, or because of their Constitutional right to play Russian roulette with the lives of other people. However just to show they are not anti-science, they will take a horse cure, go to a hospital when infected, and expect everyone else to pay the bill for their stupidity. How long did it take Trumpican Governors to heroically boast that they will not allow Joe Biden to end the pandemic in their state no matter how many people it infects and kills? Remember how the world looked at us when the vaccine first exploded throughout the country especially in New York? Now Americans from across the country are indelibly stamping the USA as a place of idiots.

MEANING FOR THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

One must keep in mind that the race to the bottom by Trumpican wannabees is futile (Abbott, DeSantis, Johnson, and Scott: The Race to the Bottom). That position is already occupied. He is running in 2024 and will put the wannabees in their place. There is nothing to be gained by selling your soul unless you think it will benefit you in 2028.

One also must keep in mind there is a difference between being a leader and being a con artist (Do Tucker/Trump Oppose the Socialist Chlorination of Water?). An effective con artist has to tailor the con to the gullibility and fears of the target. For example, in 2008, Barack Obama as a foreign-born Moslem was very effective. In 2016, “lock her up” and “build a wall” similarly were effective. The con artist follows the crowd and then amplifies the fear to make a killing.

That approach may not work in 2024. We have already seen what happened in Alabama when the 2024 nominee admonished his followers to get the vaccine. It backfired on him just as it had when Hannity did the same on his cable show. This reality puts the con artist in a strange position. How can he take credit for the development of something his supporters do not want to use? The people with the loudest voices at the rallies will be the ones who have not taken the vaccine, not the ones who have.

So what do you do in the 2022 Congressional elections? Every Trumpican candidate is going to be asked on the position on the vaccine. The new mantra by the vocal Tea-Party-Trumpicans will be for parental choice and NO VACCINE!!! Think about it. One political party that wants to govern the supposedly most powerful country in the world will be intimated by its base into vilifying Dr. Fauci, praising screwball cures, and championing the needless exposure of children … and it thinks that is a winning message.

As a result, one of the Democratic posters for the 2022 and 2024 elections will be a surprising one. It will show a revision of the famous “Uncle Sam Wants You recruiting posters. Only now it will be a picture of the Joe Biden and the former-President-now-challenger both saying “We want you to get the vaccine!”

HOW CHINA, AND RUSSIA AND ISIS CAN DEFEAT AMERICA

Our enemies are watching our public displays of stupidity. This scenario will happen in the movies before it does in real life but think of the opportunity we are displaying to our adversaries. China, Russia, and ISIS know or will realize that a virus attack against the United States will work. They know that even if the United States has a vaccine and/or cure for the virus, tens of millions of people will not take it. They would rather die first.

So let us just say that an adversary has some smallpox virus. Suppose years from now the anti-vaxx people have eliminated the requirement to be vaccinated against anything and everything. What would happen if China released the smallpox in the United States? It would claim to have a vaccine which it would distribute for free throughout the world. Meanwhile millions of Americans would decline to protect themselves against smallpox unless instructed to do so by Mr. Ed. I am not saying this will happen; I am saying that Covid exposes how willing too many Americans are not to defend themselves against viruses.

The lessons of Covid will continue to unfold to both an American and world audience. Joe Biden will try to be the President the United States needs to end the pandemic. His 2024-challenger and his supporters will fight him every step of the way. As befitting his immaturity, the sore loser has challenged the President to enter the arena against him on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. He really believes that is a true test of leadership. If he was the only one who believed it, he could be institutionalized so he could get the care and help he needs. Unfortunately since Trumpicans think that challenge proves their Lord and Savior has the right to be commander in chief, we could be in for an even bigger assault in 2024 on America than either from 1/6 or Covid.

Abbott, DeSantis, Johnson, and Scott: The Race to the Bottom

August 24, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The Race for the 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination Heats Up

The race is on. It seems like every day another contestant in the race to the bottom is making some outlandish claim. One day it is the Covid Governor of Texas. Another day it is the Covid Governor of Florida. Then it is the former governor of Florida and current Senator who thinks New York is not part of America. Meanwhile the will-he-or-won’t-he run Senator from Wisconsin has become the comic gift that gives continuously. What is going on?

THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Even as the fight over the 2020 election continues to energize the Trumpican Party, the jockeying for position for the 2024 nomination is underway. While it might seem a tad early to be engaged in this competition, smarter people than me evidently have decided that it is never to soon. We are witnessing the pre-starting gate maneuvers of racing yachts angling for the best position for when the race officially begins in 2023.

Each contestant constantly surveys the field to see what the others a doing. If someone in Florida has an early lead in some polls, then someone in Texas must rush to build a wall to counter that popularity. Everybody knows how popular the slogan of build a wall is to Trumpicans. And if you can wrangle some donations/contributions out of it, so much the better.

Let’s not forget the 25th! It seems like only yesterday when people seriously considered invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the immature simpleminded in-over-his-head-person from the position of President. Think of how many more Americans would be alive today if that effort had any traction and was more than wishful thinking. Since Pillow Head’s cyber symposium was a nothingburger and the Cyber Ninjas remain a now-Covid joke who do not know when to leave the stage, perhaps the 25th Amendment will succeed where all other efforts to “Stop the Steal” have failed. Not likely. The obvious counter is, “So Trumpicans want Kamala Harris to be President.” Obviously that is not true. It demonstrates that the ploy is a stunt to get airtime on Foxhub and to have some fun.

How else to make sense in the perpetual nonsense from Wisconsin. It serves no purpose there. Joe Biden won the state and the governor is a Democrat. Being a laughingstock does not help in a re-election campaign. Senate is a state election and not a gerrymandered one. The national grandstanding serves no constructive purpose in a Wisconsin state election. Plus if he loses a re-election campaign, then it is the end of the political line for him. So he must be thinking about 2024, too.

These alpha males are not stupid people; they just act like ones for Foxhub. Seriously, they do know what they are doing. Their stars are aligned for 2024. Their moment will have passed by 2028. It is now or never if they want to be elected President. They have made calculated decisions that to win the nomination requires them to win the race to the bottom. They are all in right now.

THE 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

So far, the smarter play is for the vice-presidential slot in 2024. A female candidate opposite the Democratic one provides a better opportunity to regain the white suburban Republican women who preferred Biden to a “Cuomo.” The Vice-Presidential position in 2024 with a presidential slot in 2028 offers a reasonable path to becoming the historic first female President of the United States. There is no upside to going out on limb now to wrest the presidential nomination in 2024 when that position already is taken.

In the meantime Kristi Noem is having some fun at the expense of Ron DeSantis and Gregg Abbott.

“Now, I’m not picking fights with Republican governors. All I’m saying is that we need leaders with grit. That their first instinct is the right instinct.”

Gosh, I wonder what she means when she mocks these would-be alpha males for not having “grit.”

However, one action of the South Dakota Governor is puzzling. She concluded one of her Trumpican-style rallies with a song. Not a pre-recorded standard at such a rally, but a song she actually sung. Strangely the song was the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The song is a stirring anthem much beloved by Abraham Lincoln during America’s second civil war. It was memorably sung in 1963 by Judy Garland in honor of the recently-assassinated John Fitzgerald Kennedy. While it is quite possible that South Dakotans fought on the Union side, that is a strange position to showcase in a party that prefers Lee to Lincoln.

2024 NOW

These maneuverings for 2024 overlook the stark political reality. There are two problems with the energetic effort to win the race to the Trumpican bottom. The gusto of Abbot, DeSantis, Johnson, and Scott is misplaced. The bottom already is occupied. Secondly, there is no opening in 2024, that is a wishful thinking, a mirage. The occupier of the bottom has his course laid out. He is pursuing the three V’s: Victimization leading to victory leading to vengeance.

Strangely enough, the main Trumpican threat comes from the Trumpicans themselves. A long time ago on August 2, I wrote that

Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump are not leaders. They are channellers. They feel your pain to exploit their gain. They do not cause your grievance but they are skilled enough to sense its existence. Then they can amplify it, use it, profit from it. However, they do not cause the grievance or pain in the first place.

One might think that the former President would be campaigning full-stop to have his followers be vaccinated. After all, he sometimes like to take credit for the development of the vaccines under his Warp Speed program. Sometimes the vaccine even is called the Trump vaccine so as not to give Biden any credit. And he was vaccinated himself. So why hasn’t he been championing the use of the vaccine? Do Tucker/Trump Oppose the Socialist Chlorination of Water?

Lo and behold, look what then happened a few days later in Alabama. He called on his followers to be vaccinated, they booed him, and he retreated as Hannity had after he called on his viewers to be vaccinated. One wonders after this brief foray into leadership, if he will ever try that again.

The question then is “Who is driving the Trumpican train?” He is not the leader. He is not steering the people. They are telling him where they want to go and he amplifies it. That has been the pattern from when he switched from being a fake Democrat and Clinton supporter to being a fake Republican.

Think of what his favorite candidate for the Senate in Alabama has said.

Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of society. The way to stop Socialism’s march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections. (Mo Brooks on a recent Washington terrorist event)

Trump does not control the crazies, the crazies control him. Where they go all, he goes one right behind them. The Marjorie Taylor Airheads, the right-wing radio talk show hosts, the lone wolf insurrectionists/terrorists, and the “No mask, No Vaccine, No Slavery” people drive the conversation. The challenge for Donald Trump will be to keep up with how extreme and combative his followers have and will become. If he fails to follow them, then they will dump him for someone else. It’s Looney Tunes time.

 

Democrats Win Gold Medal for Skating on Thin Ice

August 13, 2021
by Peter Feinman
Parental Love in Trumpican America (Getty Images)

The Democratic Party has won the gold medal for skating on thin ice. This coveted medal is awarded to the political party that best jeopardizes its political opportunity through risky and dangerous actions. A review of recent elections and gauging the present temperature for future elections shows that the Democratic Party right now is nowhere near where it expected to be.

BACKGROUND

For what seems like decades now, the Politically Corrected People (PCPs) have been touting the coming demographic deluge. This change in the composition of the American people would overwhelm the existing voting patterns. It would create a large Democratic voting bloc for perpetuity. The Democrats would own the Presidency and the Congress. The language and laws of the PCPs would dominate the land.

The PCPs ignored that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In practice what this meant was that the PCPs totally terrorized the weeny party of stupid. Republicans became the party of people scared for themselves, their family, their communities, and the country they patriotically claim they love. LBJ is remembered among other things for having lost the Confederacy to the Republicans in the 1960s with his civil rights legislation. Similarly the PCPs will be remembered among other things for having lost the northern white ethnics without college to the Republicans.

The Republican Party itself is not the party the PCPs confronted when they first launched their campaign to remake America according to their values. In 2008, Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate represented the transition in process to the new party. The 2016 election sealed the deal. In American political history, the Access Hollywood tape will mark the official death of the Republican Party and the birth of the Trumpican Party. The battle lines for America’s Third Civil War had been drawn.

Now it is only a question of which side will win. Will victory be Taliban-style where one side controls the entire country and the losers pay the price? Will victory be Israeli-style where one side dominates but the other side retains some modicum of control in designated areas? Or will the victory be like the longtime-proposed but never realized Two-State vision where each side independently governs its own half? At this point in time, there is no way to know for sure what will happen. I reiterate my long-standing contention the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States may not be for the country as we know it today.

2016 ELECTION

The 2016 presidential election was the first time when the PCPs made a difference. In that election the famous Democratic Blue Wall cracked. The Democrats lost in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. That was not supposed to happen.

For Democrats, it was easy to find scapegoats. Putin had interfered. The Democratic candidate was fundamentally flawed though well-qualified and the winner of the popular vote. The traditional Democratic voters who abandoned ship just as Confederates started to do post-LBJ were racist. No need to worry, the expected demographic deluge would sweep the Democrats to victory in the elections to come without them. Cooler heads recognized the impact the PCPs were having on the Democratic vote. Still overall, the Democrats saw the election as the last gasp of a fading former majority who soon would be confined the dustbin of political history. After all, in the era of Baby Boomer presidencies, the Republican Party only won the popular vote once in 2004. Sooner rather the later, the Republican ability to draw an inside straight in the Electoral College would cease and the demographic deluge would prevail.

2018 ELECTION

The mid-term election favored the out-of-power party. Democrats did well in the 2018 elections. The PCP impact seemed muted. Democrats focused on moderate candidates often with military or intelligence service background. They won in districts they had not won before or had not won recently. The trend seemed to be going their way. Democrats had great expectations for the 2020 elections not just for the presidency but in the House and the Senate.

Meanwhile the PCPs had mutated into a more virulent strain. A new word had entered the American political vocabulary – Woke. This strain of PCP has proved extraordinarily effective in alienating white people and, even worse for Democrats, other people as well. The Democrats had counted on the demographic deluge sweeping them to power. However, the taken-for-granted unity of all the new immigrants to the United States and all the colors of people included in the mushrooming of Woke acronyms can no longer be taken for granted.

The first crack in the Woke unity occurred with The New York Times 1619 Project. For the Woke, the casting of July 4, 1776, as a day of infamy and not celebration which should be replaced by 1619 was a dream come true. Perhaps the reaction was not quite as stark as I am depicting it here, but the groundwork had been laid. The problem was that many of the people in the demographic deluge actually were proud to be Americans, wanted to live the American Dream, and could not have cared less about 1619 which often was meaningless to them. If the weeny party of stupid ever caught on to these developments, the Democrats would be in big trouble. Meantime, it was becoming the Diversity Party of “all race, all the time,” and “you are your hyphen.”

2020 ELECTION

With the 2020 election, all did not work out as the Democrats had hoped for. Yes, Democrats won back Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Yes, they won Arizona and Georgia. Joe Biden not only won the popular vote, he won the Electoral College vote and by the same “landslide” as in 2016. Actually, he did even better since he did not lose any defector votes when the Electors voted.

However, elsewhere the Democrats did not fare as well. Particularly in the House. Where the Democrats expected to increase the margin, instead they barely held on. Democrats did regain the Senate. But it was real touch-and-go with some nail-biting squeakers weeks after Election Day that pushed them to a tie.

So where was the demographic deluge? We are now entering the decade which Democrats expected to own. Perhaps the Census results will force a shift that even gerrymandering cannot overcome. In the meantime, they are fighting for their lives even excluding the voter suppression and rigged counting that will transfer the attempted steal of the election by the incumbent loser in 2020 into a guaranteed victory in battleground states in 2024.

What happened?

“Defund the police.”

If there had been no coronavirus, the odds are that Donald Trump would have been re-elected. How is that possible?

Even with the coronavirus, if he had worn a mask, faked compassion, and followed Fauci instead of attacking him, the odds are he would have been re-elected. How is that possible?

Joe Biden is the only Democrat who could have defeated him in 2020. How is that possible?

Joe Biden probably is the only Democrat who could defeat him in 2024. How is that possible?

Meanwhile the Woke continue unabated in their quest to alienate white voters and elect Donald Trump. With 1619, critical race theory, systematic white racism, and white privilege, the Woke have perfected the ability to maximize the people who will turn away from the Democratic Party. Veteran Democratic operatives have caught on to the damage the Woke are doing to the Democratic brand, but they are powerless to stop it. Foxhub will make sure that the Woke and not Joe Biden is the face of the Democratic Party and in the culture wars that is a powerful weapon.

LOOKING AHEAD

The demographic deluge may take some odd twists. At some point even Trumpicans may realize that Hispanic white are white and that the term non-Hispanic white is a con to limit the number of white people in America. If the same standards were applied to non-German white, non-Celtic white, non-Latin white, and non-Slavic white, then the number of white people in the United States would be very few indeed. If that is what the Democrats are counting on, they are skating on thin ice.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill may be the last of its kind. The Republicans who have posed as TRINOs (Trumpicans in name only) are retiring. The Trumpicans who enter Congress do not know how to legislate or care to. They are performers who count their victories in Foxhub appearances and not legislation passed. They are not even interested in bringing home the bacon and do not know how the sausage is made.

Joe Biden is governing and running on obsolete models. “It’s the economy stupid” is dead. In the culture wars, bipartisan legislation is meaningless. Did anyone seriously think that masks would be weaponized when the coronavirus hoax first occurred? Did anyone seriously think that the vaccine would be weaponized and people would demand the right to die? (They are lucky the coronavirus is not small pox or the bubonic plaque.) Did anyone seriously think that masks would be weaponized again and even more virulently after the vaccine was distributed?

Even death cannot change the minds of Trumpicans, not even the death of their children. This reaction shows that “It’s the culture wars, stupid” trumps all other considerations. If the Woke define the Democratic Party, then the Party is in deep trouble even if the demographic deluge does occur.

What Will Trumpicans Do on August 14?

August 8, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The Trumpican Book of Revelation foretells his return

We are less than one week away from one of the momentous days in the history of the United States. An unprecedented event is about to occur. A sitting President will be removed from office midterm. We came close with Andrew Johnson. This time is different. You can feel the excitement mounting. You can sense the joy beginning to erupt across the land. One can start to count the hours until the glorious day of divine deliverance occurs.

PILLOW HEAD’S PERFORMANCE

Pillow Head teased us with his performance on CNN of what is to come at his conference. Never in the annals of history has there been a better organized, better sourced, and better presented case than when Pillow Head dazzled a world audience with the truth he has uncovered. Is there anyone who knows more about the law and how voting works in America than Pillow Head himself?

Truly his performance was one for the record books. I predict that debaters in high school and college, trial lawyers, and screen writers will turn to Pillow Head’s talk for inspiration and guidance in how to marshal an argument when unmasking a crime. Not since Sean Hannity exposed Seth Rich has there been such a masterful display of connecting the dots to reveal the ugly criminal truth. Now we know that even devices not connected to the internet can be hacked. Truly the steal-the-election crime was overwhelming in its complexity, design, and execution.

The end is now in sight. Pillow Head has carefully documented and presented his case for the most egregious cyber-crime in world history. There can be no doubt now of the consequences. It is only a matter of waiting a few more days for the removal sequence to unfold. In addition, Pillow Head’s team of lawyers will be seeking criminal indictments in multiple counties throughout the country for the perpetrators of his steal. This time the lawyers have the hard evidence and do not need to concern themselves about retribution from the courts for frivolous lawsuits devoid of merit and intelligence.

However, I confess I would feel more confident about the validity of the August 13 date if instead of petitioning the Court on his income taxes, the Still-President simply had said, “My new Acting Attorney General will reverse that decision on my taxes on August 14.”  And, of course, none of his people will cooperate with the January 6 Commission witch hunt either.  Since he voiced neither objection, I guess he lacks confidence in Pillow Head’s predictions even if he accepts Pillow Head’s data.

POST TRUMPATIC STRESS SYNDROME

On the off chance that events do not unfold as predicted, what then are the consequences?

Consider the disappointments that Trumpicans have experienced so far.

They were not able to celebrate after Election Day.

They were not able to celebrate on January 6.

They were not able to celebrate on January 20.

They were not able to celebrate on March 4.

They will not be able to celebrate on August 13.

Combined, all these failed days of joy pack a powerful traumatic punch. How much more trauma can they be expected to endure?

Trumpicans still know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the election was stolen. Nothing will ever sway them from that belief. They do not care if the theft was due to Chinese bamboo paper, Chinese thermometers, Jewish lasers, Italian satellites, dead people voting, illegal aliens voting, or some combination. They know it has to be something. Their concern instead is over the redress for this monstrous theft. At this point, the odds are they have run out of options for anything to be done. Perhaps the last gasp is the seven step plan outlined above.

Although there is no date attached to the implementation of that plan, one possible date for portions of it is the 2022 elections. At this point even Democrats expect to lose control of the House. Perhaps then the new Speaker of the House will yield his position, the House will impeach Joe Biden, the Senate will remove both Biden and Harris, the rightful President will resume office, and the rightful Speaker will return to his position. It certainly is true that if the Democrats lose control of the House that Joe Biden will be impeached twice before the 2024 election. Unfortunately for the loser there is no foreseeable legal way for him to return to the White House except by winning the next presidential election. Trumpicans are going to have to forgo their celebration until then.

PREVIEWING 2024

It should be taken for granted that the 2024 election will be rematch of the 2020 election as things stand now. This presumes that both candidates are in good health and that neither one will run if not physically and mentally up to the job.

For some strange reason, some political commentators and actual politicians think that 2024 will not be a rerun. I kid you not, but there are people handicapping who will be the Trumpican candidate in the event that the original voluntarily chooses not to run. Perhaps he won’t want to lose again!

The mind boggles at this view. Think of how hard he has worked to sustain the big lie that that election was stolen. It is August and we are still talking about it as current events. Tens of millions of people fervently believe the election was stolen. Their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be His Name still holds Cabinet meetings and conducts himself as the 45th and current President of the United States. The Governors of Florida and Texas know that in the event of a hurricane, they need to go to him for aid. No one is going to risk a Christie.

The Hug of Death for Trumpican Governors (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

Everyone who sold their soul in the hopes of being the one chosen for 2024 as the successor sold their soul in vain. The only battle is over who he will pick to his Vice Presidential candidate. And if you are not a woman, do not even bother. Even niece Mary Trump has come around to the view that Donald will run again. After, the electoral game is rigged so he cannot lose in Arizona and Georgia in 2024.

 ALTERNATE REALITIES INTERSECT

At some point, probably prior to the 2022 elections, the alternate realities will intersect. They are not parallel rails extending forever, separate and never meeting. They are instead two trains on the same track on a collision course. The open question is which one will knock the other one off.

The Trumpican track will run until 2024. Then we will see if all the voter suppression and rigged elections efforts will prevail.

But there is another track that could shortchange that process even before the 2022 election. I am not referring to the criminal case in New York which is progressing at turtle speed.  The January 6 Committee knows that if it does not finish its job before the 2022 election and if the Democrats lose control of the House, then the plug will be pulled on it. In an instant, the House will shift from investigating January 6 to impeaching Joe Biden. That Sword of Damocles provides a much firmer deadline than does August 13 for Trumpicans.

By election 2022, the January 6 Committee needs to have identified, investigated, and interrogated

The hitman

His Congressional co-conspirators

His Department of Justice co-conspirators.

They need to have documented the timeline and to have prepared charges of sedition against those who sought to overthrow Constitutional rule in America and instigated the assault on January 6. While August 13 may be a joke the election deadline is a deadly serious one. If there is unfinished business by the 2022 elections, then then it may remain unfinished. The Committee does not have the option of moving the goalposts the way the Trumpicans do every time a deadline fails to deliver.

The Department of Justice has a longer deadline. It is not subject to the election results. Its investigation can continue. Still as we continue to learn more and more about how far the hitman was willing to go to overthrow the election and the Constitution, we realize how close we came to not celebrating our 250th birthday as a country. After Bill Barr, the Deluge. If only he had stayed a few more days we might never have heard of the Clark-Perry machinations because they would have been curtailed…or perhaps Barr saw what was coming and decided to bail before being entrapped in seditious activity.  Even he may have his limits. He should be asked under oath. The DOJ may need to up its game, show some vigor, and indict some people.

THE BRUTUS/HOWARD BAKER MOMENT

If and only if the January 6 Committee and the DOJ do their jobs, then there may be a window of opportunity to push aside the Loser once and for all. Then one of the soul-sellers will be positioned to be the candidate in 2024 instead. The Florida Covid Governor knows this. Ironically, for any one of the soul-sellers be nominated in 2024, they need the help of the Democrats. They need the Democrats to make him damaged goods. The hitman still will not leave the stage voluntarily, but maybe, just maybe, one of the soul-sellers will be willing to push him off once he is charged with sedition.

Do Tucker/Trump Oppose the Socialist Chlorination of Water?

August 2, 2021
by Peter Feinman

Do Tucker/Trump oppose the socialist chlorination of water? That action seems to match all the criteria deployed in the current opposition to vaccinations. It is based on science. It is a central government action. Individuals have no choice unless they are not connected to the municipal water system. For that matter, what do Tucker/Trump think about the mandatory requirement to use seat belts? Do they applaud the heroic individuals who decline to buckle up? Is the use of seat belts for children an example of child abuse?

What is going on here? Why is Tucker embarrassed to admit that he was vaccinated? Why is Trump not pounding the pavement in support of the Trump vaccine? This situation highlights that other considerations are involved besides “just the facts” or the merits of the case. Yes, vaccinations have been weaponized in the culture wars as masks were before it. Who knows if the chlorination of water be allowed if it were invented today.

LEADERSHIP

Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump are not leaders. They are channellers. They feel your pain to exploit their gain. They do not cause your grievance but they are skilled enough to sense its existence. Then they can amplify it, use it, profit from it. However, they do not cause the grievance or pain in the first place. The subtitle in the recent article in Time about Tucker tells it all: “By stoking the culture wars and peddling white grievance, TUCKER CARLSON has become the standard-bearer of the right.” Notice, he stokes the existing grievance. As the article suggests, Tucker provides excuses for people to express beliefs that they otherwise might feel uncomfortable with but already had.

And if Tucker/Trump disappear from cable TV or politics, the grievance and pain do not disappear with them. Then the people simply seek or require another mouthpiece to speak for them.

In some ways, these con artists remind me of some of the figures I see in science fiction shows (Star Trek). From time to time there will be aliens with telepathic powers of some kind. They may simply read your thoughts. They may seek to manipulate them for various reasons. But they do no create them. They may tap into the deepest parts of your brain to bring to the surface memories you suppress or ignore. Then those memories provide the alien with the opportunity to exploit you.

Con artists like Tucker/Trump work the same way. They are not leaders in the sense of being able to get you to do something you do not already want to do. An example of a channeller versus a leader was just displayed by Sean Hannity. Out of nowhere, he decided to tell the truth about the coronavirus and the need to be vaccinated. Perhaps someone he knew had died or been hospitalized. He couched his plea in the standard Foxhub rhetoric: talk with your doctor, your decision is confidential, you have freedom of choice. Still the thrust of the message was clear: YOU NEED TO BE VACCINATED NOW!

His message led to an immediate blowback. Viewers could see through his attempt to sugarcoat it that he was asking people to listen to Fauci and do what they already had decided not to do. In other words, he was trying to lead them. The effort failed. The result was he did a Kevin-McCarthy on 1/6. He walked back his failed try to be a leader. He should have known that. Remember when after the election Foxhub lost viewers to other media outlets fully dedicated to the alternate universe. Then Foxhub responded by doubling down on the partisan hype. Most likely Hannity will never again make the mistake of trying to lead his viewers. Instead; he will amplify their fears, insecurities, and need to believe in their view of the world regardless of what is really happening.

One observes the absolute refusal to abandon beliefs in the actions that otherwise defy commonsense. People on death bed exclaim how could they be dying from the coronavirus hoax. Even the hospitalization and looming death of child is not enough to sway true believers from their course. Their minds have been so manipulated and exploited over the years by Tucker/Trump and others that they have lost the capacity to think straight. The increase in vaccinations over the past week show that some people finally are getting the message that the virus is for real. Unfortunately it also reveals how many people cannot be reached.

One might think that the former President would be campaigning full-stop to have his followers be vaccinated. After all, he sometimes like to take credit for the development of the vaccines under his Warp Speed program. Sometimes the vaccine even is called the Trump vaccine so as not to give Biden any credit. And he was vaccinated himself. So why hasn’t he been championing the use of the vaccine?

Here we see that he is not a leader. He knows what Hannity learned by exposing himself to his viewers in his failed leadership initiative. He knows that if he tells his followers to be vaccinated they will not listen to him. Being a warrior in the culture wars trumps everything.

RONALD REAGAN

Consider the contrast with Ronald Reagan. Suppose something comparable had happened during his eight years as a two-term president. Would Reagan have worn a mask? Of course he would have. Wearing a mask did not threatened his masculinity and make him a wimp. It is simply what needed to be done to protect him and his fellow Americans from a threat. He would have made jokes about wearing a mask. He would have told stories about his days in Hollywood making westerns and wearing a mask. We are talking about someone who could make jokes even after he was shot in an attempted assassination. He would have worn a mask and so would the people who heroically refuse to today.

When the former President yanked off his mask on the White House balcony after having been released from the hospital, he was catering to his followers, not leading. The hope of some staff people that now he had seen the light and would be a leader were dashed. He remained true to himself as an insecure weeny con artist who failed to even try to be the leader the country needed. He is not going to jeopardize his extremely successful funding con by taking a leadership position.

In an earlier blog, I suggested that President Biden invite the former President to the White House to promote vaccination in a show of strength. A few days later, Frank Luntz, on CNN Andersen Cooper, made the same suggestion. Such pleas are for naught. Put aside all the comments made above and keep in mind that with our loser ex-President it is always about him.

The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Think of how he condemned all the Republicans who voted on behalf of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. How could he appear at the White House with the person who stole the election, who is almost senile, and who is one-step from death’s door? He can only appear at the White House if it is to remove the present occupant as will happen on August 13. Otherwise the hitman would be legitimating Biden’s steal and undermining his own re-election chances.

So, no, Tucker/Trump will not call for ending the socialist chlorination of water based on science. They will not because at present, there is no grievance about chlorination of water for Tucker/Trump to exploit. But if the coronavirus vaccine was distributed through the public water system, then all bets are off. Just as all vaccines are questioned now, so would the chlorination of water. And remember, in Dr. Strangelove, the purity of water was enough to blow up the world.

 

Biden to Invite Trump to White House August 13 to Promote Vaccination

July 18, 2021
by Peter Feinman
It's Not Over Until the Arizona Fat Lady Sings (https://www.wmur.com)

Joe Biden, the duly elected and legitimate President of the United States of America, will invite Donald Trump, his predecessor and loser in the 2020 presidential election, to the White House on August 13 to urge unvaccinated Americans to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Biden is extending this invitation because he knows the vaccine was developed during the previous administration. He wants to give credit where credit is due just as his predecessor constantly praised the success of the previous Obama administration for carryovers into his administration.

Biden also is extending this invitation because he knows that his predecessor and his family all were vaccinated. He knows his predecessor received extensive medical treatment when he was hospitalized for COVID not available to the ordinary American. Thus it is only natural that the number one spokesperson for vaccination be the person who has benefited the most from the advances in American health care.

While vaccinated Americans have little risk of fatality due to either the old virus or deadly Delta variant form of the virus, many Americans remain unvaccinated. The same weenies who proudly would not wear a mask proudly will not be vaccinated. They think vaccination is a sign of disloyalty to their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. Plus they know that they cannot die from a hoax anyway.

Since nothing is more important to the former President then the well-being of his loyalists, naturally he will be happy to dispel these falsehoods and to call upon them to get vaccinated. What could be more important to the former President than the lives of the people who believe in him? The loser of the 2020 presidential election is only too happy to help.  Only he can save his loyal followers now.

And his followers will believe him. Again and again they have proved their loyalty to him. When he asked for money after the election over 2,000,000 people forked over $250 million no questions asked. And they would do it again if asked. And again again if asked once more. They are happy to tithe their Lord. So if he tells them to get vaccinated because it is a matter of life and death, naturally they will believe him and do as they have been told.

WHY AUGUST 13?

Normally August 13 would be a dull nondescript day. Summer camps have ended and counselors are busy bringing in the docks and sports equipment for winter storage. High school football teams have begun practicing under the hot summer sun. Vacations are drawing to a close. Casual Fridays are winding down. People stop taking that day off and leaving work early. Congress is on vacation. The Supreme Court is in recess. The dog days of summer are such slow news days that the talk shows have nothing much talk about.

There is some talk from Pillow Head that this August 13 will different. As I previously suggested, pre-millennialists now know not to specify the date of the return of their Lord and Savior. They know because every time they do the prophecy fails to come true. Despite that pattern, Pillow Head boldly asserted that the month of August would be the date. Then he became even more specific selecting August 13 as the date. Whereas premillennialists traditionally site the chapters and verses from the Gospels and the Book of Revelation to buttress their claim, Pillowhead so far has presented no proof of why that date will become the DATE OF DATES.

His claim of an 80 million to 68 million blowout election on behalf of the incumbent requires no proof. The mere pronouncement is sufficient. His claim will result in the immediate recall from recess of the aforementioned Supreme Court. They will abandon their vacations and rush back to Washington. They will invalidate the election results and install the supposed loser back into office even though there is no Constitutional mechanism or authority to do so. Pillow Head’s pronouncement will be proof enough.

However, the odds are no lawyers will take Pillow Head’s case to the Supreme Court anyway. Ridiculous Rudy and Séance Sydney are disbarred, discredited, or both. Lawyers in Michigan are being held accountable for the nonsense they peddled. Lawyers elsewhere are in the process of suffering similar fates. The once fiery Lin Wood has been rendered a whimpering scared little baby. Lawyers who have not participated in the attempt by the loser to steal the election can read the handwriting on the wall. They know they have nothing to gain and much to lose in becoming an accessory to the Big Lie and the effort to upturn the election results. Pillow Head will stand alone in his legal fight to steal the election.

In the meantime between now and August 13, the three-ring forensic audit circus in Arizona is working double-time to become more of a laughingstock. As the circus draws to a close, we are getting closer and closer to the moment of truth. The CyberNinjas are on the brink of put-up or shut-up. They have to present the truth of the massive fraud that supports the claim that Biden lost Arizona bigtime. Then they have to name the names of the people in Arizona, China, and elsewhere who perpetrated the fraud.

The opening salvo already backfired on the CyperNinjas. It proves they do not know what they are doing and that only people like Representative Rocky Mountain Airhead are simpleminded enough to leap before they look and swallow the bull trump hook, line, and sinker. Personally, I like the idea of the door-to-door canvasing undertaken by the CyperNinjas did. Maybe next election we can have concierge voting where the government brings the voting machines to your doorstep. That way no will have to wait six hours in line to vote because the state chose not provide sufficient voting machines in districts that vote Democratic. After all, there is nothing Tucker Carlson loves more than government representatives going door to door to get you to do something.

Even putting aside the CyperNinjas lack of knowledge about Arizona voting law, they omitted one crucial bit of information about the 74, 243 mail-in ballots: they were all requested by Republicans! Well, probably not. But besides exposing their ignorance, this brief foray into their analytical thinking provides a glimpse of what is to come. Nothing they say will make sense. Everything they claim will be debunked by people who actually know what they are talking about. Everything they claim will be believed by Trumpicans. All Republican candidates for the Arizona Senate (and probably other offices and in other states) will be forced take a stand which will jeopardize their (re-)election if there is a Democratic alternative.

However, just in case, we need to be prepared. Chief Justice Roberts should be invited to the August 13 White House vaccination ceremony, too. You never know.