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Joe Biden

Covid: How CNN, MSNBC, and Fauci Failed America

October 19, 2020
by Peter Feinman
HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU CRY "SUPERSPREADER"?

CNN, MSNBC, and Time Magazine’s Person of the Year have failed America on the coronavirus. Since Fauci is a government employee he gets a pass since he is more limited in what he can do. CNN and MSNBC aren’t so limited.

Your first reaction might be that’s crazy talk. How can CNN, MSNBC, and Fauci be responsible for the failure? Shouldn’t the self-designated “wartime president” be held accountable? Obviously the immature child lacks the mental necessities and cognitive skills to understand the severity and impact of the virus. Obviously the inept and incompetent failed businessman lacks the management skill to effectively handle the crisis if he had the ability to realize it existed in the first place. Obviously the person incapable of sympathy or empathy lacks the ability to care especially when weak people in Democrat-governed states are the ones dying from it. If anyone should pay the price for the 220,000+ and climbing deaths in the United States, shouldn’t the buck stop with the wartime president?

Now let’s consider the situation from a Trumpican point to view.

8 MILLION CASES AND 220,000 DEATHS

So far after nine months of this pandemic, the number of infected people in the country is just over 8 million. As commentators note, that is almost the population of New York City. True, but all 8 million people aren’t located in one city. They are scattered across a country of   approximately 330 million people. That means the number of cases from this horrendous virus is less than 3% of the population of the country.

There is about 97.5% chance as of now that you have not been effected. When Trumpicans look around at their family, friends, and co-workers, there is an excellent chance that they do not know anyone who has been infected. In terms of the lives they are living, Corvid-19 doesn’t exist as a medical emergency. Indeed, it scarcely even exists.

The fatality rate simply magnifies that awareness. Even if you get the virus, you may have no symptoms and not even know you have it except from a test. Even if you get the virus and have symptoms, you probably will not be hospitalized. So if you are one of the 2.5% of the people who are infected, it is still less than 3% of that already small number that you would die, less than 1% of the total population. At this point, the odds for Trumpicans is overwhelmingly that they will not have become infected, will not die from it, and don’t know anyone who did.

In the real world of the Trumpicans, it is a reasonable gamble that you will not get the virus yet alone die from it. Of course, in the real world it also is a reasonable gamble that if you don’t buckle up when driving you won’t die but you buckle up anyway.

SUPERSPREADER EVENTS

One year ago, who knew what a superspreader event was. The word doesn’t even appear in my spell-check vocabulary list. Now everyone has heard of it. Again, let’s examine superspreader events as brought to your attention by CNN and MSNBC.

The first major one I recall was the Memorial Day Weekend pool party in Arkansas. How many people died from it?

Then there was the multiple-day bigtime motorcycle rally in South Dakota. How many people died from it?

Who can forget the Tulsa rally? One person did die from it. How many others died?

Finally there were/are all the campaign events including where the wartime President himself was infected with the virus that was under control, had gone away like a miracle, and was behind us. How many people died from them?

How many of the professional and college athletes who were infected have died of it?

How many Secret Service agents who were infected have died of it?

How many people do you know personally who died of a stroke last year?

How many people do you known personally who died of the flu last year?

From a Trumpican perspective for their actual experiences these past nine months for the coronavirus, they have nothing to fear but fear itself so let’s open the economy.

CRYING WOLF

How many times can you cry wolf before people stop listening to you? Trumpicans have tuned out CNN, MSNBC, and Fauci. All these medical experts on show after show, day after day, warning people of the dangers to them and their loved ones from the coronavirus fall on deaf ears. In their own lives, Trumpicans don’t see it.

“People are tired of Covid. I have these huge rallies. People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They’re tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots … Fauci is a nice guy. He’s been here for 500 years.”

 Once again, our immature child president has demonstrated a gut-instinct connection with exactly what Trumpicans are thinking, not the rest of Americans. He understands his audience even if CNN, MSNBC, and Fauci don’t. The only way to effectively communicate with someone is in the language the person understands. He speaks the language of Trumpicans, CNN and MSNBC mock and belittle it.

How many town halls have CNN and MSNBC held just with Trumpicans?

When CNN and MSNBC interview Trumpicans at the political rallies is it to understand them or to document their stupidity?

Look at the dumb Trumpicans, they think it’s a hoax. What can you do with such morons?

Look at the dumb Trumpicans, they think it’s like the flu. What can you do with such morons?

Look at the dumb Trumpicans, they think the total numbers of deceased are Fake News [and the CNN and MSNBC numbers never agree anyway]. What can you do with such morons?

CNN, MSNBC, and Fauci think they are providing the public with the information it needs to successfully deal with the crisis. Trumpicans don’t even listen to them. They know better based on what they have experienced in their own lives.

REPEATING 2016  

We are living through a repeat of the 2016 presidential election. Trumpicans, people in the flyover states, non-college educated white people, complain that condescending arrogant self-righteous elitists don’t listen to them, take them seriously, or really care about them. The mentally-and-morally superior people look down these inferiors as deplorable and disgusting. Now we are seeing a variation of that dynamic play out in the dismissal of Trumpicans for their ideas about the coronavirus.

Thomas Friedman suggested that Joe Biden spend some time campaigning among the Trumpicans. Biden didn’t follow that advice. It is probably too late now. Based on the polls Biden could win the popular vote by over 15 million people so he doesn’t need to meet with Trumpicans to win. He does however need to meet with them to govern successfully. His predecessor as President these past four years only spoke before crowds that adored him, who would provide him the adulation he craves and needs. He never tried to be President of the entire United States, just the people who were loyal to him, who accepted him as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, who would believe anything he said. That won’t work for Biden. He is not that type of person. Still to be President of the United States, We the People need him to reach out to all the people. That includes people who think the coronavirus is a hoax, not worse the flu, and has scarcely killed anyone so far. The grim reality is that we are not rounding a corner but are in danger of falling off a cliff. As President, Joe Biden needs to talk to Trumpicans in their own communities and in their own language about what is happening in the real world and not the alternate world on Fox.

Are You Suffering from TFS (Trump Fatigue Syndrome)?

October 15, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Nowhere to Run. Nowhere to Hide. Got Nowhere to Run. Got Nowhere to Hide.

Are you suffering from Trump Fatigue Syndrome (TFS)? I first asked this question back on August 28, 2019. TFS is different from Post-Trumpatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). That will happen after the election when Trumpicans have to decide whether to live in the real world or not. PTSD will be he subject of a future blog. In the meantime there is TFS.

WISCONSIN

The catalyst for this blog as an article on the CNN website about Wisconsin voters. The article does not mention TFS but it is all about Trump Fatigue Syndrome anyway.

The 79-year-old resident of nearby Grant County voted for Trump in 2016 but regrets it now, turned off by “his lies.” “It just makes you tired,” Seeley said of Trump the day after the first debate. “He’s like a kid in a candy store. If he can’t have a piece, he breaks everything in the store.”

 “Most people don’t want the ugliness of the political world to be front and center in their news every day and in their conversations and in their drive to work,” he said. “A lot of people are just fed up with the constant barrage of whatever the scandal of the day is.”

 “It makes you feel like doomsday is coming,” Murphy-Lopez said of the tenor Trump has struck in recent weeks. “And the top thing I hear from independents or people who are on the fence is they want politicians who are going to work for the people, not the party. They are tired of elected officials going after each other, they are tired of people making each other look bad.”

This people are exhausted. They are eager for the time when they can put TFS behind them. Cable talk show hosts often comment about how time is measured now in dog years. A month seems like a year, a week like a month, a day like a week. Part of the reason why nothing sticks is before it can it is on to the next scandal. You don’t have time to catch your breath. You can’t even keep up with all the issues. Now imagine how the voters feel. When will it end?

THE END IS IN SIGHT

We really are getting close to the end. We are under 20 days to go!

What does TFS mean for both the election and the post-election?

Consider Election Day voting. If you are a good Trumpican you have obeyed your Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. You don’t wear a mask. You don’t social distance. You don’t vote early because that voting is rigged.

So now comes Election Day and it is time to vote. How eager are you to do so? You have seen all the polls showing Joe Biden with a lead of 10% or more…even on Fox with Fox polls. You don’t want to wait in line to vote. You are suffering from TFS. You don’t like the result but what can you do? Why not just stay home? Even the down-ballot Trumpican candidates will pay a price for TFS.

What does TFS mean for the army of 50,000 poll watchers? First of all, the world’s worst manager doesn’t have the mental necessities or cognitive skills to organize a national army of 50,000 people. Perhaps he has delegated the task to someone who has the ability. Perhaps it is just campaign talk designed to intimidate but without actually doing anything. And if Trumpicans are suffering from TFS, do they really want not only to vote but to hang out at foreign voting places and look mean and tough to scare people away. Remember, you will be the minority there. You will stand out like a sore thumb. You will be filmed constantly by people with cell phones. Is that how you really want to spend your day? One diagnostic will be see how big this vote-suppressor army actually is.

POST ELECTION BLUES

Immediately after the election, TFS will be at its maximum.

A 10% spread in a vote of 140 million people means a 14 million vote spread. You’re not going to make up the difference. HIS SUPREME COURT is not going to hand him the election. The maneuverings to get a state vote in the House in January instead of an Electoral College vote in December isn’t going to work.

The military is not going to rescue you.

The DOJ is not going to rescue you. Bill Barr is suffering from TFS, too. H forfeited his credibility for what? To be demeaned, disparaged, and denied a second term position because he couldn’t make up a case on Obamagate, unmasking, and the Russia hoax. After all he did practically guaranteeing that he will be censured by the new Congress because it is too late to impeach him…and this is the thanks he gets! To be treated like Jeff Sessions! Exactly how much enthusiasm will Barr bring to the post-election apocalyptic showdown? Probably none.

And even if he tried, he would have to go it alone. Who among the professionals in the DOJ is going to rally behind the effort to steal the election for the most corrupt President in American history? More likely they along with the few remaining actual republicans in the White House will be eager to come forth and tell the truth. Instead of a ferocious assault to steal the election you may witness a sigh of relief, the time of TFS is over. It’s time to get back to a normal life in the real world.

THE DONALD

 He will never stop being the seventh-grade smart-aleck-dumb-aleck that he is because that’s how his brain is wire.

He will never stop being an alpha-male wannabe even if he did liberate Lafayette Square and survive the coronavirus.

He will never stop demeaning women as nasty cutie-pies because that’s who he is.

He will never stop making up facts and seeing conspiracies hiding under the bed because that’s who the immature child is.

He will be remembered as the $400 million boy – he received $413 million from his father and lost it; he received over $400 from  The Apprentice and lost it; he owes $421 million now and doesn’t have the money to pay it.

He is giving it all he’s got in these waning days but nothing is working. Not even the latest attempt by Putin to undermine Biden. Even Ridiculous Rudy attack mutt’s daughter has come out against her father and for Biden.

Bonespur Boy had to face his worst nightmare tonight. He wasn’t on a stage with ten candidates where he could wreak havoc. He wasn’t even on a stage with two candidates where he could ride roughshod over the proceedings. He didn’t even have the opportunity to stalk his female foe as he had in the 2016 presidential debate. Instead he was trapped, unable to leave and unable to avoid the questions. It is the same situation he will face day-after-day after January 20, 2021, when he is questioned UNDER OATH by the New York Civil Court, the New York Criminal Court, the New York Federal Court, the Washington DC Federal Court, the FBI, and various committees in the House and Senate. He had a preview of life to come when he no longer is in office.

His moment of truth is soon upon us.

It hasn’t happened yet, but my prediction is that he will continue flailing, tweeting, ranting and raving in the immediate aftermath of the election and then it will sink in that there is nobody to help him fight anymore. Everybody else had TFS and now are cured. It’s over. Finally there may be some calm as he whimpers curled up in ball alone during his last few weeks in office when everyone ignores or disobeys him while the rest of the country is ready to move on.

Epstein and The Donald: What Will He Do?

October 14, 2020
by Peter Feinman
The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Future

On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan. When I heard about it, I immediately thought of THE DONALD. What would he do when it was his turn?

Think of the life Epstein had been living excluding the criminal actions that landed him in jail in the first place. Think of the places he had visited. Think of the places where he had stayed. Think of the people he had met. Truly he had lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

And then he wasn’t. Rather abruptly. Everything changed. Now he was confined to one small sparse space. His menu selection was limited and the quality of food was to die for. The less said about his new wardrobe the better. And no more girls. What did he have to look forward to? Nothing so he took the only way out he could.

THE DONALD

How does THE DONALD handle being restricted to small spaces? When he was confined to the White House during the lockdown, he commandeered the coronavirus press conferences. When he was in the hospital he was chomping at the bit to get out. When he was restricted to the White House living area, he was chomping at the bit to get out. When he was alone in the White House, he invited crowds to join him. Now he has launched a non-stop last-ditch effort to salvage his campaign by returning to states he won in 2016. He needs the big crowds. His needs that energy. He needs that adulation. He needs them as much as Epstein needed young girls. Take that away from him and he would go bonkers.

As a loser, he will face different circumstances after January 20, 2021, than he does now. If the fading reality-TV star goes on a nostalgia tour, who will pay for it? Who will give him free media time? Who will push him off the stage so Trumpicans can begin planning for losing in 2022 and 2024?  And, of course, if he lacks the mobility he has now because he is confined to his residence in New York and his hotel in Washington, DC and is wearing an ankle monitor, he won’t be able to go on tour anyway.

The more the real world closes in on him, the more erratic his behavior becomes. As Mary Trump just suggested, he has nowhere to turn. There is no one to bail him out this time of the mess he created for himself. The pressure is mounting as V-DT Day approaches and the world gets ready to celebrate.

His ability to cope in an adult manner is nonexistent. He has become the proverbial teenager who is invulnerable and immortal, throwing caution to the wind. His only options are to lash out, to have a hissy fit, to yell and to scream. His managerial incompetence makes herd immunity the best fit for his shortcomings. His enemies must be prosecuted now. The miracle vaccine must be released now. The polls are fake news. But nothing is working.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Barr knows what he has to do and is not delivering. He is going down in history “as very sad, sad, situation” if he does not indict Biden and Obama for the greatest political crime in the history of our country.

He’s got all the information he needs. They want to get more, more, more, they keep getting more. I said, “You don’t need any more.”

Consider the past ventures into the absurd. Remember Seth Rich? Nothing. Remember how the Fox triplets salivated over the Horowitz report? Nothing. Remember how the Fox triplets salivated even more over the Unmasking as the “biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal” in American history?

“The unmasking is a massive — it’s a massive thing. It’s — I just got a list. It’s — who can believe a thing like this?”

Nothing. No Obamagate. No spying. No nothing. No report even issued. Good thing Trumpicans have no memory or awareness of Hannity’s perfect .000 batting average!

There will be no indictments of Biden, Obama, or “Crooked Hillary” either. No matter how much the embattled President demands it of the Attorney General, no matter how many emails Pompeo (“I’m not happy about him.”) releases and no matter how much Hannity demands it, it’s not going to happen in the real world. There will be no indictments of the Deep State either. Apparently Durham knows what he was tasked to do, knows that there is no “there” there, and decided it is in his best interest to wait until after Biden wins the election to announce the results. What can anyone do against him then?

THE RED WAVE

Back on June 19, 2019, I wrote about some early polls:

The results are worth noting. The polls show a slew of Democratic candidates who would win a national election based on the popular vote. The polls range from a high of 57% for Joe Biden to in the 40s% for a variety of figures. One key to interpreting the meaning the polls is the relative constancy of the vote for the incumbent. He consistently polled at 41-42% of the vote.  These numbers put him 5-6% below the 2016 vote and suggest that no matter who the Democratic candidate is, that is the best he will do. The range for the Democratic candidates probably reflects how well known these candidates are. My prediction would be that as they become better known, the undecided in the polls will swing Democratic and the 50s to 41/42% will become the norm…unless more revelations from the investigations drive them even lower or events in the real world expose him as a con artist even to Trumpicans.

Now here we are two weeks from Election Day and the polls consistently show a double-digit lead with Biden in the 50+% range.

I also suggested back on June 8, 2020, that Mitch McConnell had a decision to make (Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course [Go Down with the Ship]). It turns out he did make a decision in August, just not the one the country needed him to make. He hasn’t been to the White House since August 6 due to its mismanagement of the pandemic. WEAR A MASK! However, he made no decision to preserve the majority status in the Senate. Now it may be too late. The red you see on the political maps is not the vaunted red wave that has been predicted. It is the Trumpican Senate seats that are burning up. When you have to fight for your life to hold South Carolina, you know you are in trouble.

JANUARY 20, 2021 CHOREOGRAPHY

Back on September 17, 2018, I wrote:

Suppose the very stable genius is wrong about 2020 (assuming he is still in office and chooses to run again)? Will the President honor the election results? Will the President leave the White House voluntarily? Will he demand a full investigation into the rigged results? Will he remain in the White House until the investigation by his Attorney General (not a stupid Southerner) is completed? (Can he go without playing golf for that long?)

While there is a lot of effort to scope post-Election Day scenarios, the post-Inauguration Day actions remain undefined.

Who Will Be Biden’s Attorney General? (7/29/20): If Joe Biden is sworn in as the new President, where will the former President be at that moment? He will not be there to watch the sleepy-creepy-corrupt person who has lost his mental faculties take office. It will be difficult enough for the current President to accept the concept that THE DONALD is a loser. Especially if he is a loser to someone who received more than 306 Electoral College votes. The loser will not participate in a public ceremony before a crowd bigger than his own inaugural crowd in 2016. He will not have the image of him as a loser become a defining one for him.

What will he do if white suburban women don’t save him or like him even though he saved their neighborhoods?
What will he do if he loses to the worst presidential candidate in the history of the United States?
Why did he set himself up with words that will come back to mock him?

Coping with reality is not his strong point. There is no Plan B if he has to give up his fake world for the real one. Just ask Epstein.

Biden Debates Empty Chair: Make My Day!

October 8, 2020
by Peter Feinman
“I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching. They’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know. They'll say ‘why she wouldn't even hurt a fly.”

It’s Back to the Future in presidential politics. Who can forget the famous debate in 2012 between Clint Eastwood and the empty chair? Still to this very day people talk about that debate as one of the greatest ones in human history. There was nothing anyone could do to top that spectacle.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Yes, it can be topped. Eastwood’s performance was at a party convention. This time the debate will be at the presidential level itself. At least it will be more civil than the first one.

It is common practice to note that the future convict doesn’t live in the real world. It is impressive how many people he has been able to con to joined him in Trumpietown. But despite that there are some connections to the real world that even he can’t deny.

Election Day is only a few weeks away. His preference to delay the election until it was safe again to vote went nowhere. He knows the election is going to be held on November 3 and has already started.

He also knows that the polls show that he will lose the election. It is even possible that a demented person trapped in a basement and only one step from a nursing home could win more votes than the 306 Electoral College votes in the 2016 landslide. A vote total more than a landslide will be difficult to even contest yet alone overcome.

He knows the ghost of Christmas Future has visited him. A son is being forced to testify under oath. His taxes have been disclosed revealing he deducts more in hair care than most Americans earn. The courts continue to rule against him on his taxes. The rape charge slander case continues.

Plus he is drugged on steroids.

Until these circumstances, it is only natural that the prospect of being forced to live in the real world would drive him to more and more extreme actions.

“I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. It was a blessing in disguise.”

“I’m back because I am a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young. And so I’m lucky in that way. I could’ve been out of the hospital in one day.” It’s a miracle.

If only all Americans would allow this miracle to occur in their own lives, the coronavirus would be banished once and for all.

At this point, it is useful to update the calendar of target dates that I began last May and to see how things are going.

April 2011: Birtherism – reveal Hawaii findings on Obama soon: STILL WAITING

October 2016: sue all his women accusers after the campaign: STILL WAITING

July 16, 2019: Healthcare – “You’ll see that in a month when we introduce it. We’re going to have a plan. That’s subject to winning the House, Senate, and presidency, which hopefully we’ll win all three. We’ll have phenomenal health care.” STILL WAITING but at least he is asked about it.

May 5 2020: “There is tremendous hope as we look forward and we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT YET?

May 8 2020: “Those jobs will all be back, and they’ll be back very soon.” WHEN IS SOON?

May 15 2020: Coronavirus deaths drop to zero: WE HAVE PREVAILED!!!

May 25 2020: Celebrate the victory over the coronavirus again after only 6 days of prevailing!!!!!!!

June 2020: Back to Normal economy: STILL WAITING

July 2020: We’re rockin’ now: “We will transition into greatness. That’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot, because that’s what’s going to happen.” STILL WAITING – how often do you hear about this rockin transition to greatness?

Fall 2020: Deep State Indicted: RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Hannity called on him earlier this week to handcuff and lock the perpetrators of the greatest political crimes in American history. There is no excuse for delaying now that more documents have been released about Crooked Hillary and her collusion with the Russians to undermine the legitimately elected President with the knowledge of Obama and Biden. No sooner had Hannity issued that clarion call then his puppet ramped up the pressure on his Attorney General as time is dwindling down until the election. It is time for Bill Barr to act or he will go down in history as “a sad situation” for not prosecuting these criminals. “Bill has got to move.” Time is running out.

October 2020: announce vaccine cure in election day surprise – DONE but the CDC is not cooperating. Had to make announcement of a miracle cure on his own which he will distribute freely to everyone who has a bad case of the flu.

November 3 2020: Deploy army of real Americans to suppress vote of…you know…those people – Vote Suppressors to become a TV reality show: STILL ON TARGET

November 3 2020: CLAIM VICTORY NO MATTER THE RESULTS

November 3 2020: Democratic coronavirus hoax magically disappears and all lockdowns and restrictions end [I don’t recall who made this prediction on Fox.]

Fourth Quarter 2020: economy will be tremendous: won’t know until 2021 when it will be too late.

January 1, 2021: begin distribution of miracle vaccine

January 20 2021: Nancy Pelosi becomes President

January 20 2021: Arrested by New York, spends night at Rikers

March 20, 2021: Death of a President and the takeover by a monster Communist: “Biden won’t be president for two months. He’s not mentally capable.”

November 2024: Death of the suburbs
November 2024: Defunding of police departments
November 2024: Takeover by anarchists, terrorist, and criminals – Already underway in October 2020 with the attempt by some fine people in Michigan who stood ready to liberate Michigan. If it weren’t for the disloyal FBI Director they might have succeeded with the attempt.

Time is running out. The real world is closing in. Only one thing he can do before they take him away.

Now We Know Why Fred Trump Put His Son in Military School: It Didn’t Work

October 1, 2020
by Peter Feinman

Now we know why Fred Trump put his son in military school. Everybody knows his son is immature child. He has been one for decades and will be until the day he dies. For whatever reason certain portions of his brain never developed during the maturation process. As a result through no fault of his own, he is trapped at the level of a seventh-grade smart-aleck-dumb-aleck, frozen in time, unable to change. Now the world has had the opportunity to witness him being his true self.

THE PUBLIC DISPLAY

The public displays of his immaturity as President are well documented. They can be seen in

1. his tweets
2. his press conferences
3. his rallies.

In each case, he is able to operate freely, unencumbered by adult supervision or even the pretense of it. He can tweet impulsively at any time of the day or night with no checks and balances on his thinking or, more appropriately, lack of thinking. If it feels good to his gut then it is worth tweeting or retweeting, no questions asked, no research required.

When Trumpicans say, as they do, they wish he would tweet less, they are saying they are aware he acts like a teenager and wish he would grow up. Still, he appoints the judges, builds the wall, and leaves the treaties they don’t like. Trumpicans overlook everything even when he calls them suckers, losers, and disgusting people.

Sometimes at press conferences, he will try to be adult. That can last for a while. Then he is asked some questions. The next thing you know, it is “Fake News” and “Nasty Cutie-Pie.” There are limits as to how long he can fake being an adult.

At his rallies, there is no control. He is in his element as a seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb aleck. He can carry on for as long as he likes. You can’t send him to the principal’s office. He is the superintendent.

All these examples mean, he has limited experience in a discussion between equals. And if the press gets uppity, he simply walks of the stage. Show over. He can’t do that in a debate.

THE PRIVATE DISPLAY  

As to what he is like in private meetings, we have to rely on the reports of others. Many people have described a damming picture of the immature child with limited attention span who is focused only on himself. The reports from former people in the intelligence services, the military, and the White House are fairly consistent. They paint of picture of a person out of his league who lacks the mental necessities and cognitive skills to do his job. They only task he seems to good besides promoting himself is being subordinate to Putin.

Thanks to the debate, we now have a glimpse of what those meetings must have been like…and still are. It is one thing to read about them in a book or hear someone describe them on a talk show; it is quite another to see such behavior first hand in the presidential debate. There were supposed to be rules. We saw how meaningless that idea was. Now imagine what it must be like in a meeting run by the person the country and the world just saw live on television. What a frightening thought. It is easy to understand how people who went to military school as adults and then made the military their career would have problems functioning in a meeting led by the person on display in the debate. How long do you think you would last in such a setting?

TRUMPICANS WITNESS THE TRUTH  

Presumably Trumpicans watched the presidential debate for themselves. Presumably they did so on Fox. Presumably they know the moderator was from Fox as well. In other words, when it comes to the debate there is no Fake News, no rigged format, no terrorist/anarchist/socialist participant. They saw with their own eyes how their Lord Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, acts. They are quite capable of drawing their own conclusions about what they witnessed without having the Fox Triplets tell them what to think.

Just in case they do need some help in understanding what “really” happened regardless of what they think they saw, the Fox Triplets are ready to show them the truth. After all, he “turned in the greatest debate performance in presidential history,” he said so himself.

In my last blog, I suggested there was one way the pending Constitutional crisis could be avoided. The more Fox News reports that unrigged non-fraud Fox polls (and other ones) decisively show a Biden victory, the more Trumpicans will become resigned to the uncomfortable truth that Joe Biden is going to win. That process may have started already.

The debate exposed some false stories the Fox Triplets have been peddling for months. I was going to write a blog entitled “How Long Can One Person Be on a Deathbed and Not Die?’ I refrained from doing so because that blog would have been posted the day Ruth Bader Ginsburg died after months of McConnell patiently waiting for her to do so. Still, the issue of the fraudulent claims about Joe Biden may finally have come back to undermine the validity of the Fox Triplets.

For months now, the pre-teens and friends have been having rank out contests: who could demean and insult Joe Biden the most. He wasn’t just hiding in his basement, he was in his nursing home. He wasn’t just in a nursing home, he was moments from death. He wasn’t just moments from death, he had died but no one could tell. The childish glee of the supposed adults was fascinating to watch not simply for its foolishness but for its shortsightedness. What did they really think would happen at the debate? Did they expect Joe Biden to keel over and die on national television? What did they think their credibility would be if it turned out that Joe Biden was quite capable of standing and surviving a 90-minute assault?

At some level, some Trumpicans must realize that the Fox Triplets’ description of Joe Biden was in error. Even the triplets know it. Hannity has abandoned that tact just as he once abandoned his attacks on Seth Rich. When the focus had switched to the tax returns prior to the election, the triplets were busy anticipating the Lindsay Graham its-almost-October bombshell on the Russia investigation. Meanwhile Durham’s investigation won’t be completed by Election Day. He knows what he has to deliver or be fired. Instead he is waiting until after the vote. That way when he announces there is no “there” there, just mistakes, omissions, and sloppy work but no Deep State conspiracy, he won’t pay the price for telling the truth.

So what Breaking News is left between now and Election Day? Just today, Pennsylvania and Texas announced they are going all out to suppress the Biden vote. They know the truth. The pandemic is not over. Ask Hope Hicks. There will be more disclosures from the Muller Report by November 2. What will be in them as to why the President wasn’t charged? And there are more polls. More polls delivering the same message: Joe Biden will win.

THE TOWNHALL DEBATE

Given the performance in the first debate, what can we expect in the second one? Suppose ordinary Americans ask questions that can be ignored when asked by the press? Will he just walk off the stage? Here are some possible questions real people might ask.

1. All the polls show that Joe Biden is going to win. Are they rigged?

2. I (or a loved one) served in the military (and was wounded or my loved one was killed). You avoided military service by pretending to have bone spurs. Am I (or my loved one) a sucker and loser while you are the smart one?

3. I paid $7500 in taxes last year, ten times more than you paid when you did pay taxes. Am I stupid?

4. Why are you subordinate to Putin? Does he have something on you? Is it because you want to build Trump Moscow? Is it because the alpha male is a father-figure to you?

How insulting will he be to the people who ask him questions? The town-hall format provides another opportunity for Trumpicans to witness the seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck in his element unless he has developed for extremely strong self-control between now and then. As the stakes get higher and time dwindles, the greater the pressure becomes.

The big mysteries are

1. Is there a straw that will break the camel’s back?
2. Are we reaching that point in these debates?

After all, what does he have to look forward to on the night of January 20, 2021? He will be a loser politically as he has been in business. His future is in court, jail, or prison and testifying to the FBI, the Senate, the House, and Adam Schiff. The closer that date comes, the more likely he is to self-destruct after having nightmares about polls and the loss of immunity. We may look back on the first debate as his calm one.

How Chris Wallace Can Save America from Chaos before November 3

September 29, 2020
by Peter Feinman

The Apocalypse is coming. Or so one would think based on the words and actions of the non-believing President who mocks the values of the white evangelicals who accept him as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed be His Name. The election is rigged. The only way he can lose is due to the greatest act of political corruption in American history replacing the 2016 election as the greatest political corruption in American history.

The son who is being compelled to testify under oath in court, apparently the first of many many times to come, has graciously shared with the American people that his father would accept the election results and participate in a peaceful transfer of power if Joe Biden won in a landslide. Since everyone knows that 306 electoral votes constitutes a landslide that means if Biden wins 306 votes or more in the Electoral College, its game over. Don’t hold your breath. However it does permit Biden an easy counterargument to the coming assault: You can’t contest a landslide election. Of course as we know from the statement in the 2016 by the still-Republican Party on fulfilling a Supreme Court vacancy, Republican promises aren’t even worth the used-toilet paper they are written on.

“LEE’S” CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

The present plan to divide the United States into two – a house masked and a house unmasked cannot stand – calls for a two prong strategy.

The Initial Assault

The initial attack will be to deny Biden sufficient votes to win in the Electoral College. The exact points of engagement won’t be known until after the votes are tallied. Remember how in 2016, the number of supposed fraudulent votes changes as more were needed to claim victory in the popular vote. Still it is possible to make some predictions even before the actual number of votes needed is determined.

Presumably, some of the same states that pushed him over the top in 2016 will be the ones where the vote totals are challenged. Pennsylvania for sure, probably Michigan, and then Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida and Georgia if needed and if they voted for Biden. This list, of course, is subject to change. The goal of this engagement is to call into doubt as many states as are needed with an overwhelming number of lawsuits.

The Judicial Campaign

The second phase of the campaign is to have “my Court” rule in favor of the loser. Interestingly, the vacancy on the Court needs to be filled for this portion of the campaign to succeed. Supposedly it would be better to have ninth judge to prevent a 4-4 tie. That means the Chief Justice is presumed to support the Democratic-appointed judges so that the Court does not have a 5-3 split. Thus the ninth judge is needed on “my Court” to effect a split 5-4 decision and not a 6-3 one.

Regardless, the intent is to so overwhelm the Supreme Court with so many lawsuits that they cannot be resolved in time for the Electoral College convenes to vote. Therefore the Court will rule that the votes from the contested states cannot be included in that vote. The result is that Joe Biden did not win the majority of votes needed to be voted into office as President.

The Contingent Election

Obviously, someone briefed our ignorant President on the intricacies of Constitutional and electoral law. There is no way he could have known this on his own. For him to mention the 26 Republican state votes he would receive in the present Congress in the Contingent Election shows he was paying attention in this briefing. True, no one knows what the division will be in the new Congress. True, Nancy Pelosi will decline to seat the exact number of supposed Republican winners needed to shift the states to Democratic. True there will be a rash of lawsuits contesting that action. True, it will not be possible to resolve all the disputed Congressional seats in time for the January 20 inauguration. Hello, President Pelosi.

HOW CHRIS WALLACE AND FOX NEWS CAN PREVENT A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

 Lately, there has been some discussion about what Fox News can do on Election Night to prevent the Apocalypse Now scenario where armed-people are rioting in the street throughout the country both for and against the results. The typical response is twofold.

1. don’t call the election prematurely – wait for the votes to be in even if it means not calling the election on Tuesday night

2. call the election for Joe Biden if the votes show he won.

Trumpicans like the Chinese only get their news from one source, the government propaganda outlets. If a tree falls in the woods and it is not on Fox, then nothing happened. They don’t know about the $413 million from Fred Trump that he lost or the $427 million from The Apprentice. So the hope here is that Fox News won’t launch the Apocalypse Now spiral into chaos through an incorrect call.

This analysis overlooks what Chris Wallace and Fox News can do between now and Election Day. How is it we are going through all these doomsday scenarios anyway? Would we be going through them if everybody expected Joe Biden to lose? No. We are going through them because everyone expects Joe Biden to win including his opponent.

Why does everyone expect Joe Biden to win? Because of the polls showing it. They show it nationally as well in the battle states. Even the Fox polls show Joe Biden winning.

Are the polls rigged? Does all the ranting and raving about the rigged elections apply to the polls? Is there any mail-fraud in the calculation of the polls including the Fox polls? Are illegal aliens voting in the polls including the Fox polls? Are people voting twice in the polls including the Fox polls? Is there any fraud at all involved in these polls that show Joe Biden ahead?

Will Chris Wallace and Fox News show their audience the results of the polls? Will Chris Wallace and Fox News show their audience the results of the Fox polls showing Joe Biden is winning? Will Chris Wallace and Fox News show their audience day by day until the Election that Joe Biden is winning?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I can speculate on the results if it does. If Chris Wallace and Fox News show their audience day after day in its own unrigged polls that Joe Biden is winning, by Election Day, their audience will know what to expect. They won’t like the results but they will have seen for weeks what is in in-store for them.  The more Chris Wallace and Fox News tell them that the unrigged Fox polls show Joe Biden is the winner, the more likely they are to accept those results on Election Day. At some point, the truth of those numbers may sink in. You will see in the body language. It will go from exultant to defiant to resigned. I am not saying it will happen; I am saying it could happen. The more Chris Wallace and Fox News report on the polls and the real world (coronavirus, taxes, disgusting people, etc.), the more the wind will be taken out of the sails of the Apocalypse Now scenario.

Consider this hypothetical. The current 49-42% popular split [it might even be more for Biden] converts to a 53.8% to 46.2% vote in a two-person race with the total of 100% of the vote. Incidentally, this remarkably means no change on the Republican side despite everything and the Democratic increase is due to the absence of a significant third party vote. It makes me wonder if there really are 9% undecided or not.

Now suppose 140,000,000 people vote, a slight increase from 2016 but who knows what the turnout will be. The 53.8% to 46.2% split means a popular vote roughly of 75.4 million for Joe Biden and 64.6 million for his opponent. Do you think the Supreme Court will overturn a roughly 11 million popular vote spread? Will the House of Representatives? Will the country? The more Chris Wallace and Fox News tell their audience the truth before Election Day, the less likely there will be a Constitutional crisis after Election Day.

Will California or South Carolina Secede First?

September 25, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Will Donald Trump succeed where Robert E. Lee failed?

Crunch time is coming. America’s Third Civil War is fast approaching the moment of truth. After weeks, months, and years of writing about it, the battle is now taking shape to determine if America continues to exist as a single country. Lincoln’s adage that a house divided cannot stand is true but not appropriate. We are not “a” house. We were two houses when we constituted ourselves in 1787. We were two houses when we fought the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression. We were two houses when we celebrated the Sesquicentennial of that war. And we obviously are two houses now in the coronavirus pandemic.

OUR BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

Election Day will be our Gettysburg. The preliminary skirmishes have already started. The rhetoric anticipating the battle is being heard. Our historically ignorant President praised Robert E. Lee to an audience in Minnesota. The title of the local news article covering that story was:

Trump’s praise of Robert E. Lee gets pushback from Minnesotans proud of state’s role at Gettysburg: Minnesota soldiers played a pivotal role at Gettysburg, a major Confederate loss

Standing in the heart of a state that has gloried in its role in helping save the Union at Gettysburg, President Donald Trump extolled at length Friday the battle prowess of a seemingly odd hero — Gen. Robert E. Lee. Some Minnesota veterans and Civil War historians were surprised to hear the commander-in-chief lavish praise on a man who led the Confederacy’s fight against Americans trying to preserve the Union. “Had he won, we would be two countries,” state Sen. Jerry Newton, a veteran who served in the Vietnam War and the Middle East, said Saturday. “That’s just unconscionable for me, for him to make those statements.”

A painting at the Minnesota State Capitol depicting the First Minnesota Volunteer Regiment’s historic firefight on July 2, 1863, in the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Minnesota Republican Party and several GOP legislators and officials didn’t respond Saturday to requests for comment on the president’s remarks.

The very stable genius who speaks about Lincoln to Confederates now speaks of Lee to Unionists. But he is right to sense in his gut that we are at a Gettysburg moment.

WILL DONALD TRUMP SUCCEED WHERE ROBERT E. LEE FAILED?

Gettysburg marked the turning point of the Confederacy’s invasion of the North. Ultimately the United States did not become a legally divided country. The Union prevailed. The current un-Lincoln President favors the Confederacy over the Union. He has been quite open on his admiration for Confederate generals and the Confederate way of life. He practically sighs in disappointment over how close Lee came to triumphing over the Union.

This preference is not actually because he personally knows anything about the Confederacy beyond Gone with the Wind.  What appeals to him is the same thing that appeals to him with QAnon and white Protestant evangelicals: they support him. What else matters?  By contrast, the Union States tended to vote against him. The longtime faux Democrat and Clinton supporter naturally prefers the people who worship him over those who mock and investigate him.

The coronavirus provides the perfect dividing line for America. The talk about how a virus doesn’t know politics is nonsense. As we have seen, the virus has been very targeted in the people it kills. It preys on the weak. It preys on the unhealthy. It preys on people who are vulnerable. The virus imprinted itself in the American culture as a New York disease that primarily effects people Trumpicans don’t care about anyway. Even after seven months, the virus has only minimally effected Trumpicans. The biggest impact has been economic due to the lockdowns. The political impact is to make the dividing line quite clear. Corvid-19 highlights that we really are two countries masquerading as one.

THE ELECTION THAT COULD BREAK AMERICA 

For several weeks if not months, people have been gaming out various “what if” scenarios for the post-election world. By and large, the results have been terrifying. Many existing laws and rules have never been tested. We never have had a President who is a law unto himself with no ethics, no conscience, and no morals. Truly the country will be in uncharted waters after November 3.

The one precedent is the election in 1876. At that time there were rival slates of electors just as there were from Mississippi in the 1960s at Democratic conventions. Just a little over a decade from the end of America’s Second Civil War, the country stood on the brink of beginning another one. In that situation as the clock wound down a deal was struck whereby the South would no longer be occupied territory. Violence was threatened. The newly-freed slaves were collateral damage. It was an ugly moment in American history. Neither of the two candidates then was the incumbent unlike the situation today.

So Tilden got something for stepping down. What does our incumbent want and what would he get if he steps down?

1. He wants to be president for life just like Putin and the leaders from Trumphole countries.

2. As the greatest President in American history, he wants to be President for four-terms (he probably doesn’t know that FDR didn’t actually serve for 16 years but somehow he does know that FDR was elected four times. Maybe his mother told about what life was like under Roosevelt.)

3. He never loses. He didn’t lose the popular vote in 2016, it was rigged and he is not going to lose in 2020 either unless it is rigged.

Is it just coincidence that just as the son is about to be hauled into court that the father reveals that there will be no peaceful transfer because there will be continuity? As the days dwindle to election, he can see the ghost of Christmas future more clearly in the legal problems of his son. He has nothing good to look forward to after leaving the White House so he has nothing to lose by doing everything he can to remain in it.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

1. What will California do if Pennsylvania attempts to steal the election? And New York? And so on? Regardless of all the legal shenanigans detailed in Gellman article in The Atlantic, there is the one scenario he only mentioned in passing: the threat of secession. Don’t expect the states to stand by idly if one tries to pull a fast one.

2. Who will Europe support? That’s obvious. Romney already played the Belarus card. The world laughs at America and pities the country because of its simpleminded immature child president. The world favors Make America Adult Again.

3. Who will Russia support? That’s also obvious. We just saw how the pro-Union people of Minnesota reacted when Robert E. Lee was praised in their presence. How will Trumpicans react to the world supporting Biden except for Russia?

4. Who will the American military support? It knows the incumbent is a moron who never stands up to Russia. Only one person can have the nuclear codes. Who will they be given to on January 20?

5. By that point the American people will have whipped into a frenzy. If Biden wins a plurality or majority of the vote, are his supporters going to accept a Biden defeat regardless of the various legal rulings? Will Trumpicans accept the Antichrist as President and life in hell on earth as their future?

Will it be time to recognize that the United States can no longer function as a single country, that we can’t live together?

Perhaps instead of discussing what to do if there are two claimants for the presidency, we should be discussing how each person can be president in separate countries over the people who voted them. Maybe we should be discussing dividing peacefully rather trying to be unified by force? Let’s ask the American people what they think.

When Experts Are Wrong, Criticize the People: The Unmovable 42%

September 17, 2020
by Peter Feinman
The Warning Democrats Ignored

Imagine a hypothetical where the experts are wrong. Yes, I know how difficult that must be to grasp, but try. Suppose there is a disconnect between what actual people in the real world do and what the experts say the people should do. Naturally, the difference can’t be due to an error by the experts so it must be due to the people. They are too stupid to know what is in their own best interests. If only they would be guided by the wisdom of their betters, everything would be alright.

STRANDED ON THE MOON

I first became aware of the shortcomings of the experts at some corporate retreats/training programs. There we were, a group of strangers gathered together to learn from the experts.  As part of the training in one exercise we were divided into smaller groups of probably ten people each. The problem posed to us was that we were stranded on the moon (pre-Matt Damon on Mars) or at another training session in the desert. We were never stranded on an island after a three hour cruise.

The instructors then gave each group a list of 20 items. They asked us to rank the items based on their potential contribution to our survival. After a short time, each group presented its rankings to the collective group. Then the instructors compared our rankings to those of the experts.

One of the 20 items was a gun. I always ranked it last. I always was outvoted.  The experts also ranked it higher. On the moon, the gun’s recoil could propel someone across a crevice. In the desert, the sound of the gunshot might attract the attention of the search party.

At this point, I suspect some of you have realized the absurdity of the expert opinion in the real world. Even Hollywood knows such expertise flunks the reality test. In the real world, the gun represents power. Assuming the existence of alpha males in the group or mean girls/queen bees, the gun meant there would be a battle to control it and therefore the group. It would not be used to propel someone across a crevice or to attract searchers, it would be used to kill or threaten to kill someone. Maybe at some point there would be a struggle for the gun, the good guy would prevail, fire the last bullet to get the attention of the searchers just before they disappeared over the horizon, and get the girl but that was not what the experts had in mind. Interestingly, I never proposed giving one person the gun and another person the bullets but as I recall the exercise did not allow for such creativity. Anyway, the lesson learned was that people may be experts in the lab without knowing squat in the real world.

WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS (2004)

The book What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank was another exercise in false expertise. The thrust of the book was to resolve the dilemma of why so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests. There had to be something wrong with these people since culture war issues trumped their economic and social concerns. It would be like supporting candidates who consistently favored tax cuts for the rich while giving you nothing. How could people be so dumb as to be shafted again and again while cheering the very people who exploited them? What’s the matter with these people?

The publication date of 2004 is most revealing. That election year was the last time and only time in the Baby Boomer Era a Republican presidential candidate won a majority vote. If it was written say a year before the publication date, then it was five years before Sarah Palin called for taking back the country and 13 years before the then long-time Democrat and Clinton supporter conned Republicans into thinking he cared about the little people the elitists fly over. To put those years in perspective, it means the Democrats had 13-year notice on the 2016 election and learned nothing during the interim except to pour more oil on the fire. Still it is questionable whether or not the Democrats have learned that there is nothing wrong with the people of Kansas except the way they have been treated by the elitists.

THE WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION

With Civil War, the smug superiority of the condescending arrogant self-righteous elitists really shines through. Everyone knows the war was really about slavery. Everyone knows the claim abut state’s rights was just a smokescreen for the real cause of maintaining slavery. Everyone knows that the proponents of the Lost Cause are really backwards subhuman racists who should not be welcomed in polite society.

Now try listening. Confederates call the war the “War of Northern Aggression.” Why? Maybe they assigned that name to the conflict because it genuinely expresses how they felt.  Just as we know from feminists that rape is about power and not sex, so we should consider that for the Confederates, the war also was about the violation of their home. In the Union, the exploits of Sherman and Grant are heroic, to the people who lived on the lands ravaged and devastated, the view was different. “Damn Yankees” is not a slavery-based approbation. It is a response to the mentally and morally superior people who are the elect of God (or the goddess) who never tire of telling Southerners that they are inferior people. Today there are two peoples it is still acceptable to demean and insult: Nazis and Southerners. And then the mentally and morally superior people wonder why such degenerates vote for Trump. Obviously it’s because they are racists who want to bring back slavery. Then the superior people pat themselves on the back and bask in their moral superiority.

THE POLITICALLY CORRECT AND 2016

By now there is no excuse for not knowing that Politically Corrected People (PCP) were more of a determinant than Putin in deciding the 2016 election. I am not going to repeat here example after example from previous blogs or from the ones I have been saving, where Trumpicans express their revulsion at the PCPs. If anything, that revulsion has intensified. Snowflakes in schools and colleges cringing at the mere sight of murals or sound of words! The toppling of statues! The declaration of superiority with the capitalized B in black! Truly the American world is coming to an end. Democrats have expressed no desire to celebrate America…such declarations would only antagonize the Woke who want to replace July 4th with 1619.

Trumpicans may not know anyone who died from Covid-19, but they all have stories to tell about another action against America taken by the PCPs, they seen them on Fox.

As it turns out, Trumpicans are voting for their self-interests but no one until the candidate who thinks with his gut actually listened and understood what those interests were. If people are voting against their economic and social interests perhaps something else is more important to them. Perhaps telling people over and over again they are backward, inferior, and consigned to the demographic dump heap of history isn’t an inspiring message. Perhaps telling people they have nothing to look forward to isn’t an inspiring message. Perhaps elevating people here illegally to the same level as those who are here legally isn’t an inspiring message.

If this country is to remain a single country, a big “if’, then it will become necessary for people to talk to each other. That is not possible now. Neither party is attempting to transcend the differences that divide us. Centrifugal forces rule the day. Thomas Friedman suggested Joe Biden should go on listening tours to Trumpican areas. Not preaching tours, nor haranguing tours, nor lecturing tours, but listening tours. Even Donald Trump tried a town hall with people who are not loyalists. Never again. It didn’t go well. He will never expand his base. Can Biden do better? Does his empathy and sympathy skills extend to people who oppose him? If he expects to govern then he will need to listen to the Trumpicans as well as to the Woke.

What Will Never-Trump Republicans Do After the Elections?

September 15, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Lincoln Has Fallen: What Will Never-Trump Republicans Do?

Over four years ago, on March 2016, I wrote a blog entitled R.I.P. Party of Lincoln (1856-2016). At that time, I did not know the Republican Party would become the Trumpican Party. I did know that the Republican Party was no longer the party of Lincoln. His name was rarely invoked. Even today it rarely is by the President of Malice except when he favorably compares himself to America’s greatest President.

Still, the legacy of Lincoln lives on among the few Republicans left who have not succumbed to becoming Trumpicans. Within the Party, their resistance is futile. They have made themselves known through ads which effectively exposes the shortcomings and dangers of the current President. However those ads will not reclaim the Republicans who have become Trumpicans. Any deprogramming efforts will require substantially more resources, time, and effort than a mere commercial provides…including the desire of the Trumpican in the first place to become a Republican once again.

Ironically, the showcase for the Never-Trump Republicans was the Democratic National Convention. On that virtual stage, these Republicans were welcomed. However in a time when all the Republican presidential nominees in the 21st century are persona non grata in the Trumpican Party, it is difficult to know where these Never-Trump Republicans will align themselves after the elections. Will they continue to support Joe Biden and the Democrats for the next four years? Will they start a third party?

Back on February 29, 2020, I wrote

Rick Wilson, Richard Conway, John Kasich, and Bill Weld can struggle all they want to regain control of the Republican Party but it is not going to happen. At present Lincoln Republicans have no political party. Neither do admirers of Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, or even the Bushes. So how will they vote? What will they do now that the Republican Party despises them? (The Socialist versus the Trumpican Smackdown: What Are Democrats and Republicans to Do?)

Now we know how they will vote. Bu we don’t know what the plans are for the future.

In a well-meaning op-ed column, David Brooks wrote:

My guess is that if Trump gets crushed in the election, millions of Republicans will decide they never liked that loser and jerk anyway. He’ll get relegated to whatever bargain basement they are using to hold Sarah Palin (Where Do Republicans Go From Here?, August 9, print).

There is a lot of wishful thinking in those guesses. Think of what has happened in the short interval since those words were first printed. Now think of the impact all those events have had on his popularity. Try “unchanged” since last year at this time.

The one possible glimmer of hope for Brooks is the idea of “loser.” If, and it is an “if,” Trumpicans lose the White House and the Senate and fail to retake the House and if there isn’t a national melt down and Joe Biden does become President, then Trumpicans will be faced with the prospects of Democratic control. Will Trumpicans be content to remain loyal to the loser through 2024 even while he is being prosecuted and perhaps jailed? In my last blog, I asked the question of what Sean Hannity will do if confronted with a Democratic sweep and only a loser to oppose them. At that point will Hannity’s desire to stop the Democrats trump his loyalty to a loser? No one knows now but it is possible to support some Trumpican ideas without supporting the person who has no power future political future.

If, and only if, he is pushed off the stage or is confined to OAN broadcasting from Rikers, who, then, will fill the leadership void? Will the Never-Trump Republicans then be able to regain the support of the former Republicans? Such a prospect seems unlikely. More wishful thinking. One should keep in the mind that none of the multitude of Republican candidates in 2016 assuaged the angst the Republicans felt. All those candidates fell by the wayside. Nothing that has happened in the last four years indicates that Never-Trump Republicans can wrest the leadership position from the defeated and criminal loser or that the party members will follow them.  Everyone now is jockeying for position to be the successor who will save the party from ruin< Meanwhile he is not leaving the stage and still could win.  You don’t hear much talk about 350 Electoral College votes for Biden now do you?

To return to the Brooks column, in it he dutifully identifies four possible prospects for the future leadership of the Republican Party:

The post-2020, post-Trump Republican future is … is embodied by a small group of Republican senators in their 40s, including Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton and Ben Sasse. They all came of age when Reaganism was already in the rearview mirror. Though populist, three of them have advanced degrees from Harvard or Yale. They are not particularly close to one another. They may be joined by a common experience, but they are divided by ambition.

Brooks then proceeds to examine the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. This analysis would be perfectly legitimate in normal times, but the one critical lesson of the last four years is that these are not normal times. It is not possible to develop a modified Trumpism to reach out to a larger share of the electorate when the main actor still hogs all the attention. No Trumpican can stand up to him. Besides, one should keep in mind that the Republican presidential popular vote electoral record in the baby-boom era is abysmal. If the boomer candidates leave the stage, there is no inherent reason to believe that next generation will do any better. Remember THEY ALL WILL CARRY TRUMP TAINT. They will have to explain their support as even more and even corruption and criminality is revealed in the ongoing investigations.

Strange at it may seem, there are some Republicans left in the White House. Consider the following excerpts from the acceptance speech at the Trumpican National Convention.

Because we understand that America is NOT a land cloaked in darkness, America is the torch that enlightens the entire world.

 Gathered here at our beautiful and majestic White House – known all over the world as the People’s House – we cannot help but marvel at the miracle that is our Great American Story. This has been the home of larger-than-life figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson who rallied Americans to bold visions of a bigger and brighter future. Within these walls lived tenacious generals like Presidents Grant and Eisenhower who led our soldiers in the cause of freedom. From these grounds, Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on a daring expedition to cross a wild and uncharted continent. In the depths of a bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln looked out these very windows upon a half-completed Washington Monument – and asked God, in His Providence, to save our union. Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt welcomed Winston Churchill, and just inside, they set our people on a course to victory in the Second World War.

 What united generations past was an unshakable confidence in America’s destiny, and an unbreakable faith in the American People. They knew that our country is blessed by God, and has a special purpose in this world. It is that conviction that inspired the formation of our union, our westward expansion, the abolition of slavery, the passage of civil rights, the space program, and the overthrow of fascism, tyranny and communism.

 In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just, and exceptional nation on earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins.

 We must reclaim our independence from the left’s repressive mandates. Americans are exhausted trying to keep up with the latest list of approved words and phrases, and the ever-more restrictive political decrees. Many things have a different name now, and the rules are constantly changing. The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated, and driven from society as we know it. The far-left wants to coerce you into saying what you know to be FALSE, and scare you out of saying what you know to be TRUE.

 Our country wasn’t built by cancel culture, speech codes, and soul-crushing conformity. We are NOT a nation of timid spirits. We are a nation of fierce, proud, and independent American Patriots.

 We are a nation of pilgrims, pioneers, adventurers, explorers and trailblazers who refused to be tied down, held back, or reined in. Americans have steel in their spines, grit in their souls, and fire in their hearts. There is no one like us on earth.

 I want every child in America to know that you are part of the most exciting and incredible adventure in human history. No matter where your family comes from, no matter your background, in America, ANYONE CAN RISE. With hard work, devotion, and drive, you can reach any goal and achieve every ambition.

 Our American Ancestors sailed across the perilous ocean to build a new life on a new continent. They braved the freezing winters, crossed the raging rivers, scaled the rocky peaks, trekked the dangerous forests, and worked from dawn till dusk. These pioneers didn’t have money, they didn’t have fame– but they had each other. They loved their families, they loved their country, and they loved their God!

 When opportunity beckoned, they picked up their Bibles, packed up their belongings, climbed into covered wagons, and set out West for the next adventure. Ranchers and miners, cowboys and sheriffs, farmers and settlers – they pressed on past the Mississippi to stake a claim in the Wild Frontier.

 Legends were born – Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Davy Crockett, and Buffalo Bill.

 Americans built their beautiful homesteads on the Open Range. Soon they had churches and communities, then towns, and with time, great centers of industry and commerce. That is who they were. Americans build the future, we don’t tear down the past!

 We are the nation that won a revolution, toppled tyranny and fascism, and delivered millions into freedom. We laid down the railroads, built the great ships, raised up the skyscrapers, revolutionized industry, and sparked a new age of scientific discovery. We set the trends in art and music, radio and film, sport and literature – and we did it all with style, confidence and flair. Because THAT is who we are.

 Whenever our way of life was threatened, our heroes answered the call.

 From Yorktown to Gettysburg, from Normandy to Iwo Jima, American Patriots raced into cannon blasts, bullets and bayonets to rescue American Liberty.

These are not the words of a Trumpican, they are the words of an anonymous Republican in the White House. That writer shows Never-Trump Republicans a way forward. It is not possible to regain leadership in the Republican Party by replacing Trumpicans. It is not possible to expand the electoral reach by being Trump-lite. It is not possible to be a positive force for America’s future simply by stopping the malice. To regain control of the Republican following an electoral ruin, a Lincoln for the 21st century is needed or else the country will remain divided into two houses that can’t live together.

Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book

September 8, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Who Will Be Howard Baker? (www.123rf.com)

Tis the season of tell-all books. We have heard from the niece, the fixer, the national security director and will hear from the Watergate reporter again. There have been disclosures from the sister and about the military. Even the former BFF of the trophy-wife First Lady has weighed in with tales of corruption. All these testimonials to President Swampbuilder are impressive. None have made any political difference.

But suppose Sean Hannity wrote a book about his experiences with THE DONALD. Hannity has had extensive contact up close and personal, enough to see the truth. Certainly he has had as much opportunity as Putin, the European leaders, and various people who have worked in the White House and who all know the truth about THE DONALD. According to some reports, Hannity knows that he is dealing with a “battrump” bozo. So why not write a book about it and make a fortune?

One reason why he can’t write such a book now is precisely because that book could make a difference. Millions of people via radio and TV rely on Hannity for the truth. His blessing counts. If he withdrew that blessing now during a presidential election, the odds are it would negatively impact the vote for the wrong side. The beneficiary would be Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden, the corrupt one-step-from-death lackey of the younger Socialists really running the Democratic Party. Hannity opposes that victory regardless of whether the opposition is from a Republican or a Trumpican. Under no circumstances would he do any anything to aid and abet the enemy.

But what about after the election? Suppose come January 20, 2021, Hannity is faced with the trifecta of Democratic power: the House, the White House, and the Senate. Then what? Hannity has faced this situation before. He would stand ready to oppose the Democrats just as he did during the Obama years. The question he would ask himself is what is the best way to do so after the vaunted Red Wave sweeps the Trumpican Party from power? What is the best way to resist the Democrats going forward given the likely changes due to the 2020 census? What is the best way to resist the Democrats in upcoming elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond?

Previously I have suggested that even Senator Ron Johnson might return to the real world after the 2020 elections [Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course (Go Down with the Ship), June 8, 2020]. If Wisconsin votes Biden, the champion of it was really the Ukraine who meddled in the election might want to reconsider that position if he intends to run for reelection in 2022. Similarly his sidekick in stupidity, Senator John Kennedy also might want to express in a folksy way that he had been a blithering idiot when reciting Putin talking points.

By contrast, one person would remain as unchanged as his hair (unless he is caught in the wind and rain). THE DONALD will keep ranting and raving that he was defeated in a rigged election, the greatest and most corrupt political scandal since the one perpetrated against him in the 2016 election. He immediately will begin campaigning for his comeback in 2024. In between all his court appearances in the civil and criminal courts in New York and who knows how many federal districts (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Washington?), he also will appear before various Senate and House committees that now will be unleashed against him. Yet somehow, he will find the time to launch his 2024 campaign.

Similarly Sean Hannity might face a moment of truth after the election as well. He may have no choice but to tell the truth about his meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. After all, he is not a lawyer so they are not privileged. There is no freedom of press issue since these conversations were as an advisor and not a reporter. Subpoenas will be issued against him to compel testimony about his participation in the Ukrainian extortion, abuses of power, and whatever strikes the interest of the Congressional investigation committees. If Hannity chooses to defy the subpoenas, Attorney General Adam Schiff with great glee and satisfaction will add criminal charges to the list and throw him in jail.

Therefore at some point fairly soon after the election, it may be in Hannity’s best interests both personally and politically to tell the truth about his contacts with THE DONALD. Whether he likes the political results or not, there is a part of Hannity that has enough sense and expertise to be aware of the lay of the land in the real world come January 20, 2021. Even if the masses of Trumpicans profess loyalty to their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, Hannity will realize the necessity of charting a new path. He will recognize the futility of having a serially indicted/convicted/incarcerated criminal as the leader of a successful comeback against the Democrats.

At that point, Sean Hannity might become Howard Baker. To do so, he will have to do what no Trumpican has been able to do or is likely to do. No elected Trumpican, no formerly elected Trumpican, and no appointed Trumpican, is going to tell THE DONALD enough is enough. Hannity might. He would inform the Trumpicans that if they want to oppose the Democrats, that it will be in their best interests to become Republicans again. He will inform them that they need to put THE DONALD behind them and move on or else the Trumpicans will become as irrelevant nationally as the Republican Party now is in California or New York. He will thank THE DONALD for what he achieved but assert that for the good of the country – not that THE DONALD would ever sacrifice his own personal interest for the country. What’s in it for him – it is time for him to leave the stage and let others carry on the battle against AOC, Biden, and Pelosi. And that means all the Trumps!

I am not saying that Hannity will pursue this course of action in the event of a 2020 Democratic trifecta and Red Wave drowning Trumpicans. I am saying that Hannity will have arrived at the proverbial fork in the road. One should not doubt the heady experience it was for him to have the President of the United States at his beck and call. On a strictly psychological level, these four years had to have been a rush, a constant high. Now it will be over. He will feel the disappointment. He will feel the Trumpican pain. He may even decide to wallow in it on a show that nobody in power cares about. Or he may chose not to retire from relevance but to fight on in the real world by becoming Howard Baker and announcing to the world that it is time for THE DONALD to go. Depending on the election results, we will know soon enough what choice Hannity makes.