Category: Uncategorized

FLAG DESECRATION

Desecrating the American flag, i.e. burning or stomping, has become a favorite means of protesting or rioting. Yesterday’s vile, contemptuous, despicable, and appalling display in Washington DC made my blood boil. I am irate, as you should be.

I understand that in 1989 the Supreme Court held that such actions constituted a form of “symbolic speech” and therefore fell under the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution. I understand that many Americans have taken the liberal view and agree with the court’s decision.

That said, in my opinion such actions are just plain wrong. At some point, common sense has to take over. Since the Revolutionary War through the present day, millions of brave Americans have fought for and died for that flag and what it represents. It is a symbol of America and all it stands for.

There has got to be some legal way to curtail this scourge. The 1989 Supreme Court decision was only by a 5-4 vote. Today, the composition of the SC is different. Perhaps, another case can be brought that would result in a different outcome. A constitutional amendment is cumbersome, time-consuming and would take years. There has got to be a better way to deal with this.

Many of the rioters were probably illegals. They shouldn’t be in the US to begin with. Why should they be allowed to desecrate our flag? Why should they be afforded the right of free speech? Additionally, maybe the rioters can be prosecuted for other crimes such as assault and vandalism.

CONCLUSION

We have to find a way to curtail flag desecration. Our leaders seem to be unable or unwilling to take action. Other countries, particularly our enemies, see this as a sign of weakness and a further deterioration of American might.

My suggestions would be to:

  1. arrest all the rioters;
  2. find some other related crime to prosecute them for, such as vandalism or assault;
  3. run their IDs to determine if they are wanted for other crimes (I dare say many of them will be.); and
  4. ferret out those who are in the US illegally and deport them on the spot.

You may have better ideas. I welcome your suggestions. Somehow these activities must be stopped!

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ONE THOUSAND

I know what you’re probably thinking. That is an odd title for a blog posting. What does it signify? Well, simply put this is my 1,000th blog posting. I began blogging 12 years ago on September 5, 2012. I had retired three years previously. My wife had suggested I needed to do something to “exercise my mind.” Since I always listen to my wife (“Yes, dear.”) I began this blog. As I write this, my blogs have generated over 36,000 views. They have been read by viewers in 115 countries, and they are regularly posted in The Times of Israel. Nice, but I couldn’t have done it without you, the readers. Thank you for your loyalty.

Now, to the real focus of this blog, our vice president and Dem Party designated nominee for president – KACKLING KAMALA (“KK”).

KK is a creation of the Dem elites. They have adopted her and anointed her as the designated nominee out of desperation following the demise of Joe Biden’s campaign. For various reasons, which I have documented in previous blogs, there is no one else.

She has not earned a single delegate ever. In 2020 her candidacy never got off the ground. It was over before it began. It went broke and was characterized by internal bickering and disfunction. She was forced to suspend her candidacy before the Iowa caucuses. Her earlier career was mediocre at best. I will analyze it in a later blog.

In 2020 Biden selected her as his running mate because the party elites and “wokers” told him he had to select a black female. Biden didn’t want her. She had no power base; she didn’t add much, if anything, to the ticket; and they had clashed in the debates. But being “good old malleable Joe” he caved like a cheap suit.

The power elites wanted her now because she will be Biden reincarnate, Biden without the age and cognitive issues. Like Joe, she will accede to their wishes. Make no mistake about it. She was and is in accord with Biden’s misguided policies. If you didn’t like Biden’s policies you surely will not like hers.

Actually, there is evidence that her political philosophy is to the “left” of Biden and even Bernie Sanders in many areas. Reporting in the NY Post columnist Isaac Schorr characterized her as a “far-left authoritarian demagogue,” “Biden on steroids.” More on this below. If she were to win, she will be president in name only. The same hidden cadre of power elites will be running things. Once again, democracy and the will of the people will have been thwarted.

As vp KK has been a disaster. She has no positive achievements of her own. Probably, her biggest failure was immigration at the southern border. Biden designated her as “border Czar,” and assigned her the task of resolving the problem. It was a chance to demonstrate her mettle, and she failed. I have discussed this in detail in pervious blogs. In summary, she didn’t even bother to visit the problem areas of the border, and presently, the situation is worse than ever.

Below please find some samples of KK’s political positions, many of which are far to the left of the mainstream and would be detrimental to the country.

  1. While in the Senate she was a strong supporter of the ill-advised Green New Deal, which basically would terminate thousands of blue collar and middle-class workers’ jobs, bankrupt the country, and result in the demise of the fossil fuels industry.
  2. She wants to ban fracking. Are you paying attention PA, OH, Texas and the rest of the oil-producing states?
  3. She favors the “Medicare-for-All program, which, essentially, would terminate all private insurance plans in favor of socialized medicine.
  4. Her tax ideas are totally inane. She favors raising taxes. She has not put forth any sensible plan and has not demonstrated even a modicum of business or finance knowledge, but she did characterize the idea of a tax rate of 80% as “fantastic.”
  5. She was a leading proponent of defunding the police.
  6. She has been a strong critic of ICE, and if elected she would probably abolish it or at least sharply curtail its power.
  7. She often “shoots from the hip” without any analysis or thought. For example, early on, before all the facts were known she characterized the Jussie Smollett hoax as a “modern day lynching.”
  8. She advocated funding bail for all who are arrested, particularly those who had rioted in the cities in 2020.
  9. She favors a sweeping amnesty for illegal immigrants, more extreme than Biden.
  10. However, perhaps most destructive is her antipathy against Israel, our only reliable ally in the Middle East, and its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. She is more extreme than Biden was. In my view, her attitude and actions have indicated a pro-Hamas bias. She is more in line with the attitude of the Squad and other antisemites in her party. For example, she will be boycotting Netanyahu during his visit to the US. This sends a very bad signal to the rest of the world, but she is either oblivious to that fact or simply doesn’t care. I repeat what I have said many times already. Why any Jew would vote for the Dems is beyond me.

CONCLUSION

Currently, KK is in a “honeymoon period.” The media is hyping her as the savior of democracy. This is what they do. For years they protected Biden. Now they will do the same for KK.

Voters should not be deceived. She is not well known to much of the country. Hopefully, as they get more familiar with her, her warts will be exposed.

Don’t forget all her faults and failures as listed above. If she were to win the country would go “from the frying pan to the fire.”

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DEMS ENGAGE IN AUTOCRACY, NOT DEMOCRACY

Folks, in the last month we have been witnessing the complete breakdown of our democracy. A small, but powerful and influential group of Dems, their supporters, media allies, and influential donors (the “Usurpers”) have determined that they don’t want Biden to continue to seek the Dem Party’s nomination for president. They have concluded that Donald Trump will likely win the election, possibly by a landslide, and his coattails would increase the GOP’s margin in the House and flip the Senate. The senators and congressmen running for election and re-election have concluded Biden will be a drag on their candidacy, and they will likely lose. That is anathema to them as they would lose their power and influence. Their sense of entitlement simply will not tolerate such a result. Accordingly, they have coerced him to withdraw “voluntarily” from the race.

According to published reports as recently as a few days ago Biden wanted to continue. He proclaimed he had a “path” to victory, and he was “in it to win it.” Delusional, perhaps, but he was entitled to his own opinion. It is still early in the campaign, and a lot of unforeseen events could have swung the election. History is full of unlikely upsets. (See Truman and Trump.) But the Usurpers didn’t want him to do so. Consequently, purely for selfish reasons that I will discuss below, they forced him to withdraw. They accomplished this by a multipronged attack consisting of private arm-twisting by influential party members such as key advisors and former presidents Obama and Clinton, among others, public declarations by various senators and congressmen, and stories in the media that he was too old and cognitively unfit.

And, yet they are content to have him finish out his term. Ask yourself, if he is unfit to run for re-election, why is he not unfit to govern for the next six months? It puts the country at grave risk. In the words of “Dr. Spock” it is not logical. It makes no sense, except for the reasons cited above.

Understand, I am not defending Biden’s disastrous record as president nor am I disputing that he is cognitively unfit. In my opinion, both are obvious and have been for some time. What I am disputing is the process. That pesky little document called the Constitution has a process for dealing with a president that is unfit to discharge his duties. It’s called the 25th Amendment. It lays out a specific procedure by which he can be declared unfit and replaced. It may be complicated. It may be tedious. It may be controversial. It may be difficult to accomplish. But it is the ONLY legal way to remove a president.

Furthermore, it only deals with removing a president, not forcing him to withdraw from the nomination or election process against his will. TO MY KNOWLEDGE THERE IS NO PROVISION IN THE CONSTITUTION OR ANYWHERE ELSE THAT SUPPORTS THIS.

For four years we, the public, have been fed the fantasy that Biden is cogitatively fit. His cadre of advisors has shielded him. The mainstream media has protected him. They have both denigrated any stories of his decline as a “right wing conspiracy, a MAGA conspiracy, a Fox News conspiracy.” For four years the evidence was obvious to anyone who cared to look. His family knew it. His advisors knew it. White house reporters and domestic and foreign politicians with whom he interacted on a regular basis knew it. Fox News watchers knew it. However, most of the public did not or refused to acknowledge it. It was only when his decline was exposed in last month’s presidential debate and became obvious to everyone around the world that “The Emperor had no clothes” that the protectors and deniers admitted it. Then and only then, did Usurpers go to work as described above. To paraphrase the novel 1984 Biden was fine, until it was decided he wasn’t.

Biden has gone through the nomination process unopposed. According to Politico and various other media outlets he has won 3,861 delegates, well in excess of the 1,986 required for nomination. Millions of people have voted for him in good faith. They all had their individual reasons for doing so. Some of them were aware of his cognitive condition and chose to ignore or discount it; some may not have been. Doesn’t matter. They all voted for him “fair and square.” In effect, what the Usurpers have done is disenfranchised them unilaterally. Probably, fewer than 100 of them have illegally countermanded the will of millions simply because they don’t want Biden to win the nomination. That, my friends is a characteristic of an autocracy, not a democracy.

At the present time, Harris is the favorite to replace Biden. She has already garnered a host of endorsements; the mainstream media is supporting her; and no other candidate appears desirous of challenging her. However, it should be noted that she has a lot of “baggage,” and she has not distinguished herself as VP. In addition, as Biden’s VP she has been tainted by his failed and unpopular policies. Also, she was cognizant of and participated in the aforementioned coverup regarding Biden’s cognitive deficiencies. Furthermore, certain heavyweights, including Obama, Pelosi, Schumer and Jefferies have not yet endorsed her. To me, this indicates a lack of confidence and conviction in her. It also begs the question, if not Harris then who. The Dem bench is woefully thin. All that said, the Dems will probably be stuck with her. Whatever her deficiencies she is the only one who could inherit the campaign’s $200 million plus war chest.

CONCLUSION

Make no mistake. The Usurpers have not done this to benefit the country. If that were their goal, they would have proceeded with the 25th Amendment process. If they were truly concerned about the welfare of the country they would have blown the whistle on Biden four years ago. They are so disingenuous and hypocritical it disgusts me.

What we are witnessing is a classic “palace coup” akin to what occurs in autocracies. The only thing missing is a takeover by the military. My prediction is that the Dems will present us with the allusion of an open convention in which Biden’s delegates, having been released, will, in theory, be free to vote to choose the nominee. In reality, they will be heavily influenced by a small number of power brokers who will, in reality, choose him or her. Then, if the nominee should win, this small group of power brokers will, in effect, have bypassed the democratic process and chosen the next president.

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WHO WAS THAT GUY?

Donald Trump has been resurrected and reborn. His near-death experience has given him a new perspective on life. Anyone who watched his acceptance speech at the RNC knows what I mean. Gone was the bullying, name-calling, sarcastic, bombastic, Don Rickles-imitating Trump. He was replaced by the calm, sedate, soft-spoken, unifying newbie. I guess a near-death experience will do that to you. I like this version of Trump better, and hopefully the voters will too. Hopefully, he will continue in this vein.

By his own admission, “I’m not supposed to be here (on earth, at the RNC or anywhere else). I’m supposed to be dead.” That was not hyperbole. As we all know his would-be assassin missed killing him by a mere millimeter. For those of you who are not familiar with metrics, that is 1/25 the of an inch. He was saved by a quick turn of the head just as the would-be assassin fired. As columnist Micharl Goodwin wrote in the NY Post “survival has given him a new lease on life.” He sees things differently now.

Various investigations of the assassination attempt by the Secret Service, the FBI, Congress and others are ongoing. Inexplicably, Kimberly Cheatle, the head of the Secret Service, has refused to accept responsibility for the agency’s inadequate protection of Trump, has not resigned and has not been fired. Nor has anyone else, and quite possibly regardless of the conclusion of the various investigations, nor will anyone else. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but don’t hold your breath.

Based on his aforementioned speech Trump does not intend to waste his “second chance.” He told reporters he had planned to give his usual tough, critical, firebrand speech, but he discarded it in favor of the speech we heard. For the most part he refrained from nasty name-calling, which in the past has angered some voters, (although he did slip once referring to “crazy Nancy Pelosi”). But, overall, his tone was unifying, not dividing. As he said, “I am running to be president for ALL America, not half of America because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

CONCLUSION

In my view, the RNC was a rousing success. There were many highlights: Trump’s acceptance speech, the largely positive vibes with respect to the selection of J. D. Vance, the various introductory speeches by the Trump family members and Hulk Hogan being Hulk Hogan. Furthermore, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the uplifting speech by Kai, which humanized Trump as a typical grandfather (sneaking candy to her when the parents weren’t looking.

However, the best takeaway was that the RNC demonstrated unity, which is something the GOP has not always been known for. The party showed that it was unified in supporting Trump, unified in its policies, and most importantly it truly wants to unify the entire country. The GOP emphasized it has a big tent, and it wants everyone, Republican, independents and Democrats to come under it.

That is in stark contrast to the current administration, which has sought to divide. I will address the Dems’ disfunction and disarray in my next blog.

Latest polls in the five key swing states: AZ – Trump +10; G – T +5; MI – T+3; NV – T+3; and NC T+9.

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DT PICKS JT AS VP

Donald Trump didn’t waste any time. He could have kept us in suspense a day or so longer. He could have maintained the drama and uncertainty a bit longer. But he chose not to do so. He had made up his mind. He knew whom he wanted, and as is his nature he acted decisively. As most of you know by now, he picked Ohio freshman Senator J. D. Vance as his running mate. As is customary, the convention delegates then approved him by acclimation.

Some observers were a little surprised. Vance was on Trump’s short list along with Florida Senator Marco Rubio, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and some others. Each of them would have brought pros and cons to the ticket. Eventually, it came down to Burgum and Vance. In the end, he went with Vance. Was Vance a wise choice? Will he help Trump, hurt him, or have no discernible effect? In the recent past there have been examples of candidates for president being elected despite their choices for VP (FDR in 1944, Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, and Bush, the elder, in 1988). In my view, it depends. Vance brings both pros and cons to the ticket. See below for my analysis.

Vance’s life story is, in many ways, a microcosm of the true “American Dream.” It is an embodiment of how one can, through hard work, determination, and perhaps a little luck, rise above the circumstances of his birth and achieve greatness. It’s a cliche, but in his case it is true. There have been many examples of this. As they say, “only in America.”

He was born on August 2,1984 in Middletown, OH. His birth name was James Donald Bowman. Later, he was adopted by his mother’s third husband, and his surname was changed to Hamel.

His beginning was as bad as it gets. His family was very poor. He suffered through a terrible childhood plagued by violence and abuse. His father was not in the picture. His mother suffered from drug addiction. His parents divorced soon after his birth, and he was raised primarily by his maternal grandparents whom he called “Mamaw’ and “Papaw.” He recalled, “I grew up poor in the Rust Belt in an Ohio steel town that ha[d] been hemorrhaging jobs and hope for as long as I can remember.” There was never enough money for food and other necessities. He recalled his Mamaw often had to “negotiate” with social services personnel for extra food. Yep. It doesn’t get any worse than that. Yet, Vance exhibited the strength, courage and fortitude to overcome it all.

Upon graduating from high school Vance enlisted in the Marines. He served in Iraq first as a combat correspondent and later in the Public Affairs section. He characterized this period as the “defining chapter of [my] life where [I] first developed a sense of purpose.”

After he was discharged, he attended Ohio State University from which he graduated Summa Cum Laude in two years. Then, he attended Yale Law School where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. Upon graduation he married and adopted his grandparents’ surname of “Vance.” He had a very successful business career in technology and venture capital, and he wrote a best-selling book based on his upbringing called Hillbilly Elegy, which was also made into an Academy Award-nominated movie starring Gabriel Basso, Amy Adams and Glenn Close.

Politically, Vance is generally viewed as a conservative, which should appease the right wing of the GOP, although I’m not sure how the all-important independents will view him. For example, he has been opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. Moreover, until recently he was sharply critical of Trump. In fact, he was an avowed “never-Trumper.” He went so far as to characterize Trump as “reprehensible,” cultural heroin,” an “opioid of the masses,” a “cynical a**hole, and “America’s Hitler.” He denigrated his policies as ranging from “immoral to absurd.” However, after observing Trump’s record and accomplishments as president he abruptly changed his opinion, and he became a strong supporter. He endorsed Trump way back in January 2023.

Politically, he has since exhibited some similarities to Trump and also some differences. For example, he is an advocate of a strong, secure border and is a strong supporter of Israel. On the other hand, as I mentioned above, he has expressed opposition to abortion and same-sex marriages.

If elected Vance, 39, would become one of the youngest VPs ever. The youngest was John Breckenridge who was 36 when he took office in 1821. A bit of trivia: he would also become the first Ohio native to be elected to the office since Charles Dawes in 1924 and the first VP since Charles Curtis to sport facial hair (1929-1933 under Herbert Hoover).

Vance is married with three children. His wife, Usha Chilukuri is an accomplished attorney who was a classmate at Yale Law School and who has clerked for Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts.

CONCLUSION

Vance was a bold choice for VP. I believe he brings both pros and cons to the ticket. As I said, his life story is most inspiring. It is an embodiment of the American Dream. As political commentator David Graham wrote in The Atlantic “he brings youth and intellect to the Republican ticket.” As Catherine Lucey and John McCormick opined in the Wall Street Journal he “offers Trump a natural successor to his MAGA movement. Trump had often said that this would be a critical element of his choice for VP.

On the other hand, there is much in his background for the Dem and Dem-supporting “spin doctors” in the media to attack, and they will definitely do so. They always do, and they are very effective at it. Their primary targets will likely be so-called “women’s issues” such as his early stance on abortion and same-sex marriage. Earlier in his career he was strongly opposed to abortion. He has since moderated his stance on the issue. He now characterizes it as a “state issue,” but the Dems will still attack him on it as it is probably their best (only?) issue. Additionally, they will gleefully repeat his early characterizations of Trump as listed above.

Yes, this was a bold choice by Trump. Despite all the recent negativity surrounding the Biden campaign and the well-publicized panic among many Dems who want him to withdraw, this is still a close election. My analysis of state-by-state polls reveals that Trump is currently ahead in states totaling 300 electoral votes, however, many of those margins are very narrow and within the margin of error. Also, it is still very early in the campaign, and history tells us that a lot can happen and often has happened between now and Election Day.

In summary, I believe Trump could have made a safer choice, one which would have been harder for the Dems and their allies to attack, but bottom line, I think Vance is a solid choice who will be efficacious to the ticket.

Whether or not that translates into victory remains to be seen. As always, the decisive factors will be organization and turnout. In 2020 and 2022 the Dems excelled in these areas, particularly in early voting and ballot harvesting. The GOP did not. The Trump campaign has to match the Dems in these areas, or it could very well lose.

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TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Yesterday, July 13, Donald Trump and America, itself, dodged a major bullet, both literally and figuratively. Yesterday, as most of us know, Mr. Trump was very nearly assassinated while giving a campaign speech in Butler, Pa, a small city located just north of Pittsburgh. According to live tv and various news reports the would-be assassin’s bullet grazed Trump’s right ear and missed killing him by a mere millimeter or two. (For those of you who are not well-versed in metrics a millimeter is approximately 1/25 of an inch.) On replays one can see that Trump fortuitously turned his head just before the bullet struck. After being shot he reacted immediately, ducking down out of sight below the level of the lectern. He was immediately surrounded by secret service agents and hustled off-stage with blood dripping from his face to a waiting vehicle, which then left the area immediately. Otherwise, I would be writing a very different blog today.

Despite the exigency of the situation Trump managed to take a moment to assure everyone he was okay. He said he heard a “whizzing sound,” and a shot and immediately felt the bullet pierce the skin of his ear. He immediately was cognizant of what was happening and ducked down showing quick reflexes and awareness. As he was hustled off-stage, he raised and pumped his fist. The crowd responded with chants of “USA, USA.” Later, Saturday night he sent an email in which he vowed “I will never surrender.” Also, despite everything he managed to extend condolences to the family of the spectator who had been killed.

Reaction from witnesses, the media, law enforcement agencies, politicians and world leaders was swift and copious. Investigations will be conducted by various law enforcement agencies including, among others, the FBI, secret service, Homeland Security, Congress and Pennsylvania state and local agencies. Obviously, at this time any and all investigations are in preliminary stages and fluid.

Below please find a sampling of the current status based on multiple reports:

  1. The secret service is conducting an initial investigation. In the words of the late Desi Arnaz it will have some “‘splaining to do.” It gets kudos for its prompt reaction after the shooting, but it appears to have failed to secure the perimeter adequately. More on this later.
  2. The FBI will be taking the lead on the investigation among law enforcement agencies.
  3. The would-be assassin has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa. Somehow, he was able to perch on a rooftop of a building a mere 100 yards from where Trump was speaking. Secret service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi disclosed Crooks was able to get off “multiple shots” before he was neutralized. An “AR-style” semiautomatic rifle was recovered from the perch. At this moment his motive and weather he was a “lone wolf” or part of a group conspiracy is unknown.
  4. George Bivens of the PA State Police stated the agency is following up several “suspicious occurrences.” The most troubling one is that multiple witnesses had reported to police seeing a person on the roof of a building just outside the security perimeter prior to the shooting. Moreover, they said they had advised police officers, but no action was taken.
  5. Various spectators described a “bloody, chaotic and confusing” scene and reported hearing multiple shots, as many as eight.
  6. Multiple former and current FBI agents told reporters it was very concerning that Crooks was able to perch so close. They added that the SS “really needs to answer that question.”
  7. Steve Moore, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and experienced “counter sniper” offered a chilling assessment regarding assassinations that the “secret service has to be right every single time,” but “the bad guys only have to be lucky or right one time.”
  8. Last night after being released from the hospital Trump returned to his home in Bedminster, NJ. He confirmed the GOP convention, which is scheduled to begin this week, will proceed as planned.
  9. A plethora of both domestic and foreign government officials and politicians, including, among many others, President Biden, Merrick Garland, J. D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Lloyd Austin, Chuck (the “Chameleon”) Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Kamala Harris, Mike Johnson, Nikki Haley, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have expressed support.
  10. In the wake of the shooting a Biden campaign official told reporters the campaign would be “pausing” television ads and outgoing communications as quickly as possible.
  11. As a result of the shooting law enforcement spokespersons were asked if they were aware of any additional security threats. They responded they “don’t currently believe” that there are any at this time.
  12. Yesterday’s attempted assassination of Trump was not a singular event in American history. It reminds one of other assassinations and attempted assassinations in American history such as Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, JFK, and Ronald Reagan. Also, let’s be mindful of the fact that presidential candidate RFK, Jr., whose father and uncle have both been assassinated, has requested and inexplicably been denied secret service protection.

As shocking as yesterday’s attempted assassination was it should not have come as much of a surprise. In my opinion, this election has been the most contentious in recent memory. It has progressed way beyond the traditional politicking that normally characterizes elections. Many Dems and their supporters view Trump as more than just a political opponent. They have portrayed him, ignorantly and inaccurately to be sure, as evil, a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They hate him with a passion that strikes me as irrational. They view him as someone who, if elected, will be a dictator, never leave office and “destroy democracy.” (This is ludicrous and delusional on its face. He has already been president and he did leave office in 2020 when he lost.)

These characterizations are not limited to fringe elements. He has been portrayed as such by many in the mainstream media, both on television and in the press. Many of his opponents have vowed publicly their intention to “stop Trump” at all costs. The vitriol has been so extreme that it has spawned a term to describe it – “Trump derangement syndrome, or TDS. Consequently, one should not have been so surprised that some disillusioned, misguided wacko decided to take matters into his own hands.

This all began in 2015 when Trump first declared his candidacy for President. It has continued through his first term as president and the post-presidential period. Initially, Trump’s opponents attacked him with false or exaggerated claims of everything from being anti-women, antisemitic, anti-Black and anti-Hispanic to consorting with Russia and China. Then, they tried to impeach him multiple times for the flimsiest of reasons. Then, when he declared for a second term, they indicted him on false or exaggerated criminal charges in heavily “blue” venues with the intent of tying him up in court to prevent him from campaigning, convicting him and even imprisoning him. Each of these was and is being exposed as vicious lies.

These attacks have increased in volume and intensity during the current campaign, reaching a crescendo in recent weeks when it has become apparent that Trump is winning the election, and perhaps winning by a considerable margin in electoral votes. Trump is winning not just on the issues. His opponent, President Biden, has finally been exposed as a cognitively-deficient shell. During the presidential debate the Biden facade came crashing down. The entire world came to see what many of us have known for years, namely that he is an empty vessel, an “emperor with no clothes.”

As I have written in previous blogs, after covering for him for several years his supporters both in the Dem Party and the media are now in a full-blown panic. The Washington D. C. so-called elites, aka the “swamp,” which, though not elected to any office, have essentially controlled government policy for decades feel their power about to slip away. Their disingenuousness and lying have been exposed, and if Trump were to win could be exposed further.

The down-ballot Dems who are running for re-election in the Senate and the House now see their chances of winning diminishing rapidly. They perceive that Biden’s coattails are rapidly morphing into “anchors.” To them, a Trump presidency is bad enough; the prospect of the GOP gaining control of Congress as well is unthinkable.

As a result, the Dem Party is badly split and not just politically between the far-left wing and the moderate wing. There is an additional split between those who want Biden to withdraw and Biden and his supporters who want him to stay. Biden, himself, has been insisting he is “not going anywhere.” The former group has been working both overtly and covertly to replace Biden. The main impediments are (1) Biden controls all the campaign funds as well as some 1,200 delegates who voted for him in the primaries and (2) the Dems do not have a suitable replacement who can beat Trump. (I discount Harris, the logical choice, who has been a very unpopular and ineffective VP.) Moreover, the “dump Biden” people are operating under a short deadline. Early voting will begin in several states in some 60 days. Many persons will be voting for Biden, so any replacement candidate will lose those votes. To top it all off, the Biden camp and the Obama camp have never liked each other and do not trust each other.

In my opinion, if Biden hangs tough the Dems will be stuck with him. I love the irony. They propped Biden up and forced him to pick Harris as his VP. Now they are stuck with the two of them. As the saying goes, the Dems are being hoisted on their own petard.

CONCLUSION

I anticipate a long and exhaustive investigation. I expect the media to be all over it. The SS, FBI, Homeland Security, and PA state and local police, among others, will be trying to deflect responsibility and blame others. The SS, in particular, will be under the microscope for failing to secure the perimeter adequately. I would not be surprised if “heads roll” there. In my opinion, it will be one big s**t show.

In view of the foregoing, in retrospect we should not be surprised at yesterday’s attempted assassination. The media and many Dems and their supporters have criticized and vilified Trump relentlessly for seven years. They have characterized him not as a political opponent who is entitled to express his contrary views but as “evil,” a “Nazi,” and “Hitler.” In doing so, they have, intentionally or not, incited and encouraged violence against him. It was inevitable that someone would try to assassinate him sooner or later. In fact, I would not be surprised if there were further attempts. I expect the danger of further violence to rachet up as we get closer to the election. I am not the only one who thinks so. Many others have expressed the same opinion to me. Furthermore, according to his close advisors even Trump agrees. There are a lot of deranged people out there who will want to settle political differences not with a vote, but with a bullet.

This is not how we do things in America. This is not what we are about. We are supposed to be a nation of laws governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Somehow, gradually we have lost our way. We need to find it again before it is too late.

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DEMS FRACTURED, FIGHTING AND AFRAID

President Biden, to put it mildly, has not had a good week. First, he had the disastrous debate performance in which he displayed his cognitive impairments before the entire world. Few people bought his feeble, outlandish, inane excuses of a cold or jet lag. Then, he tried to blame his debate preparers. That didn’t work either. Finally, yesterday, July 5, he tried one of his favorite tactics, a soft prerecorded interview with a friendly journalist, in this case, George Stephanopoulos. That performance also failed to repair the damage. In the view of many, it exacerbated it.

Stephanopoulos was unable or unwilling to pin Biden down with respect to his current state of impaired cognition. He failed to follow up when Biden refused to commit to a cognitive test or even an independent medical exam and whether the results would be released. Instead, Biden doubled down asserting “I’m the nominee and I’m running and [I’m] going to win again. … I will beat him [Trump] in 2020.” Hey, Joe it’s 2024.

The post-interview opinions were predictably negative. As one sample, commentator Jonathan Karl, speaking on ABC, opined that ” ‘nothing’ about it had calmed the nerves of his [supporters] and it even raised new concerns.” Indeed, a trio of polls released July 3 – NY Times/Siena, CNN and WSJ – reported Trump had widened his lead nationally to six points. As I write this, updated state-by-state polls have not been released, but the last pre-debate polls showed Trump ahead in states with over 300 electoral votes. Only 270 are needed to win.

Currently, the Dems are in disarray. For various reasons, they are terrified at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House. What Biden really needs to do to assure his donors, his supporters, the American voters, and our allies, many of which are in a full panic today, is what he is loath to do and probably incapable of doing. That is, address the public, speak extemporaneously, live and without note cards, and then answer any and all questions. He needs to give a speech akin to then-Senator Richard Nixon’s famous “Checkers Speech” in 1952. In a nutshell, Nixon was in danger of being removed from the Republican ticket. The speech was successful and saved his career.

Biden’s critics are “coming out of the woodwork.” Criticisms and calls for him to quit are widespread, both covertly and overtly. Some examples:

  1. According to multiple reports he often forgets the names and faces of some family members, longtime friends, supporters and colleagues.
  2. His group of trusted advisors has shrunken to just a few family members such as Jill and Hunter, who have their own agendas. Jill, in turn, is heavily influenced by longtime advisor and self-described “work husband,” Anthony Bernal and longtime confident, Mike Donilon.
  3. He is prone to lashing out at staff members if they disagree with him or present negative information.
  4. According to the NY Post his staff is “leaking like a faucet.”
  5. Biden’s support within the Dem Party is melting away like a summer snow. A plethora of long-time supporters, allies and media personnel who had been consistently protecting him are now advocating his resignation either as the nominee or as president. I have no respect or sympathy for these duplicitous people. To me they are “rats deserting a sinking ship.” Many, if not most, of them have been cognizant of Joe’s declining cognitive abilities as far back as 2020, and they kept silent putting their own self-interest above that of the American people.
  6. Various media sources are reporting that “over a dozen” Dem members of Congress are advocating that he resign immediately so that VP Kamala Harris can accept the Party’s nomination and run as an incumbent. It has been reported that some of them are covertly circulating a letter calling for him to quit.
  7. Republican Senator J. D., Vance commented that many Dems are “obsessed” with replacing Biden on the ticket. Vance went further, adding “if he’s unfit to run for president he certainly isn’t fit to be president.”
  8. Long-time Dem strategist James Carville has taken the very radical step of urging donors to refrain from contributing further to any Dems who support Biden. He stated, “seventy-two percent of [the] people want something different – why not give it to them.”
  9. Even Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s top medical correspondent and a longtime Biden excuser, is now urging him to accede to a “detailed cognitive and neurological exam” and release the results to the public.

The problem with Biden resigning is that Kamala Harris would become president, and as I have discussed in previous blogs that would be worse. Her approval ratings are no better than Biden’s. In my opinion, she is the “Queen of Malaprops.” She has uttered more of them than Yogi Berra whose were at least entertaining and had an element of truth and (twisted) logic. Also, Berra was just a regular guy, not VP. Harris’ are just plain inane. Some samples:

  1. “So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong.”
  2. “We invested an additional $12 billion into community banks, because we know community banks are in the community, and understand the needs and desires of that community as well as the talent and capacity of community.”
  3. So, during Women’s History Month we celebrate and we honor the women who made history throughout history.”
  4. “It is time to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day.”
  5. On why she hadn’t been to the southern border despite the fact that Biden had assigned her the task of “fixing” it, “I haven’t been to Europe.”

The foregoing are just a few samples, but it does make one wonder how she managed to rise to the office of VP (except we do know how). Also, she has an odd habit of punctuating a statement by cackling, which is very unnerving.

The Dems are in a messy situation, and there seems to be no acceptable way out of it. As the expression goes, “they are being hoisted on their own petard.” They’ve been committed to a cognitively-challenged Joe Biden because they judged he will defeat Trump in 2024 as he did in 2020. Even worse, they endorsed the selection of Harris as VP to placate the radical left wing of the Party, even though there were many better qualified candidates, because she is a Black female. She was not qualified then; and she is not qualified now. So, if they were to succeed in forcing Biden out there remains the problem of with whom to replace him. As I stated above, Harris is not qualified, and as I have opined in previous blogs each of the other possibilities has his or her own plusses and minuses. Moreover, I doubt that any of them could win either.

Normally, the VP would be the logical replacement choice. After all, according to the constitution that is the sole purpose of the position. Also, she has a chunk of supporters within the Party. But because of her record as VP her approval ratings are generally as low as Joe’s. On the other hand, if they bypass her in favor of someone else, they will likely alienate the far-left wing of the Party, including many women and Blacks.

CONCLUSION

In summary, Biden’s campaign is falling apart. His supporters are panicking and running for cover. His donors feel betrayed and angry and are reassessing their support. Down-ballot Dems, who fear a GOP landslide and a return of Trump to the White House, are fearing for their political lives. They foresee that Biden’s coattails are morphing into anchors. They are overtly calling for Biden to quit, while covertly plotting to replace him. Our allies are concerned. Our enemies are jubilant.

It figures to be riotous Dem convention. I anticipate to a return of the “smoke filled room” of yesteryear.

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THE FAILURE OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA

We expect or even accept that most politicians will be disingenuous and partisan. Some will even be corrupt. We may not like it, but that is the nature of the beast. However, our expectations are very different with respect to the media.

In order for our system of government to function as the Founding Fathers intended it is essential to have a strong, vibrant, honest and independent media. In particular, we, the people, rely on having the benefit of a media that will ferret out and expose lies, corruption and criminal activities committed by our elected officials. Many of us have been cognizant of the fact that over the last few years most of the media, with few exceptions, has not only been lax in fulfilling its purpose it has been actively biased in its coverage. It has ignored, suppressed, distorted, and outright lied about many stories that would have reflected negatively upon Dems and, in particular, President Biden.

On the other hand, much of the media has perpetuated lies and exaggerations with respect to its coverage of Donald Trump. In at least one case I maintain that the media’s actions likely affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. It doesn’t get more serious than that. I will explain below.

To be sure, there have been other times in our history in which the media has “protected” presidents by not disclosing certain health issues and/or character flaws to the public. In recent history, I can recall three such examples, but I am sure there have been many more:

  1. JFK was just 43 when he was elected president in 1960. Tanned, handsome, vibrant and athletic he always projected the picture of good health. In reality, he suffered from a variety of debilitating illnesses the extent of which was kept from the public by the media. For instance, he suffered from various spinal problems and osteoporosis that caused chronic pain; he had Addisons disease, which damaged his adrenal glands and resulted in fatigue and other maladies; and he suffered from frequent urinary tract infections. According to historian Robert Dallek he took as many as a dozen medications to deal with these issues. Additionally, he was a chronic womanizer. Did these impair his ability to function as president? Possibly.
  2. FDR suffered from polio most of his adult life beginning when he was a young man. Basically, he was confined to a wheelchair and could only walk or even stand up with the assistance of braces, crutches or an aide. The media downplayed his infirmities and in the days before the advent of television the public was largely unaware of his condition. Had the public known his chances of a successful political career would have been severely hampered.
  3. During the last year of his presidency Woodrow Wilson was basically incapacitated due to a series of strokes. Unbeknownst to the general public his wife and his personal physician basically managed the presidency in his stead. The media did not report this. Some might view this as a parallel to Biden’s situation.

So, the media’s protection of Biden is not unique, but the extent of it has been significantly more excessive. For example, for the past several years the mainstream media has acted as a strong advocate for Biden and the Dems. It has suppressed or distorted a never-ending series of negative stories, such as his cognitive decline, Hunter Biden’s laptop, millions of dollars in hidden funds received from China, Russia, and several other countries, his weak and overaccommodative attitude toward our enemies such as Iran, Russia and China, his failure to secure our borders, his poor economic policies, and his failure to address crime. Contemporary journalists have assiduously avoided disclosing or investigating these matters either through laziness or reluctance to uncover anything negative with respect to Biden.

On the other hand, as I mentioned above it has created, abetted, embellished and suppressed false stories against Donald Trump, such as, among many others, “trumped up” impeachment trials, the Russia hoax, FISA warrants, January 6 insurrection, 2020 election interference, the NYC “show” trial, and worst of all Hunter Biden’s laptop. Their intense hatred of Trump is so deep it borders on the irrational, hence the term “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” They would rather damage America by propping up a cognitively-deficient Biden than see Trump in the White House.

I have discussed each of these, in detail, in previous blogs, and I see no need to repeat myself. The most egregious of these was the suppression of Hunter’s laptop. The Dems, the media, the FBI and various social media outlets all participated creating and perpetuating the lie that it was a hoax. After the 2020 election when the truth was uncovered a goodly number of those who had voted for Biden disclosed that had they been aware of the truth they would have voted for Trump. The election was so close that that may have swung the election. Of course, we’ll never know.

Now the liberal/woke media is trying to gaslight us with two additional preposterous stories.

  1. If elected, Trump will be a dictator. He will never leave office. Well, HELLO! Trump has already been president. We have seen him in action. He did not act like a dictator, and upon losing re-election he did leave office.
  2. In view of the SCOTUS’s recent decision regarding presidential immunity they are attacking the integrity of the Court and its members. They are saying that Trump will run amok even employ death squads such as Seal Team Six to assassinate opponents. This is inane on many levels. Those who are predicting this are ignorant, delusional, and merely grasping at straws to inflame the public. SCOTUS acted within its constitutional authority. Its decision limited immunity to “official” acts and left it to the lower courts to determine what is “official” on a case-by-case basis.

Now in the wake of Biden’s disastrous performance in last week’s debate his cognitive decline, which most of the media has been hiding from voters, has become undeniably evident. Those voters who have been getting their news from Fox News were not surprised. Fox has been reporting this for years, even before the 2020 election. It is now obvious to all who watched the debate that all of Fox’s expose stories over the last several years are true, and those who denigrated them have been exposed as either partisan liars or incompetents. On the other hand, those voters who have been getting their news from other media outlets were shocked. Even media outlets, reporters and so-called Dem insiders professed to be shocked, although most should have known or at least suspected.

Now, that we have all seen that “the emperor has no clothes,” so to speak, numerous Dems and their allies are piling on, to wit:

  1. The staffers who prepped Biden for the debate are being blamed for not having prepared him properly. Biden never fires anybody but expect some or all of them to be relegated to a lesser role or reassigned.
  2. Carl Bernstein who, along with Bob Woodward, exposed the Watergate scandal in the 1970s has been a staunch supporter of Biden. He has consistently denigrated any stories of Biden’s cognitive decline and exaggerated Trump’s issues negatively (often characterizing them as “worse than Watergate”) playing on his Watergate fame to give credence to his opinions. Now, embarrassed that he missed this issue, suddenly he is piling on. For instance, he advised CNN that Biden’s horrendous debate performance was not unique. He claims that there have been “15 [-] 20” similar occasions in the past 18 months. Nice of him to exposé this now after the whole world has seen it with their own eyes. Clearly, Bernstein is not the same reporter he was during Watergate. Probably, other reporters who cover the White House knew as well. Too bad they did not exhibit the professional integrity to tell the American people earlier.
  3. Biden-excusers such as the NY Times, Axios and Politico are suddenly reporting on Biden’s weaknesses such as lack of stamina and limited schedule. Too little, too late. Where were they four years ago? According to Axios Biden is only “dependably engaged” from 10 am to 4 pm. If true, that is most frightening. Being president is a 24/7 job. Crises can and do occur at any time.
  4. Various Dem congressmen have called for Biden to “step aside as the presumptive nominee.” Those running for reelection are particularly concerned (as they should be). Biden’s “coattails” have morphed into “anchors.”
  5. Multiple “former officials” in the Biden Administration have “expressed doubt” that Biden could go “toe-to-toe” with the likes of Putin in his “present condition.”
  6. Politico has reported that Biden refuses to take advice from all but a small, select group. Moreover, he cannot abide bad news. He is prone to tantrums and to chewing out staffers who bring him any. As a consequence, they rarely and reluctantly tell him anything negative. Obviously, this impairs his ability to make informed decisions even further.
  7. Comedians on late-night talk shows have begun to mock Biden as they used to do with other presidents.
  8. To me, all of the above are indications that the Dems realize he is losing and want to replace him.
  9. One of the few exceptions is “Morning Joe” Scarborough, a leading sufferer of TDS. He has forfeited the last shred of his integrity by declaring “this version of Biden intellectually, analytically is the best Biden ever.””

CONCLUSION

The mainstream media’s lack of integrity has been disgraceful. At times, its sycophantic behavior has more closely resembled what we see in an autocracy rather than in a democracy. They have allowed their blind, irrational hatred of Trump to prevent them from fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities.

    Now, the Dems are in a major quandary. They are panicking because their presumptive nominee has been exposed as not medically competent to be president. A faction of the Party would like to replace him even though to do so would effectively disenfranchise the millions who voted for him in the primaries many of whom still support him.

    Biden has steadfastly refused to withdraw voluntarily. His wife and family are supporting this for their own selfish reasons. However, the pressure is mounting.

    Based on the primary results Biden controls virtually all of the delegates. These delegates are staunchly loyal to him. Getting them to support another candidate would be a very cumbersome, if not impossible, process. Each state has its own election laws and procedures to navigate. Moreover, it is almost unheard of for even one delegate to renege on his pledge on the first ballot, much less a majority of them. Also, Biden controls a substantial amount of campaign funds. The only replacement candidate to whom these funds could be transferred is VP Kamala Harris. Unfortunately, she is very unpopular with most Party insiders, donors and voters for reasons that I outlined in my last blog.

    In my estimation, none of the other possible candidates would do any better than Biden. History tells us that it is still early in the campaign, and things could still change. But, at the present time, it appears that the Dems are stuck with Biden for better or for worse.

    One final comment – Ignore the often-published national poll numbers, which have consistently reported a narrow percentage point difference between Biden and Trump. It’s the Electoral College that matters, and my analysis has disclosed that if the election were held today Trump would garner 310 electoral votes to Biden’s 195 with 33 in a tie. That is why the Dems and their supporters have been so panicked.

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    BIDEN-TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH

    The 2024 Biden-Trump debate has been consigned to the annals of history. In many respects it was a real game changer. I think it will resonate among political historians for a long time (either famously or infamously depending on one’s political preference). In my lifetime I have watched many presidential debates, and I have never witnessed one so decisive. Frankly, at times, I was almost embarrassed for Biden.

    Already certain significant patterns and trends have emerged. It is important to realize that the debate was only a few days ago, and generally speaking the full ramifications of it will not be apparent for a while. However, some immediate patterns have emerged, which I will list below as my considered opinion, with which, as always you are free to agree or disagree.

    A plethora of polls and opinions have been published in the last few days. All of them have had negative implications for both Biden and the Dems. For instance:

    1. I could not find any publication or commentator that thought Biden won the debate or even performed well.
    2. Most polls’ results were consistent with the Democracy Corp poll of Dem-leaning voters many of whom described Biden as “confused,” “frail,” and exhibiting “dementia.”
    3. As I reported in my previous blog even media Dem stalwarts such as CNN, MSNBC and the NY Times were in a panic and were calling for Biden to step aside.
    4. John Levine, writing in the NY Post, put it succinctly opining that “Trump crushed Biden.” Although “crushed” may be a rather strong characterization virtually every poll concurs that Trump won, as do I. For example, a poll taken by Schoen Cooperman Research found that 51% felt Trump had won the debate compared to 34% for Biden.
    5. Even more foreboding, 50% of respondents in the same poll said that based on the debate they would be more likely to vote. Guess for whom those persons would be voting.
    6. Other polls reported similarly dire news for Biden. For example, a CBS poll disclosed that 46% of Dem registered voters and 72% of all registered voters felt Biden does not possess the “mental and cognitive health to serve as president” and should not be running. The top three reasons given were his age, decisions he might make as president, and his record as president.
    7. Ominously, the negativity increased among those who actually watched the debate.
    8. According to a Morning Consult poll 60% want Biden to withdraw and be replaced. I will evaluate possible replacements below.
    9. Some respondents replied that Biden’s poor performance was even worse than they expected. Probably, those were persons who got their news from one of the many media outlets that continuously hid or minimized Biden’s deficiencies. Most Fox viewers were not surprised.

    Normally, I am not a proponent of fact-checking. All politicians bend the truth at times, particularly under the pressure of a debate. However, Biden told some outright lies that were too egregious to ignore.

    For example:

    1. “I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any – this decade – that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world.” He forgot about the 13 soldiers who died during the ill-advised, ill-planned, and ill-executed withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. We also left behind an untold number of native Afghanis who had worked for and with us who we had at least a moral obligation to take out plus billions of dollars of military weapons and equipment.
    2. “The US Border Patrol union endorsed me.” The union debunked that immediately and emphatically with a posting on X. “To be clear. We never have and never will endorse Biden.”

    Dem party members, fund raisers, and supporters are in a quandary. Many of them are extremely distressed at the prospect of a Trump presidency. They hate him with a passion. Their hate is irrational. There is a term for their feelings. It’s called “Trump Derangement Syndrome or TDS. They truly believe he is evil. Some of them have referred to him as a Nazi. Some have even extended those characterizations to Trump supporters. I have never seen anything like it. Even Richard Nixon, as unpopular as he was by the opposition, did not engender such extreme feelings.

    They put all their eggs in the Biden basket, and now they don’t know what to do. They are in a bind. Biden is insisting he will not drop out. Any alternative candidates were dissuaded or precluded from campaigning. As a result, there is no viable alternative to Biden. The one positive news for Biden was that another poll released by Data for Progress failed to identify any possible replacement that would do better than him. That’s good for Biden but bad for the Dem Party.

    VP Harris’ poll numbers are worse than Biden’s. She has been exposed as ignorant, incompetent and lazy and has no accomplishments on her record as VP. Newsome is young and vibrant, but he would have to run on his dismal record as governor of California. His far-left policies have virtually bankrupted the state. Buttigieg would have to defend his spotty record as Mayor of South Bend and Transportation Secretary. Michelle Obama insists she is not interested. Hillary? Please!

    CONCLUSION

    Most everyone agrees that this election will be crucial for the country’s future. The country is in trouble. It is sharply divided almost down the middle politically, socially and economically. Many feel the media is sharply biased and the scales of justice are tilted. Furthermore, supporters of each candidate have exhibited an intense dislike for the other one. Feelings are so extreme that most people are loath to even engage in meaningful political dialogue lest they evolve into arguments or even fights. For most people the answer to the standard question “are you better off today than you were four years ago is a resounding “no.”

    As I said, the situation is very fluid. Stay tuned for future developments.

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    BIDEN-TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

    In my view, analysis of the Biden-Trump Presidential debate boiled down to one issue. It was very simple Each candidate had one mission. It was not about policy. At this point, most of the electorate has made up its mind about which candidate’s policies they favor, and most of them are not likely to waiver from their convictions. Furthermore, any policy gaffe could and would be “spun” by the spin doctors as is normally the case. (“He didn’t really mean that. What he meant was this.”) Each candidate had one crucial goal. To put it succinctly Trump fulfilled his and Biden failed his. More on this later.

    This debate was all about optics, demeanor and appearance. Trump’s mission was to be disciplined, calm, resolute, and to avoid any bombastic, snarky, and demeaning attacks for which he has been known. Just state the facts. He was on the right side of most of the issues; he was ahead in the polls in most of the swing states; and he had the momentum. To put it in sports terms, he didn’t need to win the debate; just not lose it. Let the other guy lose it. Biden’s mission was to demonstrate he is cognitively able to serve as president for four more years. Avoid the stumbling, bumbling, fumbling and mumbling for which he has been known. Simply put, appear to be presidential, confident and in control. Try to bait Trump.

    Well, we all saw what happened. Trump checked all the boxes he had to. Biden failed to do so miserably and decisively. In the words of Politico he “face planted.” He exhibited many of the traits of a cognitively impaired person – a stiff, halting, shuffling walk, a “deer in the headlights” stare, slack-jawed look, halting delivery, wandering eyes, and worst of all unintelligible speech.

    He had many embarrassing moments, but two stood out in my memory. (1) He outright lied by claiming that “the Border Patrolmen [Union] endorsed” him. While all candidates occasionally lie and twist facts this one was particularly egregious as it was easily and promptly debunked. The BP union tweeted right back declaring “to be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden;” and (2) he stumbled through his point about healthcare even losing his train of thought entirely at one point for several seconds and ending it by saying “we finally beat Medicare.” This made no sense. (Trump’s response was simply “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

    It appears that for most of the viewers Biden’s performance was a real shock. They had never seen him this bad and had no idea of his deterioration. His handlers and media allies have been shielding him most effectively. They have been limiting his public appearances and have managed to deflect and spin most of the negative coverage. However, those of us who regularly get their news from Fox were not surprised. We have been observing this decline for years. The mainstream media’s penchant for “fake news” has finally been exposed.

    To illustrate the depth of Biden’s debacle. It’s worth noting the post-debate commentary on CNN. As we know, CNN has continually criticized Trump and defended Biden even to the point of distorting the news. None of the 15 or so commentators had anything positive to say about Biden’s performance. A couple of representative quotes: 1) John King described a “deep, wide and very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party.” 2) David Axelrod stated that “many Democrats felt shock[ed] at how President Biden looked at the beginning of the debate.” 3) Maria Shriver tweeted that there was “panic” in the Dem Party (as a result of the debate).

    CONCLUSION

    1. For Biden and the Dems there is no coming back from this. It is said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” We all saw the picture and it wasn’t pretty. Even worse, our allies and our enemies saw it too. The spin doctors can’t make us unsee it. As Chico Marx once said, “Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
    2. The next debate is scheduled for September 10. That leaves 2 1/2 months to “live” with last night’s results, 2 1/2 months for those results to be cemented in the minds of voters. Moreover, my prediction is that the Dems will find some pretext to cancel it unless they manage to replace Biden.
    3. Today, most of the Dems are in a panic. So are their fundraisers, which be more significant. That is not hyperbole. That is not an exaggeration. Even the CNN and MSNBC commentators I listened to agreed Biden performance was disastrous. There is no way to spin or fact-check out of it.
    4. Most Dem supporters are probably already contemplating how, when and with whom to replace Biden. Down-ballot candidates for the Senate and the House saw their chances of winning take a big hit, and they are doubtlessly looking for ways to disassociate themselves from Biden. Whatever coattails he had have become an anchor. Only the most ardent Trump-hating, Kool-Aid-drinking supporters are remaining in his corner.
    5. Replacing Biden will not be easy. It is a complicated, though not impossible, process. Biden won 95% of the delegates in the primaries. They are pledged, though not legally committed, to him at least on the first ballot. They were hand-picked by the Biden campaign and are loyal to him. Historically, it has been rare for a delegate to abandon the candidate to whom he is pledged on the first ballot. For a majority to do so would be too farfetched to consider. The only way to replace him would be if declines the nomination at the convention and releases his delegates. So far, he has not shown any inclination to do so. Maybe members of his inner circle including his family, the Obamas and the Clintons could convince him, but as I write this none of them has shown any overt desire to convince him to withdraw.
    6. Invoking the 25th amendment before the convention is not a consideration. That is an unwieldy process and would elevate Kamala Harris, which no one wants.

    Obviously, the situation is very fluid and is subject to change. This promises to be a very intriguing election. Stay tuned for further developments.

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