Category: Uncategorized

• Donald Trump: “I am who I am.” Well beyond weird.
• Trump, 78, is now the oldest party nominee in history.
• During the 2016 election, JD Vance referred to Trump as an “idiot” who was “noxious” and “hard to stomach.” All that’s changed is Vance’s fealty lens.
• Say what? At a press conference, Trump—in reference to abortion—declared that it ultimately will be “a very small issue.” He’s been wrong before; it’s a HUGE issue.
• Donald Trump: “The late, great Hannibal Lector.” Whatever.
• Lady MAGA update: Melania Trump received $237,000 for speaking to Log Cabin Republicans.
• “Comrade Kamala”: How Trump is referencing Harris for her “SOVIET style Price Controls.”
• RFK Jr. for Trump. Beyond disgraceful to a family legacy and to America.
• “I think that the people on Jan. 6 were treated very unfairly. They were there to complain about an election.” No, nothing has changed in Trump’s ongoing, revisionist take on the attack on the Capitol and U.S. democracy.
• “Trump has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.” That was Stephanie Grisham, former Trump WH press secretary.
• Keep in mind that if a re-elected Trump doesn’t make it through another four-year term, we will have President Vance.
• The Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, was awarded by former President Trump to mega MAGA donor Miriam Adelson and right-wingnut Rush Limbaugh. That honor, according to Trump, is “much better” than the Medal of Honor. That’s because the latter goes to “soldiers” who are “in very bad shape” or “dead.” JD Vance said that was “totally reasonable.” John McCain just turned over in his grave. Again.
• “We believe children are good, because we are not sociopaths.” JD Vance.
• Polling averages collated by FiveThirtyEight show that JD Vance is now the least popular VP candidate in modern times—even below Sarah Palin.

• “Iran is the head of the axis of evil, and the free world must stop it now before it’s too late.”—Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
• “The rest of the world is watching—to see if we can pull this off.”—Michelle Obama at the Democratic Convention.
• “If the 75,000-plus immigrants who perform the hardest of work in Wisconsin’s dairy and agriculture were gone tomorrow, the state economy would tank.”—Jorge Franco, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin.
• “Whenever the United States is poised to break a political glass ceiling, we see an intensification of ‘othering’ in our politics.”—Presidential historian Timothy Naftali.
• “(Kamala Harris) isn’t creating a movement, but a movement is creating her—and showing up.”—Peggy Noonan,
• “Today, by virtually every measure, our economy is the strongest in the world.”—Kamala Harris.
• “My confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%.”—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
• “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis be folly to be wise.”—English poet Thomas Gray.
• “Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this race.”— Lindsey Graham.
• “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie…but the myth. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”— John F. Kennedy.
• “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”—Stephen Colbert.
• “Money doesn’t win; people do. That is how you win elections. By going to the people.”—Florida Democratic Party Chairperson Nikki Fried.
• “Yes, Florida is now approaching science and education like a 2-year-old: If you don’t like something, just pretend it doesn’t exist.”—Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel.
• “I personally don’t know if I’ve met anyone who is a better leader.”—Mayor Jane Castor on Joe Lopano, who is in his last year before retiring as TIA CEO.

The issue should be behind us with President Joe Biden’s departure after that disastrous debate performance.

But that now leaves 78-year-old Donald Trump squarely in the crosshairs of those focusing on ageism and cognition. This, of course, is about much more than awkward octogenarian optics.

Let’s not forget such seemingly routine Trumpisms as windmills causing cancer, Clorox helping Covid relief or mistracking Hurricane Dorian with his signature Sharpie. Or how about foiling hurricanes by bombing them with nuclear weapons?  Or trading Puerto Rico for Greenland? Or trying to extort Ukraine? Or those autocratic bromances, climate-change indifference or NATO insults? And let’s not forget a certain, Mexico-underwritten wall. Or trickle-down tax cuts. Or still targeting the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights. And what other presidential candidate has been referenced as an “American Hitler” by his VP nominee?

And let’s not forget the sober warning we got shortly after the 2016 election. That’s when 27 psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health practitioners released their findings about Trump’s mental state. “There are those who still hold out hope that this president can be prevailed upon to listen to reason and curb his erratic behavior. Our professional experience would suggest otherwise…We warn that anyone as mentally unstable as Mr. Trump simply should not be entrusted with the life-and-death powers of the presidency.”

Trump doubled down on himself by picking JD Vance as VP. Meanwhile, Harris has become a money-raising bonanza with a base even more energized than 2008—because John McCain wasn’t an existential threat and history could now be made by a woman of color.

Biden-Harris is the passing of the democratic torch. Trump would pass along the dictatorial truncheon of retribution—and assure that ageism and cognition remain a worrisome issue.

Common sense and security coordination are critical to the safety of those, most notably presidents and presidential candidates, who are protected by the Secret Service. It’s a zero-sum game. And, no, we haven’t learned anything from Dallas.

 

Donald Trump didn’t just happen. America has had its faux populists, “dog whistle” racists and “America First” obsessers before. This time, however, the planet is even more fragile, and America’s leadership against demagogues and dictators never more necessary. To paraphrase FDR, Nov. 8, 2016 will go down in “infamy.” As will Jan. 6, 2021. And here’s hoping Nov. 5, 2024 doesn’t join them.

But let’s not forget that 2008 was the de facto catalyst for where we now find ourselves. When John McCain put the implausibly ignorant, female-insulting Sarah Palin on his presidential ticket, the Veep bar was lowered to subterranean depths. And then the historic election of an African-American president.

For all those who didn’t like their lives and needed scapegoats, they could always look down on those of color. But as of 2008, one of them was now president. An electoral bridge way too far. As a result, we’ve been living in the racist, nativist, Trumpster backlash.

But how utterly ironic–and sanguine for democracy–that a female president of color is now quite possible. If that happens, infamy would be more for historians than contemporary Americans.

• “I revere this office, but I love my country more.”—President Joe Biden.
• Remember when Sen. Kamala Harris grilled SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh on abortion rights? We’ll be seeing that again.
• A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll has Harris with a favorability rating of 43%: Trump was at 36%.
• Last month the Harris campaign raised $310 million—more than double what the Trump campaign took in. Fundraising is a major measure of campaign cred and optimistic energy among the base. More than 170,000 volunteers have signed on.
• “The one thing that is very apparent right now is there is a tremendous boost of energy, which is incredibly important for all of our races.”—Michigan Gary Peters, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
• Inflation was up 3.3% in May and 3% in June. The Fed’s target is still 2%.
• A swing of just four seats in November would make Hakeem Jeffries of New York the Speaker. Increasingly, he will become an even more important national player.
• Harris has branded Trump and Vance as “weird.” But when was the last time “weird” was an upgrade?
• According to Commerce Department data, the economy grew at an annual rate of 8% in the second quarter.

• No, Hocus-Focus doesn’t qualify as a cognition test.
• Silence is golden, duct tape is silver.
• Make America Less Vulnerable to Delusional Cult Figures. Please.
• The car in front of me had a “Do you follow Jesus this closely?” bumper sticker. I guess it was a rhetorical question.
• If a state requires the display of Commandments in classrooms, it ought to update and include all Commandments, including the 11^th, Thou Shalt Not Commit Evangelical, Political hypocrisy.
• Aging slows you down, but it doesn’t shut you up.
• Reproductive Freedom or Republican Freedoom?

• “Rival neighborhood groups:” How’s that for a euphemism for gangs? However labeled, it’s a serious, lethal Tampa issue that never goes away. And no one is impacted more than the Black community—from shooters to victims to terrified neighbors. Perhaps “Black Lives Matter” should expand its message.

• Sumter County is as deep red as it gets, and The Villages have become a GOPster icon. So, surprising–and encouraging–to see hundreds of golf carts parading around The Villages in support of Kamala Harris’ candidacy.
• “There is no political future for (DeSantis).”—FDP Chairperson Nikki Fried.

 

 

• “In establishing American independence, the pen and press had merit equal to that of the sword.”—Historian David Ramsay, in 1789. No, it wasn’t the enemy of the formerly colonized people.
• “CNN is one of the world’s most successful multi-platform global news brands. But we can’t thrive as a company unless we find new sources of revenue.”—CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Thompson. CNN is cutting 100 positions across the company as it accelerates its push into digital subscription products.
• “Good Will Humping”: One of Stormy Daniels’ adult movies.
• Ron DeSantis’ post gubernatorial ambitions? Hints: He spoke at the GOP convention that coronated Trump. He has his acronymed PAC, RON (Restore Our Nation). He also recently guest-hosted Sean Hannity’s nationally-syndicated radio show. Look for him to become a Fox fixture.
• More doubling down: Kevin Roberts, the head of the odious Project 2025, has a book coming out in September. Its forward is written by JD Vance.
• “The whole point of American journalism has always been detachment from authority so that critical analysis is possible.”—Journalist Marvin Kalb, the founder of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.