I haven’t written anything since October 23, when I shouted out that I thought the Polls are Bullshit. I still believe that. But since then, my brain has frozen with astonishment. And high anxiety.
The media is continuously flooding us with the latest horse race surveys - all of them footnoting that the poll is within the margin of error! Doesn’t that make them entirely worthless? Why not just say that the race for president is close? And THEN clarify who the GQP has chosen as their figurehead.
The lack of challenges from all manner of media is astounding.
Today there is a NY Times piece trying to analyze the voting impact of white women. Seriously. How can anyone legitimately predict how such a huge demographic will vote? While the article holds some interesting history, it does create more anxiety.
Very High Anxiety.
Don’t you wake up every day and continue to be perplexed, puzzled and totally pissed off that the best presidential candidate the Republican Party can come up with is a guy with badly applied bronzer and the worst haircut of any known public figure? Is this real?
The Republican candidate is a real estate CON MAN who inherited about $400 million from his racist dad, parlaying that money into 6 bankruptcies. How does somebody lose money owning a casino - when we all know that the “house always wins”?
And millions of people are voting for this bullshitter because they think he is a good businessman? His record says otherwise. From an article written in September 2016:
Trump’s failed businesses:
1. Trump Steaks
2. GoTrump
3. Trump Airlines
4. Trump Vodka
5. Trump Mortgage
6. Trump: The Game
7. Trump Magazine
8. Trump University
9. Trump Ice
10. The New Jersey Generals
11. Tour de Trump
12. Trump Network
13. Trumped!
Trump companies that sought bankruptcy protection:
1. Trump Taj Mahal
2. Trump’s Castle
3. Trump Plaza Casinos
4. Trump Plaza Hotel
5. Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts
6. Trump Entertainment Resorts
Since then he has been hawking playing cards, sneakers, crypto currency and BIBLES!
This is the guy Republicans want leading America’s economy? The party of business wants a failure…a shyster… to guide the nation?
But it is true that it will be women who determine if democracy survives. I MUST BELIEVE that most women will reject a sex offender who has been instrumental in removing their rights to reproductive choice and freedom. I believe that most women believe in their right to have reproductive health care.
Maybe…just maybe, in 2025 we can return to thinking about and acting on issues of the planet, social justice and financial equity. Many Trump voters are justified in feeling disenfranchised. Democrats have some solutions.
It involves new American industries. It involves rewriting the tax code to reward hard work vs inheritance. It involves removing the influence of big money in politics. It must mean real voting rights reform - that automatically registers every eligible resident and makes voting easier.
I leave you with one of the best political ads of late.
See you on the other side. I am not a praying kind of guy. But I am going to give it try. Can’t hurt, right?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/magazine/harris-white-women-black-voters.html?unlocked_article_code=1.W04._biz.2Y4a1Y00Aisa&smid=url-share
https://labor411.org/411-blog/here-are-all-of-trump-s-bankruptcies-and-failed-businesses/
This from The Guardian (new favorite "newspaper")
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/02/what-polls-mean-so-far-trump-harris-election-voters?CMP=share_btn_url
I must admit to a high level of anxiety, but not due to polls. I don't believe they're accurate or useful for a number of reasons discussed here and elsewhere. I'm concerned about the willingness of millions of sentient fellow Americans to entrust our nation to one of the least qualified, morally bankrupt, conniving, lying piles of protoplasm on the planet. They claim they're holding their noses and voting for him because they like his policies. What policies? "F... 'em all?"
I hope the women of our nation save us from ourselves, but many of them are drinking from the same punchbowl. The Republicans have certainly given them plenty to shake them out of their trance.
I'm also extremely concerned about the unbridled influence of our nation's oligarchs. Musk, Bezos, and a bunch of others are literally and effectively buying votes.
I can't wait for this election to be over, so I can turn my attention to either supporting a democracy reborn with values of compassion, fairness, and opportunity, or joining forces with other "enemies within" to resist the dictatorship.