Democracy 2024: # 35

On this Saturday, I have been dealing with a lot of things, including many hours devoted to the problems associated with being a homeowner. Things that go wrong on Labor Day Weekend seem extra-troubling. So, it has been a pretty stressful day and the last thing I really want to do is to think a lot about Presidential politics. However, I have never missed a week of this feature going back to the 2008 cycle and so I will try to put a few thoughts down. If one believes in luck or superstition, maybe if I were to skip a week or quit this altogether, the political situation in America would resolve to my favor. Things have never really gone right in that regard since I began posting ramblings on here 17 years ago. However, I remind myself that the Chicago Cubs actually won the World Series in 2016, so I can always be grateful for that. This year, they may make it back to the post-season. I do not expect a lot more after that, but I think they are on the upswing, just like they were a decade ago.

So, anyway, I should try to remind myself that the homeowner related problems I ran into today are far less severe than people who were in the patch of Hurricane Idalia this past week and may have lost everything. So in that regard, I am lucky. The bulk of the hurricane affected Florida and I made note just how professional and competent Governor Ron DeSantis actually sounded when he was giving briefings related to the natural disaster. He may be a lousy politician and perhaps a spineless, bad person, but did at least come across as competent in that aspect of his Gubernatorial duties, as he has done in the past. One cannot imagine Donald Trump actually seeming "professional" in any aspects of governance.

Trump continues to be obsessed with DeSantis and talks about his regularly on his troubled social media platform (as well as dozens of other unhinged posts and videos he sends out on a daily basis.) This week, he suggested that he heard a "roomer" that "DeSanctimonious" was going to be dropping out of the Presidential election to launch a primary challenge to Senator Rick Scott. Who tried to sell Trump on that dumb "roomer?" He probably just made it up himself. Trump is an absolute child. No wonder far less Americans think he is too old to be President as compared to the three year older incumbent.

DeSantis seemed to go to some lengths to avoid having a public meeting or photo op with Joe Biden as the President visited Florida to do what Presidents do when hurricanes hit. Without a doubt, photos of DeSantis standing with Biden would have been used against the Governor by TrumpWorld. Needless, to say, it is pretty sad that our politics has gotten to that point. Still, I do not exactly think partisan Democrats would have taken too kindly either to one of their Governors appearing cordial with Donald Trump publicly when he was President, regardless of the circumstances.

Vivek Ramaswamy continues to generate a lot of online ink and television talk regarding his candidacy. The entrepreneur states he had no real interest in politics before 2020 so it should not be a surprise that he did not bother to vote. He thinks this is somehow a good thing. (He did question Al Sharpton at an MSNBC forum when he was a college student.) Just about everyone dislikes Ramaswamy and thinks he is a rank opportunist trying to invent himself as Trump 2.0, except for the people who are satisfied he is trying to do so. Just about everything regarding his campaign seems galling to me. At least Trump had built up a "brand" over many years and had threatened previously to run for President for decades. One especially ridiculous aspect of this campaign was how he attacked opponent Nikki Haley,who just happens to be a fellow Indian-American, by referring to her by his given first name and her maiden name, instead of using the middle name she has preferred as a child and the last name she has used since getting married (per tradition for many.)

There is talk that Haley is making progress on the heels of her debate performance. That may be true to some extent, but she continues to get caught off-guard when it comes to Donald Trump. She was asked this week if she would consider him as a running-mate,and she did not rule it out. It is preposterous on the surface. She could have easily said "I do not think any former President would want to be Vice President" or "I think I will choose someone a bit younger than Trump or Biden to be on my ticket" but instead her initial instinct was to not say anything to upset Trump fanatics,which is already a losing game.They are automatically not going to trust you.

Many others things happened this week and I could delve into them, but I am choosing not to. At least we have now reached the portion of the campaign where candidates are dropping out. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, one of the last to get in is now officially the first one out. He never even made it onto a Presidential debate stage which is less than Mayor Bill deBlasio could say.