Democracy 2024: # 49

 Happy Hanukkah!

There is a lot I would be tempted to cover this week and there is no way it would be worth it for me to devote all the time and energy that would take and I would also be sure to forget many things. Of course, the week started with Earth shattering political news that Doug Burgum is now out of the Presidential sweepstakes. People will never forget where they were or what they were doing when they first heard that news.

In all seriousness though, it seems like there were many things throughout the week that I would want to offer commentary on and since I do not do Twitter/X/Facebook/whatever, I have to wait until these weekly posts to try to cover as much ground as possible. Next Saturday, I may have a fairly brief post that could be less cogent than than normal because I am getting the latest Covid booster on Friday afternoon, and if my recent history is any predictor, I will be in for some rough times the day after.

This week, the only way I think I might be able to cover as much as possible in a stream of consciousness way is to put an entry under the (alphabetical) names of all the major party Presidential candidates and let it rip from there. No, I will not be talking about Marianne Williamson or that Cenk fellow.

Joe Biden-

First on the alphabetical list is the guy who currently holds the job. This was another tough week for him. Any sort of "good economic news" in the terms of the statistics the experts are putting out there are not being felt in Middle America. The Administration thought that talking about "Bidenomics" would be a winner for them, and it has been anything but, and that strategy is now being jettisoned. The incumbent President continues to be in a very vulnerable political position against his likely general election opponent. If a different styled Republican candidate would be nominated, those same polls show Biden would be down by historic proportions at this point in time. Right now though, the President has job approval ratings at this point in time below any other incumbent who sought a second term going back to Eisenhower. The one thing he has going for him is that none of the incumbent Presidents who were polling even better and lost got to run against Donald Trump. Of course, one of them was Donald Trump and he lost reelection. Clearly, the "Trump Factor" is basically the one egg in the D basket that they think could work for them. They may wind up being correct but it is a strategy that can only be described as risky as hell.

On a personal level, this had to have been a rough week for Biden. On Thursday night, news came down that Hunter Biden was indicted in California for several federal tax related crimes. This adds a whole new dimension to the legal troubles the younger Biden was already facing. Due to the hubris of the defendant and his legal team, they thought several months ago that they had a deal to make all his problems go away and it has pretty much blown up in his face. Minus a pardon by his father, Hunter Biden is very likely to be serving some prison time during the term of the next President.

All of this seems to vindicate the "whistleblowers" who were saying that the U.S. Attorney was being restrained in going after IRS matters before he officially was appointed as the Special Prosecutor. It also of course punches a whole in the argument that the Biden Justice Department is one-sided and only targeting Republicans for political purposes. The spin from people like Congressman James Comer, who is claiming that the Justice Department issued these indictments of Hunter to "protect" him and his father are laughable and pathetic.

Of course, Hunter Biden and his lawyers are borrowing a page from Donald Trump and his lawyers in saying they are being targeted for political reasons by the Justice Department, which would of course be the Biden Justice Department. Hunter Biden, shortly before these latest indictments, taped a podcast with the musical artist Moby in which I do not believe he did himself any favors. He claimed that political opponents of his father were trying to "kill" him in order to destroy his father's Presidency. The younger Biden blamed his addiction history and the past loss of his older brother and also said that if he were to be "killed" by a legal prosecution, it would be more than his father could bear  to endure. Of course, I feel for Joe Biden on a human level. He loves his family and that has caused him numerous problems as it relates to Hunter. Joe Biden chose to run for President in 2020 though and his choosing to run again. He has an important job to focus on. If the Hunter situation would be as his son claims, ever possibly more than the President could "be able to handle", then Joe Biden should absolutely not be President one more day for the sake of all the rest of the Americans who are not in the Biden Family.

Laws and laws and rules are rules and they should apply to everyone, even if they are named Trump or Biden. One Presidential candidate and the son of another are in serious legal peril and should not be afforded any special treatment. The opportunity for an appropriate and just plea-bargain for both men would be available if they wanted one and were willing to abide by its terms.

On a policy level for the Biden Administration, there is much going in Washington D.C. regarding aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and border security.  Congressional Republicans are playing hardball and Congressional Democrats do not like it. This standoff is extremely dangerous, mostly as it relates to Ukraine. Democrats need to face reality and cut a deal. For one thing, the situation at the border is far worse than they are willing to admit. Yes, Republicans have and continue to demagogue the issue of illegal immigration but public opinion has rapidly been moving towards them on the matter and it is hard to seriously ignore just how much of a crisis now exists at the southern border. Digging in political heels in order to stand by the party line or to avoid letting the other side claim a W is a bad idea at this time.

Democrats should perhaps consider an analogy of Israel recently having to cut a deal with Hamas that they understandably hated in order to get some hostages back. If Israel could do that with Hamas (as the Biden Administration prodded them along) then Democrats can cut a deal with Republicans to give them more of what they want to see at the border, in order to get the aid that Ukraine desperately needs.

 

Chris Christie-

In recent weeks, it has said that there has been much pressure on Christie to end his Republican Presidential campaign in order to give Nikki Haley any shot she might possibly have of beating Donald Trump for the nomination. I must say that on a pure political level this makes sense and Christie probably should do that in the near future. However, he has a huge ego, as demonstrated by his continued unwillingness to admit just how wrong he was in 2016 in his influential backing of Trump and the loyalty he showed to him afterwards. Christie has tried to have it both ways as a current Presidential candidate and I have to call him out on that.

 

However, as it relates to this past Wednesday's four-way debate at the University of Alabama (who should not have made the four team College Football Playoff), I am glad he was in this race and on the stage.

 

People like me are a distinct minority in today's version of the GOP but I thought Christie did very well for himself and for whatever remains of mainstream conservatism as a political movement. He also should be credited for being willing to stick up for Nikki Haley when she was attacked in crude and offensive ways by one of the other candidates on the stage. Christie surely meant what he said, and he would be critical of Haley that night on other areas, but he will also probably win some plaudits for that action by Republicans and Independents in New Hampshire.

 

Christie was far harsher on Trump for a sustained period than he had been in the other debates and I was glad for that. It will be most of what people remember about his performance. I want to briefly salute him though for saying that the federal government has no business dictating to parents about how to raise children who are transgendered.

 

This has become a huge issue on the right and it is frankly sickening in many ways, but not the ways that so many of my fellow social conservatives believe. One does not have to like transgenderism or even understand it but it does exist However, it is far less common than what some are claiming. I do not believe anybody under 18 is getting "bottom surgery" anywhere in America, nor should they. There are, in a relatively  small number of families, children who are receiving other types of medical care, including surgical procedures, all of which are desperately wanted by them, done with the full approval of their parents, and under the care of medical professionals. These actions are not just scheduled and gone into on a whim or right away. These must be heart-wrenching situations for these families. They are not taking a life, such as what happens in an abortion, but are probably saving lives, which is why as a Pro-Life person, I think parents have a duty to do whatever they have to protect their life of their child. People can scream about puberty blockers or breast augmentations or all the rest. Almost all of these things can be medically reversed if it ever came to that (which would be even rarer.) What is not reversible is suicide.So shame on the "Pro-Life" folks or those who rail about "parental rights" who want the government to jump in and claim that parents are abusing their children and the government is going to somehow no better. Whatever one things about transgenderism, or any aspect of non cisgender heterosexuality, that sort of knee jerk reaction is not what conservatism nor American freedom should be about. These people need to raise their own children and not anybody else's and they should thank G-d, they have not been put into the positions the other few families are. Christie's stance might get him booed by Republican activist types, but I think it is far more attuned to where America actually is in 2023.

Ron DeSantis-

Even critics of DeSantis say that the Alabama debate was probably his best. He is locked in a battle with Haley over who will be the last remaining alternative to Trump and they are continuing to fight over ridiculous and pointless things in regards to their actions as Governor and Chinese associated businesses in their states.

DeSantis continues to try to appeal to the MAGA base and tip-toes around his criticisms of Trump. They are getting more pointed though as he is basically saying that Trump has become mentally unfit to serve,but denies that he is actually saying that. Some of his rhetoric in the debate was pretty sad such a saying that when he was deployed to the Middle East, the people he encountered were all wearing "mandresses." in a discussion of his ridiculously unworkable and problematic solution of using the U.S. military to kill people at the Mexican border. He just says things like that for the applause of course.

Behind the scenes, DeSantis continues to lose key players for his campaign and SuperPAC and things are said to not be going well. A brouhaha erupted last night when Casey DeSantis, the candidate's highly influential wife called on activists to come to Iowa and "participate" in the rapidly approaching Caucuses.

This immediately had the Trump folks claiming that what she suggested was illegal voter fraud. The whole thing is quite odd. The Iowa GOP quickly put out a Tweet to clarify that only Iowa residents with a valid Iowa I.D. could "participate" in the Caucus. So,that pretty much through the DeSantises under the bus. For as long as I have been following the Iowa Caucuses, out of state folks have shown up on Caucus night and that sometimes causes problems for the candidates they are backing. Still, out of state people, including the candidates themselves, have often given the "nominating speech" at the Caucus site. Is the Iowa Republican Party now saying that can no longer happen? There are some serious mixed messages here and I think Casey DeSantis probably should have been clear in her appeal that she was not asking for people to show up in Iowa and actually vote for her husband, but just to speak out in favor of him. Give the Trump folks any sort of inch though and they will take miles in the way they will attack.  I do not believe we have heard the last of this situation.

Nikki Haley-

This candidate is absolutely correct when she says the other candidates, such as DeSantis are attacking her for new "Wall Street donors" are jealous. DeSantis was counting on those people, and for a while it looked like they were in his corner, but have since moved on to Haley.

I think  the debate night was sort of a mixed bag for her. The fact that the other candidates (two of them in particular) spent so much time attacking her means that she has had a real rise that threatens their prospects. She had sort of middling night in the wake of such intense heat coming at her on the stage. At times, she came across as somewhat rattled and at other times, she was fairly quiet, which is sort of what the Biden playbook was in the 2020 primary debates. When she feels cornered though, she sometimes reverts to bad habits, such as thinking she can get the Trump people to not hate her, but saying that he was right on trade with China (I doubt she truly believes that) or thinking she can get to DeSantis' s right on the "don't say gay bill." 

All things considered, Haley is a far better position than it looked like she would be in six months ago, and for that she should be grateful. As alluded to earlier, there are polls out that show her absolutely demolishing Joe Biden in a general election. Such a hypothetical contest would never be as much of a blowout as those polls suggest, but what Haley has going for her in the eyes of Americans is that she is not Biden and she is not Trump, in regards to her age, as well as other factors. It is also true that vocal right-wing types despise Haley and that is the one thing that Trump zombies and DeSantis stooges may agree on. There was a particular statement she made online after the murder of George Floyd in regards to how "painful" she found the incident that they cannot get past. It is disturbing to see the continued takes on George Floyd and Derek Chauvin online from voices on the right three years later.

 I also wanted to generally point out the stupid logic coming from DeSantis who is attacking Haley for having received donations or endorsements for people who have previously backed Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. People may want to forget but Hillary did get more votes nationwide than Trump and also that Biden actually beat Trump outright four years later. The midterms for Republicans in 2022 did not turn out close to what Republicans were expecting or hoping for. So, how is is exactly a bad thing if Haley is demonstrating she could win support from people who had been voting for Democrats? Does DeSantis and those who share this line of attack prefer to lose again?

Asa Hutchinson-

Yes, he is still running, technically. I donated to him before the first debate and continue to get periodic emails and pleas for more money, but he has basically become invisible. I do not even see him on cable television. Apparently, a while back, his campaign manager quit saying there was no viable path to the nomination and reality must be faced, but Asa wanted to keep going and brought in a new manager.

Out of all the Presidential candidates, I probably am closest to him philosophically, but yeah, there really is no point in his campaign anymore.

Dean Phillips-

The Minnesota Democrat is also running, not because he says he dislikes Biden as President but because he says that the signs are there that Biden cannot win against Trump and that disaster needs to be avoided at all costs.

With that said, I am a bit confused why the supposed centrist, Jewish Congressman, has been taking some steps to try to get to Biden's left, even in regards to Israel and Palestine. That is not going to do anything for him. Those who have turned on Biden over Israel are not going to gravitate to a rich, Jewish guy.

It is also true that we are seeing instances where Democrats in various states are canceling primaries or refusing to put Phillips on the ballot, even though rules would suggest he would be eligible. Biden might not be at any real risk of losing the nomination, but there is some level of rigging going on here in order to avoid any sort of primary result that might look embarrassing for the incumbent. We also saw some of this on the other side four years ago when Republicans challenged Trump as the incumbent.

For all the talk Democrats do about "protecting democracy" they are not acting very democratic in regards to the Phillips challenge.

Vivek Ramaswamy-

The less I bring myself to say the better. It might be possible I dislike him more than Trump. Ok, I cannot actually say that, but this guy is really a lowlife. He is not exactly building much support in his campaign because those that like him the most are already for Trump. I would hope that he would not make it onto the stage for the debates early next year.  I will say that I was shocked that when given the opportunity in the debate to talk about the former President he most admired, he spoke about Thomas Jefferson and not Donald Trump. Also, Ramaswamy is saying that Libertarians might nominate him for President this year. That would not be good for the Trump campaign. I do not see that happening though.

His behavior in the debate was disgusting across the board.  Just taking a look at his line that "Nikki Haley wants to send your kids to die so she can build a bigger house" and any applause he received for that just shows how far the Republican Party has fallen. That is like some straight-up Cindy Sheehan/Michael Moore/Code Pink 2004 far left stuff.

I could write volumes about everything he said in the debate but will not do so. Ramaswamy will forever have to live with the fact that he claimed that January 6 was an "inside job" and that there is validity to the claim of the "Great Replacement Theory" which is pure anti-Semitic garbage believed by some who have already killed Americans.

Donald Trump-

He remains the Republican frontrunner. He remains someone who is currently running very strongly against an incumbent opponent, which may or may not be gradually affected by felony convictions or going to prison. Of course, he remains a defendant in various jurisdictions and has steadfastly refused to debate any of his Republican opponents this cycle. He also has been saying some odd things recently in which he continues to confuse Barack Obama for Joe Biden and other slips of the tongue. If Biden were to do these things (and he sometimes does), MAGA would be yelling about senility. Yet, when Trump does it, they say he does it intentionally and is brilliant.

Many people think that a second Trump term would cause him to become a "dictator." This week he told Sean Hannity he would only be a dictator on Day 1. You can be sure he would be the first syllable of that word though on every other day.

Moving on, Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has a new book out. I will be sure to read it eventually and am sure I will agree with almost all of it. She says she is still considering an Independent bid for President in 2024. It seems to be late in the game to get started on that, unless she thinks she can get past Joe Manchin or Larry Hogan for the No Labels nod.

My second to last topic will be that the NBA In Season Tournament is maybe the dumbest thing I have ever seen in sports. The real NBA champion will be crowned in June after the actual regular season and the actual Playoffs have finished. Nothing should distract from that. Come to think of it though, The U.S. House recently had sort of an In Season Speaker Tournament.

Finally, I have no choice but to talk about one of the most talked about events of the week which was the disastrous Congressional testimony by the Presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn. At this hearing, the three leaders of these elite universities refused to clearly state that calls for genocide against Jews violated university policy. (Somehow I think that if a large group wanted to call for the killing of all gays and lesbians or all African-Americans, there would have been more clarity in their responses.)

The backlash here was swift and strong from both sides of the aisle. Damage control was attempted by these Presidents, but today the one from Penn stepped down. Why did this happen? How could this happen?

I think there are a few factors. One is that these liberal academics were triggered by being questioned by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican. Now, I think they have good reason to think poorly of her, but they approached her questioning, realizing she was trying to score political points and they had the mindset of refusing to let her score against them. Indeed though, they allowed her to score against them more than they could have possibly realized. Now, she may be the frontrunner to be Donald Trump's running-mate. As for Stefanik, I would like to see her show the moral clarity she demanded in others by saying that Donald Trump dining with disgusting anti-Semites like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes at Mar-A-Lago was wrong. I would like to see the voices on the right who are so vocal about fighting anti-Semitism these days say that the Texas Republican Party was wrong to reject a motion that called for them to not associate in anyway with neo-Nazi organizations or individuals.Texas Republicans decided they could not take that step as part of their overall strategy of "owning the libs."

Now, the issue is broader though. These liberal university Presidents are probably not anti-Semitic personally but know they cannot run afoul of their friends and associates who are. So many people on the left purely equate Jews and Israel as an extension with being "oppressers" and there is no greater sin in the mind of a leftist than that. Whatever discrimination Jews may have faced historically anywhere in the world must not have been that bad because look, they tend to be fairly well off financially and in other socioeconomic standards in America, and Israel is certainly a more prosperous nation than many Arab ones. So, they at least on some level know that if they answered in a certain way,they would have tenured professors up in arms and the brainwashed students they teach marching against them. Their calculation backfired though.

We should be able to draw a distinction. In America, you have the right to hate Jews. You have the right to hate anyone. The Constitution means you cannot be put behind bars simply for hating others. You cannot lose your money or your property or your right to vote simply because you believe horrible, sick things. I love that about America. However, calls for genocide against Jews are happening on college campuses and elsewhere. Jewish individuals feel very unsafe in America these days because there is a threat that goes beyond words. One simply does not have a Constitutional right to attend a university or to work at one if they are going to call for the destruction of individuals based upon their religion or their ethnic background.

Hanukkah began this week and for Jews like myself it has brought about many emotions that are unfamiliar. Historically, even in the U.S., Jews of certain generations have been reluctant to let non-Jews know that they are Jewish. The concept of Hanukkah decorations outside of Jewish homes, alongside XMas decorations is a relatively new thing. I do not even recall seeing those displays as a child,but over the past twenty years or so, they have been more present.We have felt that we no longer had much to fear from having others know we are Jewish. This year, there is fear from many about putting up illuminated Stars of David in their windows or prominently displaying Menorahs. I think it probably depends where one lives these days. I think in some areas it would be more dangerous than others in America to have others know you are a Jew.

With this in mind, Hanukkah is taking on a new significance for me. The story of the Holiday itself goes back to tell an account of how Jews survived and persevered against great odds a long time ago, very far away from where I live. That has been the story of the Jewish people throughout history though and it is why the Jewish State of Israel exists and must always exist. In 2023 or the Jewish year of 5784, this reminder is more important than ever.

We are still here. Am Yisrael Chai.