White House Race- October 20, 2024

16 Days Until Election Day

It is very obvious that this election has a gender gap the likes of which we have not seen before. So, politically speaking, we can say, men are from Mars, women are from Venus. There is only one candidate though who is giving speeches about a dead guy's penis.

There is a lot to digest over the last eight days. For a bunch of reasons, I think this was a week that did not reflect well on either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. Let us get real though, Trump disgraces himself in multiple ways on a daily basis. It it not even a close contest in that regard. Still, I cannot deny that momentum appears to be on his side and that should scare the hell out of Democrats. MAGA and all sorts of Trump backers are way too cocky about what will happen on November 5, but Democrats have to consider how they have gotten to this point and if there is anything they can do to get out of it, except hope, pray, and wait nervously for all the votes to come in. 

Kamala Harris turned 60 years old today. She may very well be just two weeks away from being elected America's first woman President. However, I do not believe there was no "Happy Birthday to this Future President" photo that Hillary Clinton posted on her October 26th birthday back in 2016. She seemed almost certain to break that glass ceiling, but wound up losing to Donald Trump.

Harris has been interacting more with the media, which should be taken as a sign that their weeks long insistence on keeping her away from such interactions was likely a mistake. She started off the week trying to appeal to African-American men by taking part in a particular podcast, but has still struggled to articulate any sort of viable narrative as to what she would have done differently the past four years as Joe Biden. Political loyalists (which I used to be one for Republicans) should perhaps admire that sort of loyalty, but this is a matter that is hurting her campaign. Some of the issues she is taking, such as national legalization of marijuana or not rejecting out of hand the concept that America might one day pay slavery reparations is not going to do much to win the votes of disaffected Republicans. At the same time, she is also campaigning with Never Trump Republicans and making somewhat of a concerted effort. It is just a very hard needle to thread.

 

A big event of the week was Kamala Harris's interview with Bret Baier on Fox News Special Report. This seems to be a very complicated political situation. The Harris campaign is said to be pleased with it and Democrats seem to enjoy the fact that she fought back and got some political hits in at Trump on the conservative leaning cable channel. I think it was a mixed opportunity. I think Harris could have appealed to some genuinely undecided voters who do watch Fox News and wanted to see her appear somewhat moderate and in command. Instead, she came across as angry and somewhat unprepared for what should have been expected tough questioning. Trump backers thought Baier might go easy on Harris and maybe her campaign thought that too, but he did not, and in the process wound up pleasing MAGA, who thought she did horribly. My thought was the interview went about as poorly for Harris as an MSNBC sit-down would have for Trump. Baier did have to play for an audience, but at the same time, he asked fair questions. The journalist also interrupted her a lot and looked a bit like a jerk in the process, but I remember him doing the exact same thing to Mitt Romney during the 2012 primary season, and how Romney got angry at him during the interview (which was somewhat out of character for Romney.) A Baier interview with Trump about a year ago also went badly for Trump. So, it was a "Rorschach Test." People who love Harris thought she was great while people who hate her thought she was terrible. Put me right in the middle of that, though again, I think it was a missed opportunity to try to change the narrative that she is far to the left and if President will proceed exactly like the current unpopular President has been.

The thought definitely occurred to me that if nothing else, Republicans probably should have nominated Bret Baier for President instead of Trump. Considering the recent debate, he was far, far better in throwing Kamala Harris off guard and raising concerns about her record and agenda than the actual nominee was.

 

One really big piece of great news this week came when Israel continued its winning streak of eliminating terrorists, by killing Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas. This was great news, beyond the fact that he was the person behind the October 7th attacks and massacres in Israel. So, it is basically the equivalent of America getting bin Laden, but only on a much wider scale when the number of causalities within Israel are compared to what happened in the United States in 2001. There is hope that this development might somehow speed up the end of the war and the "day after" Hamas loses all power in Gaza. However, Hamas believes in victory or death, so they do not appear willing to surrender, and of course, they are still believed to be holding many hostages. Israel will have to continue to fight. One also has to recognize the fact that had Benjamin Netanyahu listed to Joe Biden and his Administration, his country never would have been in the position to wipe out Sinwar and others or rescue the hostages in parts of Gaza that they were able to. One may have very legitimate concerns about "Bibi" as a person and as a leader and how what happened to Israel occurred under his watch. History though will record that he has not wavered from the single-minded purpose of eliminating Hamas and other terrorist threats to Israel and that in recent weeks, his country has been doing what they intended to do.

 

I could write a book about everything weird Trump said and did this past week. Yet, not only Republican affiliated polls, but even long-standing respected polling firms are showing him basically tied in the national vote and tied or slightly ahead in all seven swing states. It may prove to not be enough, but the post debate phase of this campaign has favored him and Democrats did not expect that nor should they have allowed that to happen. They simply are unable to deal with the reality that even if they personally think it is unfair, Joe Biden's policies are unpopular, and people want "change", even if they might be crazy for thinking that Trump can deliver change they want.

 

What did Trump do this week? He held a "Town Hall" when he stopped taking questions from the audience after some people took ill at the event (which seems to happen a good deal) and instead of dealing with the temporary introduction in a way other politicians would, he instead stopped taking questions or speaking altogether and instead awkwardly swayed to a truly bizarre  musical playlist for over 30 minutes.

This week, he spoke of particular Democrats as the "enemy within" and said that the military might need to be used against them. Republican surrogates are put in the awful position of having to defend these statements, yet they try. Trump is back to mispronouncing the name Kamala and even as his backers go on television and say that "they" have twice tried to kill him (apparently trying to link Democrats or any sort of political opposition to the gun-related actions or threats against him) at one rally at least, he told Harris she was "fired" while putting his fingers in the position of a gun and mimed shooting it at her. Imagine if the roles were reversed?

Trump had a somewhat contentious sitdown with a British guy from Bloomberg News who questioned him about a host of subjects, including tariffs, proving that Trump has no idea what he is speaking about economically. Trump held a town hall meeting with women on Fox news, but which was packed with Republican volunteers. So, it was basically a televised rally. He did do a less scripted town hall on a Spanish language network in which he was asked about January 6, 2021 and claimed it was a day of "peace and love." The people in the audience did not seem to appreciate the response.

The Al Smith Dinner got a lot of attention. It is a great American tradition where the Presidential nominees show up in formal dress, sit on the same dais and tell jokes about the other and about themselves. Harris skipped the event and instead sent a pretty lame video. The narrative was that she disrespected Catholics by skipping it, since it is actually a Church related event that raises money for Catholic charities. I think is it unfortunate but correct that she had to skip it. I wish we lived in the times we used to, but in the era of Trump we do not, and he cannot be normalized by simply yukking it up with him at such a venue. Trump went way over the line at the event. I cannot see how the Catholic Church can be proud of being affiliated with such a debacle. Sure, Harris could have shown up and read jokes someone else wrote at Trump's expense, and utterly humiliate him, with Melania sitting right next to him. We all know he cannot abide being made fun of and we saw how good Harris was at getting under his skin at the debate. Those moments would have gone viral and her supporters would have loved all of it. The Presidency is more serious than that and when we reach a point where the jokes are really more than mere jokes, it was right to stay away.

Last night in Pennsylvania, Trump appeared at a rally at a local airport named after the late golf legend Arnold Palmer. What got the most headlines though was Trump speaking at great length (no pun intended) about the "manhood" of Palmer and how other golfers were apparently awed by him in the showers back in the day. Why Trump chose to go that route is a mystery. He just has been saying increasingly wacko things and dancing that way too. During a podcast earlier in the week, he said that convicted rapist Harvey Weinberg was somehow unfairly "schlonged" by the legal process, a term he had used before years back, in which his inference was very clear. So, this seems to have been a theme for him as of late. Last night, Kamala Harris appeared at a rally in Atlanta with Georgia native Usher, the R&B singer. At least she did not spend 12 minutes speaking about his schlong.

With the final days of this campaign approaching  and so much speculation over every poll or any hint that might be gleamed from early voting numbers in the various states, it is clear just how close this election is. For whatever political strengths Harris has that Biden no longer or perhaps ever possessed, she is not doing well in selling her candidacy to male voters. Again, there are a lot of reasons why, and after the election, this could very well be a very long topic of national discussion. Instead of trying to make Harris more palatable to skeptical voters, there seems to be a larger effort to just focus on Trump and the "age" angle. Of course, this is risky considering how many Democrats were willing to overlook these concerns about Biden for so long. They were legitimate issues then and are now. Yes, the Harris campaign is probably overreaching a bit by saying that Trump is "exhausted" and that is the reason he has canceled some interviews, but making fun of his energy level clearly bothers him a great deal, so how can they resist?

This has been an ugly campaign and it is only going to get uglier. We may not even be able to appreciate now just how ugly the very final days might be or what might happen once the Election Night numbers come in,. All of this is a sad commentary on the state of both parties and the overall state of our politics. My mail-in ballot has now arrived. I will open it eventually and make a decision about what exactly to do, but am in no rush. There is not really anybody for any race, federal level, state, or local, that I actually want to vote for. I am a conservative but will find it very hard to check a box for any Republican who will in turn cast their vote for Trump (or pretend to in order to get Republican support.)

Today, Donald Trump had some sort of staged event at a Pennsylvania McDonald's fast food place. We all that the Golden Arches is a favorite of his. In that regard, he has a lot in common with the "average American." He briefly worked the fry machine, while looking ridiculous in a Dukakisesque sense with a large apron over his coatless but necktie-adorned body, He seems obsessed with the idea that Harris lied about having briefly worked at McDonald's when she was a young woman. There is no evidence she lied but apparently never agreed to have a photo of her taken in the uniform, which would have put all this to rest. So, this is basically Birthers for Burgers.

Trump, as a candidate to be President of the United States, may have been allowed by a particular franchise owner to work the fry machine today, but a convicted felon, awaiting sentencing, probably would find it hard to get a minimum wage job at an actual McDonald's.