Today, the dam holding back all political challengers, critics, and investigators of TFG cracked.  And it cracked big time.  The RNC responded to his non-announcement announcement the other night where he said he was “…very, very, very probably” going to run.  Obviously, that non-announcement announcement pissed off the committee, especially since it is just a few days before the mid-term elections, and uncharacteristically, the committee pushed back hard, stating publicly that if he announces for president, they’ll stop paying his legal bills.  Up until today, the RNC has had its nose so far up TFG’s ass they couldn’t see daylight, and they have continued to use donor money to cover these bills, even two years after he left office.  The RNC’s rationale to keep paying, which is complete bullshit, was that they were for the investigation and subsequent lawsuit from NYAG Letitia James calling it “political”, and not for the fact that he and his entire family of arrogant shitheads who have been engaged in questionable shenanigans for years, cheating on everything from taxes to financial accounting.

For over 6 years now, the RNC has been all in for TFG, understanding clearly that he controlled their base of mouth-breathing, gun-toting screwballs who see a dark skinned bogeyman behind every corner and who are worried to death that their kid is going to be indoctrinated with nonexistent CRT propaganda and books about kids getting along with others.  Apparently, they see him (what took so goddam long?) as weakened by the mountain of the scandals, especially the federal document theft case, which clearly holds a whole raft of felonies that have in the past sent a lot of people to prison for a long time.

Is the TFG dam of intimidation finally going to break?  Clearly the RNC no longer sees him as the all powerful Oz (no pun intended), and this is a brush back pitch to tell him, “Not so fast, buster, we have an election, and then primaries for 2024.”  TFG pissing off Ron DeSantis yesterday didn’t help his case.  DeSantis is the GOP’s greatest hope to take back the White House in ’24, and he wants TFG out of the way.

This one will be a real soap opera to watch.  I’m popping popcorn.

 

About an hour east of me, along I-84, lies Rufus, OR (pop 270). Don’t blink, you’ll miss it. Named for an early settler, Rufus Carroll Wallis, it’s a little over 1 square mile in size. The mayor, Dowen Jones, was elected with a whopping 76 votes in 2018. I was shocked this week to read a story about Rufus in my morning WaPo.  The story is bizarre. On Halloween night, an SUV traveling on I-84 abruptly pulled over to the shoulder. A car slowed after seeing the maneuver, and tried to get the license plate to possibly call for help. As they passed, Mr. Mayor decided to make Halloween really scary, stepped out of the passenger side and began shooting at the vehicle which contained 2 adults and 2 children. They were not injured but I guess they did get a good description because he was arrested the next day and charged with attempted murder and assault. The city council president was surprised, and told NBC news he was a good guy. A good guy with a gun, until he wasn’t.

I’ve spent the last few posts complaining about campaign ads. It occurred to me that simply complaining is a more or less empty gesture. Besides, at least some of my readers are not Texas residents, so complaining about Texas campaign ads likely falls on deaf ears. So, I thought I would offer three suggestions to improve the public discourse.

All 50 states, D.C, and Puerto Rico have the same election rules

This would require a law from Congress. There are three parts to this law, but the first one involves voting rules. This one is pretty simple. If you want voters to have ID, then it should be the same throughout the country. If you want the polls open 24 hours then it should be that way everywhere. If you want drop boxes then it should be the same and mandated with a certain number per one million voters.

If you want early voting then it should have the same rules and times everywhere. Congress has the right to regulate elections where a national office is involved. That involves the presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives. If you are electing city officials, school board races, or dog catchers in odd numbered years then follow whatever rules you like. If my family were to move across the country I should know what the rules are because they would be the same everywhere.

Congressional Districts are Drawn by Computer

This sounds simple, but it would be revolutionary. If you go back to my complaint in the last piece it would be how easy it is to tie candidates to the most extreme members of their party. One of the reasons why these extremists are there is because the Congressional districts are drawn by the state party in power. Louie Gohmert was never going to lose in East Texas despite how stupid he was.

Sheila Jackson Lee is never going to lose in urban Houston either. When a member doesn’t have to worry about reelection then they will never appeal to their voters. They can continue throwing bombs and acting like a fool. Studies have found that less than ten percent of districts are truly competitive. When you go to the fringes of each party you get more performance artists and fewer serious adults. Different research models have predicted that a neutral drawing of districts would result in more than 50 percent being competitive. When you are forced to campaign to the middle you will find different candidates rising to the top.

All General Elections are Publicly Funded

We aren’t eliminating dark money, the Koch brothers, or George Soros. We are simply saying they can only influence the primaries. If you want to use foreign money, drug money, or money from terrorist groups like the NRA to get out of your primary then go right ahead. The rules then change for the general election.

This allows for two things. First, it puts everyone on an even playing field which makes for fairer elections. Second, it means that a public commission gets to approve all ads. So, hit pieces on your opponent will be a thing of the past. You can run ads about your record, your plans, or your life story. If you want to throw mud around then your ad doesn’t get approved. Period. We are the federal election commission and we approve this ad.

Politico has something they call “news.”

Donald Trump’s attorneys saw a direct appeal to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as their best hope of derailing Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election, according to emails newly disclosed to congressional investigators.

“We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,” Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020, email to Trump’s legal team. Chesebro contended that Thomas would be “our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress.”

I know I’m just stunned that anyone would think Thomas and his wife might be willing to step outside judicial ethics to help Trump. What gave anyone that idea?

Babe, if you need need conspiracy in writing, the Trump lawyer brigade is suited-up and ready to play.

On the other hand, if your best chance at anything is Clarence Thomas, you’re screwed.

 

Everyone that has worked in industry would have had a ball if we had known about this invention. Apparently there is a group that will allow you to make your own bingo cards. Inside you can put certain catch phrases that we always hear in whatever industry we happen to work in. Just imagine the hilarity of hearing someone yell, “bingo!” in the middle of a staff meeting.

One of the games of conservative politics is the game of identity politics. Whatever you do, don’t run on your record. This is particularly true in Texas where Republicans have controlled statewide politics for 25 years. It’s kind of hard to saddle your problems on your opponents when they haven’t held statewide elected office this century.

So, you play identity politics. For Dan Patrick, your opponent isn’t Mike Collier. Collier is a mainstream Democrat that is hardly radical. At least he doesn’t have anything on his legislative resume that would scream radical. So, we tie him to every “dangerous” liberal we can think of in order to scare people from realizing that Republicans have done a perfectly good job of screwing up Texas on their own.

So, we link him to Joe Biden and his America. Let’s ignore that Biden inherited a nation where you could literally see the dumpster on fire. Let’s ignore that we have had record deficit reduction, job creation, and solid economic growth. Let’s ignore that COVID is now under control and the vast majority of the population got vaccinated in short order. Let’s ignore that our reputation around the world is coming back. Let’s forget about all of that. Mike Collier is not Joe Biden.

Then, we link him with AOC and “her Green New Deal”. Let’s forget two things immediately. First, let’s forget that most people couldn’t accurately tell you what’s actually in the Green New Deal. Secondly, let’s forget that the GOP can’t go three minutes without complaining about gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil. Yet, begin suggesting policies to move to alternative energy sources and you are a radical. Mike Collier is not AOC.

Then, we link him with Nancy Pelosi and California. Apparently, California is some kind of hell scape with zombies and the purge simultaneously coming to kill the residents there that haven’t already been radicalized. In actuality, they mentioned sanctuary cities, weak immigration policies, and cheap bail. Goodness knows we don’t want to be like those vegetable eating commies over there in California. They cannot produce quotes Collier of saying any of these things. He’s a Democrat. Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat. It must be so.

The candidate running against Lauren Boebert was so fed up in their debate about her mentioning Nancy Pelosi that he finally had to keep repeating his own name. This is Mike Collier. He’s running for Lieutenant Governor. Joe Biden isn’t running. Nancy Pelosi isn’t running. AOC isn’t running. I haven’t heard about “woke” policies, boys playing girls sports, or sanctuary cities, but if you had those on your bingo card you are today’s winner.