After 9 years of incendiary rhetoric, inciting actual violence, and personally threatening dozens of perceived enemies, TFG has certainly demonstrated that he can dish it out, but sure can’t take it.  He has spent years vilifiying everyone from Haitian immigrants to Dems to Taylor Swift, but when someone starts shooting at him, he’s shocked and appalled when the tables are turned.

Let’s be clear – violence is NEVER appropriate in any instance, political or otherwise.  But this monster of escalating violence has been wholy created by TFG and his sycophants repeating his vicious lies about everything from “the deep state”, to immigrants, and to anyone who happens to disagree with him.  He’s even inciting violence against schoolkids in Springfield, Ohio, FFS.  His social media accounts drip with hate, authoritarian declarations, threats, and lies against millions of people and entire classes of society, fabricated from whole cloth.  He even incited thousands of knuckleheads to attack the US Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the US government.

I find it pretty rich that TFG and Vance are now denouncing the very violence they’ve been inciting, but only because that violence has been turned on him.  If they want a reduction in violence they need to start that at home and turn down the heat, but I’m not expecting any of that.  A little self-awareness would be useful right now.

As you already know, Biden announced today that he was stepping aside from his candidacy for president as expected.  It was the right decision, and even though I believe he should have never tried to run again, I appreciate him coming around.  He’s been one of the most consequential presidents in modern US history and his legacy is secure.  He’s endorsed Kamala Harris as his choice for president.  As I think about it, she’s probably the wisest choice for now, though personally not my first choice to run against TFG.  However, she has the qualifications and the moxie to take the fight to him.

Kamala will need the right VP choice to have her back and to bring votes from the battleground states.  I have two picks: First, Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania.  He’s taken on TFG’s election lies directly as an AG, and is super well spoken like Kamala.  My second pick is Roy Cooper of North Carolina.  He’s also a former AG, and has fought (and beaten) Republicans on the own ground.   A third possible in my view is Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona, husband to Gabby Giffords, and retired astronaut, but his election could cost us the Senate through a special election.  All of these guys are stronger than dirt, and, at the risk of pissing off some customers, they’re white guys, which is going to be important to help bring in votes from a broader base of voters.  Sorry, but it’s a fact.

Anyway, good on Joe for stepping aside.  It was a tough, but correct decision.  Nate Silver and other analysts won’t have numbers for a week or so; then we’ll have an idea how uphill the battle the Dems have.  But at least they now have a chance.

Biden is still isolating at his beach house in Delaware recovering from his latest case of Covid.  While that goes on discussions are still swirling about his ultimate decision about his candidacy at pretty much all levels from party leaders, talking heads, WH staff, and the rest of us.  His numbers are terrible and getting worse as this controversy drags on.  Here are few interesting items this morning:

The Washington Post has an interesting infographic about how a new nominee would be elected by convention delegates describing different scenarios should Biden step aside.

Federal staff is already dusting off their resumes preparing for a Biden loss.  This is not unusual in election years or during times of serious uncertainty but is pretty urgent right now.

Here is a graphic of the changes in battleground states from 2020 to 2024.  The outlook is nothing more than dismal for Biden:

Finally, the NYTimes has an article about the what if question of Kamala Harris as the nominee should Biden pull the plug on his campaign.

I believe this will be decision week for Biden.  TFG/Hillbilly are already ramping up attacks against Kamala anticipating she’ll be the nominee.  His laughable “unity” reset lasted something like 28 minutes during his speech at the RNC;  he’s already in full TFG bullshit mode while Hillbilly is calling for DOJ investigations of writers and researchers who dare criticize the Dictator Wannabe.  It’s a snapshot of what the world would become should the unthinkable happen.  I’ll post a link about this when CBS posts the video about it from Face the Nation this morning.

On Saturday evening at 6:11 pm local time, the 2024 campaign effectively ended.  When a 20 year old gunman took potshots (literally) at TFG which grazed him, wounded two others, and killed another, the ground shifted under our feet, swinging the election in his direction.  Since that moment, TFG has pivoted to a laughable “unity” message and has uncharacteristically embargoed all communication coming from the campaign to tightly control that message.  He’s fund raising on the assassination attempt and claims he’s rewriting his speech to emphasized “unity”.  His talking heads are blaming political rhetoric from Biden and Democrats for the violence, completely ignoring the open sewer of hate speech and incitement to violence that has spewed out of TFG’s mouth for well over a decade.

To add to his strength in the polls, his handpicked judge in the Mar a Lago documents case DISMISSED the entire case a few hours ago, ruling that special prosecutor Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.  Once again, her ruling flies in the face of decades of judicial precedence, clearly and openly violating her oath of office to defend the Constitution and the rule of law in order to protect her benefactor. This final ruling by Cannon is certainly a nice flourish to complete her audition as TFG’s next SCOTUS nominee.

I have to say that Failed Assassination Attempt at an Outdoor Rally was not on my 2024 election year Bingo card.  TFG is the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.  While he has amassed a tsunami of evil transgressions including fraudulent business practices, racists policies, sexual assault, self aggrandizement, violations of state and federal election laws, insurrection, incitement to violence, extortion, and bribery, nothing has ever really stuck to him.  Now he’s survived an assassination attempt, and even Aileen Cannon timed her dismissal of the felony charges for stealing classified documents to coincide with the opening of the Republican Convention Coronation in Milwaukee today.

I say all this as background for my conclusion that this election is over.  Biden was, and still is, in serious trouble.  His negatives are terrible and he’s trailing TFG in all of the battleground states.  Like it our not, he’s been boxed in, and every measure is going TFG’s way.   I know that I’ve pissed off a lot of Salon customers in the last week calling for Biden to step aside, but now I believe that even doing that won’t help.  All of the momentum is in TFG’s direction, and this election now feels a lot like 2004 and 2016.  In 2004 GWB/Cheney started a war to get re-elected after 9/11 sinking Kerry’s bid.  In 2016 TFG fabricated a dark dystopian image of a crime-ridden country in decline being overrun by dark-skinned terrorists pouring over the border.  He’s banged on the this drum for almost 10 years now, and the assassination attempt has played right into his mythology to great effect.  Those not paying attention to the facts will be swept up in his new assassination attempt “unification” message and fall for it, not realizing the fact that TFG and his screaming heads are the ones who created this mythology that has been tearing the country apart for over a decade.  The false “both sides do it” argument has become embedded in our political DNA now for years.

I believe the 2024 election result will not be good.  Not only do we stand to lose the White House, which is terrifying, but we also stand to lose both the House and the Senate.  With the SCOTUS already lost, we’re entering into a dark future that threatens the very fabric of our country.  With no guardrails or rule of law to stop him, I predict TFG’s  “unification” message will go down the shitter right after the election when the convicted felon and his goons will take over.

This is not good.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth over calls for Biden to end his candidacy is 2016 all over again.  I know many Salon customers hate it when I say it, but it’s true.  Hillary was a terrible candidate.  And, just like in 2016, I didn’t say unqualified, I said terrible candidate.  She didn’t listen to local party operatives, walled herself off from everyone who disagreed with her, and ignored calls for her to emphasize battleground states like Michigan believing that she had the election sewed up.  And we all know what happened.  Did Comey and Russian meddling hurt?  Absolutely, but it shouldn’t have been that close for that to have a material effect.  Those are facts that we all knew before the election, yet Hillary and party leaders ignored all the flashing red lights and handed the White House to TFG.

The same goddam thing is happening again with Biden loyalists and the base.  “Stay the course!” “Don’t change horses!” “The voters have spoken!” “If we change candidates, we’re going to lose like Humphrey!” “The Republicans will sue to keep a new candidate off the ballots!”  So on and so forth.  Here are the facts – THE ELECTION IS ALREADY LOST.  Only a miracle, or a thoughtful change, can save it.  Here are the battleground numbers as of TODAY:

TFG has a solid lead in every single battleground state and that’s unlikely to change.  During his press conference a couple of nights ago, Biden said no poll shows he’s losing.  They’re ALL showing he’s losing. Biden either lied, or, more likely, hasn’t been shown these polls.  It’s just math.

Yes, yes, we all know that TFG is a lying gasbag, shitbag, convicted felon, rapist, and every other pejorative adjective you can summon.  But that doesn’t mean a goddam thing to his voters.  In fact, they LOVE that he’s a lying gasbag and convicted felon as it plays into his Earth II narrative that he’s none of those things, but rather a victim of persecution by the “deep state”.  We’re not dealing with facts here folks, we dealing with people who don’t have a grip on reality.  THAT is reality.

While we’re at it, let’s talk about all the handwringing over Republicans suing to keep the Dems from “changing candidates on state ballots”.   First, there are no goddam ballots to change.  Biden, and TFG, for that matter are not the nominees for president.  There ARE no ballots, at least yet.  That doesn’t happen until AFTER the conventions.  Even then, there are mechanisms to change candidates, but that’s not what we’re talking about.  We’re talking about replacing Biden before or during the convention.  Suing to keep a new candidate off state ballots is a Republican talking point started by the Heritage Foundation (yes, that Heritage Foundation).  Like everything else coming out of the Heritage Foundation, it’s bullshit, so stop repeating it, please.  Here’s why.

Lastly, those of us calling for Biden to step aside are not “dividing the party” or “serving Republicans”.  Republicans, including TFG are terrified that the Dems use their heads and change candidates to a dynamic new candidate.  They LOVE running against Biden because they’re looking at the same numbers I am.  The numbers with any other major candidate are worse for TFG.

In short, every number points to a loss if Biden stays on the ticket.  Also, it increases greatly the chances of losing both the House and the Senate at the same time.  Those are inconvenient facts.  Ignoring those facts will lead to another TFG term in the White House and we should all be terrified of that.

I’ve done a couple of things I shouldn’t have. I decided to share a meme I saw on social media on my own Facebook wall. Instead of going into a long-winded explanation I thought I would just show you below. Consider it a bonus cartoon for the day.

Of course, my conservative friends and family were up in arms. The most hilarious exchange came when a former classmate uttered that you know who the bigots are based on who is sporting Biden gear. I naturally pointed out that we don’t buy Biden swag. We don’t buy swag for any politician because we aren’t a cult. Biden could sell bibles, tee-shirts, hats, action figures, shoes, fake degrees, steaks, Vodka, and any other assorted nonsense with his name on it. No one would buy it anyway because our allegiance is to the country and to ideas.

Be that as it may, I thought I would offer a few words on the red hat that our patrons could borrow when talking with their conservative friends, coworkers, and family members. When asking whether a red hat makes you a bigot or not you should consider the very basics. If you are suggesting that you want to “make America great again” then you are suggesting that America is no longer great. So, exactly when was it great? What were the precipitating steps and actions that caused it to no longer to be great? I’d imagine many of those folks would be stuck by some of the verbiage used there, so you might give them a few minutes to collect their thoughts or you might treat them as a hostile witness.

I imagine many of them (if they are older) are thinking of when they were young and everyone “knew their place.” If they are actually young then they are longing for the days their parents or grandparents described. Immediately, two things come to mind. First, memory is a tricky thing. We often remember what we want to remember and forget what we want to forget. If we are unhappy now then we likely remember the past more fondly. This belies the truth because if we are unhappy now then we were likely unhappy then. Secondly, even if life were good for us we have to come to grips with the fact that it was worse for others. So, saying you want life to return to what it was then you are either choosing to ignore that little fact or you are actively bathing in it. My guess for most of those folks is the latter.

Simply put, it is a backwards looking sentiment. I don’t want to look backwards. For one, life quite literally sucked for large groups of people. Even if I could say it was good for me then I would have to acknowledge that conditions are different enough to where that life is impossible to replicate. Of course, there I go again with the big words. I finally went off on a different discussion with a so-called “thinking conservative”. He prattled on and on about how gun control wouldn’t work and so I literally shouted, “then make a suggestion!” That’s the point, They don’t have any. Their platform has literally become, “whatever THAT guy says” and THAT guy doesn’t have any ideas. He never did. We can make this a referendum about the man, but one of the ways to win is to simply point out that THEY have no answers for the problems they are highlighting. They just have grievance. They want to prevent US from successfully passing any of our own suggestions. So, I would say it is put up or shut up time. If you want that mythical great past you long for then it is high time to tell us exactly how we get back there. Spell it out for us. Give us a step by step blueprint. Of course, they don’t want to do that because they know the majority doesn’t think that way. It’s a lot easier just to complain.