There's a boatload of polling surfacing, and apparently many of these surveyors have a hankerin’ for headlines related to next year’s Presidential election. Looking at the headlines they’ve garnered and subsequent coverage offered, we might as well stay home in November 2024 and let “nature” take its course.
The takeaway getting the most love from editors and pundits is that incumbent President Joe Biden is in trouble if he ends up facing former president Donald Trump. They say their respondents told them they had concerns about Biden’s age..
Some Republicans are fired up by the idea of his age as a campaign issue, thinking they can hold out the threat of a Black Lady President taking over if Biden bites the dust. These are likely the same know-nothings who continually strive to claim the current president is not up to stuff mentally.
Biden’s old in years, but has learned a lot of life lessons along the way. His approach toward doing the chief executive’s job isn’t as frenetic as some former presidents, but when circumstances call on him to get things done, he gets things done.
While age may or may not be an issue come November 2024, the same surveys found that, asked to describe Trump in one word, “criminal” was the leading choice.
The next president, should either of these two make it to inauguration will be older than the national average life expectancy– 77.28. Unlike other industrialized countries, life expectancy in the US is falling. Blame it on COVID if you like, but the lack of a national healthcare system tracks with our decline.
Ronald Reagan previously held the record as America’s most aged president, and some doctors have held that he was exhibiting early signs of dementia during his final years. The nation survived those years, as I suspect it would if Biden’s age began to catch up with him.
Given Donald Trump’s behavior, I suspect things would have to get really bad before any of subordinates who dare suggest he had age-related issues. And his followers would blame the Deep State for any hiccups in performance.
Trump won’t have to worry about being too old, as least as his base is concerned. Anything negative about the man gets sloughed off by hero worship.
The Wall Street Journal published a story saying Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg “has joined with other advisers in counseling President Biden to ‘own’ his age and turn it into an asset,... “If Harrison Ford, 80 years old, can star in a new Indiana Jones movie and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, who turns 80 next month, can strut around a stadium stage, Katzenberg says, then Biden should lean into his longevity as a sign of wisdom and experience while offering a sense of humor about it.”
Maybe Biden can do a TV special featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Paul Simon (all 81) and throw in Jimmy Page (78).
The one prediction I'll make at this stage in the game is that Republicans at every level will get hammered by Democrats over the fallout from the Supreme Court’s undoing of Roe v. Wade.
From the New York Times:
As the G.O.P. field assembles, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee will make abortion a primary focus of the president’s re-election effort. Earlier this month, the Biden campaign launched an advertisement campaign focused on battleground states, including the funding of billboards in Times Square that will highlight Republican efforts to restrict abortion access.
The Democratic National Committee is also encouraging local Democrats to press Republicans to specify what their position is on national bans, believing it will help contrast Mr. Biden’s approach with extremist positions, according to a D.N.C. official.
Don’t buy the bs about Republicans treading lightly on the topic. They are, however, being sneaky about it.
From the Los Angeles Times:
In a flurry of little-noticed action, GOP lawmakers are pushing abortion policy changes, trying to build on the work of activists whose strategy successfully elevated their fight to the nation’s highest court.
In one government funding bill after another, Republicans are incorporating unrelated policy provisions, known as riders, to restrict reproductive rights. Democrats say the proposals will never become law.
“This is not just about an attack on women’s health,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Friday. “I view it as an attempt to derail the entire process of funding the federal government by injecting these riders into the appropriations process.”
This tactic by GOP righties should give Democrats the opportunity to paint candidates nationwide with a brush holding them as advocates for further restrictions in a woman’s right to choose.
Republican presidential primary candidates had to deal with the abortion issue at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority conference this past weekend.
Donald Trump had the easiest job, simply reminding attendees that it was his Supreme Court that undid federal restrictions. Former Vice President Mike Pence pushed for more restrictive laws, saying “Save the babies, and we will save America.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was avoiding the topic until recently, criticized Trump for not supporting a six week abortion ban.
All this rah, rah, save the babies rhetoric flies in the face of virtually every survey showing an ongoing shift in American voter opinion on the subject.
From the New York Times
For the first time, a majority of Americans say abortion is ‘morally acceptable.’ Most now believe abortion laws are too strict. They are significantly more likely to identify, in the language of polls, as ‘pro-choice’ over ‘pro-life,’ for the first time in two decades. … While Republicans and those identifying as ‘pro-life’ have historically been most likely to see abortion as a litmus test, now they are less motivated by it, while Democrats and those identifying as “pro-choice” are far more so. …
[And] there were sudden and significant jumps in support for legalized abortion post-Dobbs among some groups, including Republican men and Black Protestants.
As the G.O.P. field assembles, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee will make abortion a primary focus of the president’s re-election effort. Earlier this month, the Biden campaign launched an advertisement campaign focused on battleground states, including the funding of billboards in Times Square that will highlight Republican efforts to restrict abortion access.
The Democratic National Committee is also encouraging local Democrats to press Republicans to specify what their position is on national bans, believing it will help contrast Mr. Biden’s approach with extremist positions, according to a D.N.C. official.
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What if a conservative Republican screamed in the woods and nobody heard him?
That’s what a former appellate judge and crusty conservative J. Michael Luttig is finding out following publication of an op ed in the New York Times, urging Republicans to move away from Trump before it’s too late.
The language was strong; the case convincing, and it fell on deaf ears.
Building the Republican campaign around the newly indicted front-runner is a colossal political miscalculation, as comedic as it is tragic for the country. No assemblage of politicians except the Republicans would ever conceive of running for the American presidency by running against the Constitution and the rule of law. But that’s exactly what they’re planning.
The stewards of the Republican Party have become so inured to their putative leader, they have managed to convince themselves that an indicted and perhaps even convicted Donald Trump is their party’s best hope for the future. But rushing to model their campaign on Mr. Trump’s breathtakingly inane template is as absurd as it is ill fated. They will be defending the indefensible.
Memo to Judge Luttig: It’s too late.
Here are some random Donald J Trump statistics:
(h/t @Genovino73)
Donald Trump has a total of 71 indictments.
John Eastman is facing disbarment and indictment for helping Trump.
More than 1,033 insurrectionists have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences.
Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was arrested and imprisoned, and later pardoned by Trump.
Trump's deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, was arrested and imprisoned. Trump's campaign manager,
Steve Bannon, was arrested and imprisoned, later pardoned by Trump.
Trump's national security advisor, Michael Flynn, was arrested and pardoned by Trump before he could be imprisoned.
Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was arrested and imprisoned.
Trump's long time political advisor, Roger Stone, was arrested and pardoned days before he was to be imprisoned.
Trump's campaign foreign policy advisor, George Papadopoulos, was arrested and imprisoned, also pardoned by Trump
Trump's inaugural chairman, Tom Barrack, was arrested and paid a $250 million bail to get out of jail.
Trump's inaugural vice-chairman, Elliot Brody, was arrested and sentenced to prison, but was pardoned by Trump.
And five ... count that, 5 ... of Trump's cabinet secretaries were referred for federal criminal prosecution. Trump's Justice Department refused to bring those criminal charges.
All Trump's lawyers who brought bogus election fraud cases before the courts are now facing sanctions and potential disbarments in at least 4 different jurisdictions.
Trump's other personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had his law license suspended in both New York and Washington DC.
Simply Amazing Stuff in The News
JUST IN: Fox News Host Wildly Accuses US Government of — Orchestrating Attempted Coup in Russia? Via Mediaite. That headline is from a couple of days back. Now this is right wing orthodoxy.
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Unbelievable! Georgia teacher fired for reading children's book Via Daily Kos. It was a book she purchased at the schools’ book fair. It wasn’t on any list. The class was composed of fifth graders who asked for the book out of numerous titles.. Gender, sexuality, and inappropriate images are not to be found in the book. “The rules are vague. It doesn’t matter, because we’ve decided you broke them.”
This is a right-wing effort to kill two birds with one stone: to weaken schools by painting them as sites of harm to children and driving teachers out of the profession, and to keep bigotry socially acceptable in this country and maintain a white, straight, conservative power structure as a natural state of affairs beyond questioning. While it’s partly a matter of convenience for Republicans, these things are truly linked. Public education as a public good, a place for all kids to be educated in ways that benefit our society and the nation as a whole, is served by inclusion and support. Done well, it does promote equality beyond the classroom. And that’s a key part of why it’s coming under such ferocious attack from the right.
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House Committee Releases Proposal Eliminating Federal Funding for Elections Via Democracy Docket. If you can’t win elections, then you need to cheat.
On Thursday, June 22, the U.S. House Financial Services and General Government Committee released a budget proposal that would eliminate federal funding for election departments.
In cuts to what the committee claims as “wasteful spending,” the proposal would eliminate existing funding for election security grants and reject new funding proposals. President Joe Biden’s proposed budget, on the other hand, had requested $300 million in grants. Republicans’ bill would also cut annual funding of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) by $8 million.
Bipartisan groups have urged Congress to increase the amount of money appropriated for election security grants, which was $75 million last year. The grants provide states additional funding to improve election security and election administration, implement audit systems, replace outdated equipment and more.
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Of all those who have declared their candidacy for the Presidency, Biden is the only decent person among them. I am of 2 minds about polls. While they might be informative, I tend to think they might tend to give people a false sense of security about election results. As we get closer to 11/24, there will be more and more polls and to me it's like counting the votes before they are cast.
As for the possibility that Biden has dementia, where's the evidence? Personally I am of the opinion that Reagan showed evidence of dementia 2 years into his 1st term and that Nancy and Bush 1 did a spectacular job covering up for him. I admit I am not qualified to make such a diagnosis.
I think there is even more evidence that Trump has some major mental health issues. Again, I am not qualified to say it. However, I think it.