A Clueless Presidential Primary Debate for a Clueless GOP
Co-Conspirator Mug Shot Pics, Dark Brandon Ads More Interesting
Wednesday was a big day for Republicans, or so they thought. Eight GOP candidates for president appeared on a Fox News debate held in Milwaukee. Former president Donald Trump appeared in a pre taped interview with Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News personality desperately seeking to save his career.
The problem is that nothing newsworthy occurred in either event. Aaron Rupar at Public Notice summed up the debate in three sentences.
So while some commentators went through the motions of picking out winners and losers, the debate really was a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. Barring divine intervention or the wheels of justice turning quicker than anybody expects, Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024. Not only that, but DeSantis’s sadism, Ramaswamy’s talk of callously hollowing out the federal government, and the vocal pro-Putin faction in the audience illustrated the extent to which MAGA nihilism has become embedded in the GOP’s DNA.
What’s the point of all these indictments if we don’t get to shame them? Nine mug shots of Trump co-conspirators appeared on social media, which were taken during the booking process at the Fulton County, Georgia jail on Wednesday.
Opinionator Ann Coulter was brought out of cold storage to complain about the ‘humiliation.’ She couldn’t be heard over the sound of snickering heard ‘round the world.
It’s widely expected that publication of Trump’s mugshot will cause parts of the online world to crash. Dear Leader’s supporters are hoping to take some of the sting out of the photo by publishing versions of it with self portraits as a means of showing solidarity.
I find it hard to think the former president’s decision to switch lawyers (now it’s Steven Sadow) on the day of his arraignment is a good thing. He’s a horrible client, always willing to test limits to keep his name in the news.
A bunch of his former legal advisors are co-defendants, some of whom are claiming they’ve been left without support to mount a defense. Then there’s the matter of Trump’s history of stiffing people he hires; some of the lawyers willing to represent him in recent months have demanded and received payment up front.
The judge for the Trump trial has announced it will be televised, a scenario guaranteed to hold the nation’s attention. I’m sure Trump's so vain, he probably thinks this is a plus. If it happens before the 2024 election, it will be a days-long refresher of what actually occurred in 2020/2021. If it happens after the election and Trump wins, he’ll use the power of his cult to shut it down.
President Joe Biden’s campaign supporters exceeded expectations by running paid ads on Fox ahead of the debate, along with a Dark Brandon campaign on the Fox News homepage. It was a brilliant move, celebrating the rollover of a phrase that started out as an anti-Biden rallying cry into a taunt about the MAGA assumption the president was a bogeyman with super powers bringing about an agenda they hate.
Getting back to the debate, not one Republican admitted climate change was real, every Republican attacked a woman's right to choose, and the majority of Republicans on that stage said they will support Trump if he's the nominee.
The New York Times, along with CNN’s focus group plucked from a diner in the middle of nowhere, said that Vivek Ramaswamy was a winner. Given the insults hurled at him from the right (Rama-lama-ding-dong) and the left (Beavis and Butthead stuffed into a suit), I’m sure Ramaswamy will see a polling bump.
I personally was inspired by Vivek’s foray into US History, where "the US Constitution was what won us the American Revolution." Don’t forget, he’s the guy who thinks under 25 voters need to take a civics test as a qualification for registration.
The Washington Post was all about the drama, using words like “fiery,” “combative,” and “heated clashes” to describe the discourse. Coverage of Trump’s interview with Carlson included this bit:
Trump, who had long signaled he would not participate in the debate and made his decision official in recent days, sat for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that published online just before the debate started.
In the interview, Trump suggested that the United States could see more political violence.
“I don’t know. There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen,” Trump said, when asked if the country is headed to open conflict. “There’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen. And that’s probably a bad combination.”
The final line of the Associated Press coverage of the debate was: “Also on stage were South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.” Whew.
This “final debate of the primary pre-season” was all about dabbling on the edges -with thrusts toward the center– of MAGA delusions, especially when it comes to voters in the general election.
There was near-universal advocacy for policies opposed by a big majority of the American public. The already-proven-to-cost-votes delusional stances on abortion should have influenced what candidates said. It didn’t.
On the hottest day of the year in Wisconsin in the hottest year in recorded history, this was what we heard from the GOP: moderators asked for a show of hands of candidates who believe in human-caused climate change. Not a single candidate raised their hand.
From the look of the candidates in the GOP primary, none of them is into starving as a lifestyle. Which makes their willful ignorance all the more shameful. Perhaps changing the party’s mascot to an ostrich is in order.
Here are nine indications about where the earth’s food supply is headed in the future.
Fruit is disappearing from Italian orchards due to extreme weather, farmers warn Via EuroNews. Also grapes, watermelons, apricots, tomatoes and eggplants, along with wheat, milk, and honey production.
Oregon cherry growers seek emergency aid after climate change ruined this year's harvest: 'It all fell apart' Via KGW8 TV. Wasco and Hood River are Oregon's top-producing cherry counties in the state. And many this year harvested less than 75% of their crop. While other smaller growers left 50% or more of their cherries unpicked.
Chinese farmers hit by floods and drought say extreme weather is getting worse Via NBC News. The bouts of extreme weather have taken a toll not just on China’s 1.4 billion population but also on the size of harvests in the world’s biggest food-producing country.As the world warms, extreme events like those unfolding in China — and in the U.S. and other countries — are expected to become more common. With that prospect comes the worrying potential for widespread crop failures in major food-producing regions.
High and dry: Sask. farmers suffer cumulative effect of multiple dry years Via the Regina (Canada) Leader-Post. The issue isn’t isolated. This year a swath of rural municipalities have declared disaster due to factors afflicting the land.
Wildfire smoke, climate change affecting N.W.T. berry pickers and their harvest Via CBC. “Most of the wild berry bushes, like cranberry bushes, crowberry bushes, raspberry bushes, and blueberry bushes have basically dried. The berries that were on the bushes that were developing have shriveled up like raisins."
First Scorched, Then Soaked: Weather Whiplash Confounds Farmers Via the New York Times. At a time when the global grain market has been scrambled by a war between two major wheat producers, Ukraine and Russia, farmers in Kansas are bringing in the state’s smallest wheat crop in more than half a century.
Heatwaves and wildfires heap misery on farmers in Greece Via CTGN News. Heatwaves and wildfires are heaping misery on farmers in Greece, who have revealed how extreme weather is devastating their crops and livelihood. Like many other European countries, Greece is suffering from soaring temperatures and water shortages that scientists say has been caused by climate change.
Extreme Heat Threatens Crop Prospects Around the World Via Gro Intelligence. From the US to Europe and northern China, hot, dry conditions at times have turned deadly. The extreme weather also is taking a toll on agricultural crops across the Northern Hemisphere and could exacerbate worldwide food insecurity if conditions don’t improve during the rest of the growing season.
Prolonged drought deepens Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis Via Reuters. "It's been three years since the drought started, wells and the river have almost dried up. We don't even have enough drinking water, you can see all our land has dried up," he said, as he sat near a pile of wheat beneath the sun in heat of 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Persistent drought across Afghanistan is taking its toll on farmers, its economy - a third of which is generated by agriculture - and food security.