2024 Election Thoughts – Postscript

“Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.”
Euripides

Well, I sure didn’t think THAT was going to happen. All that exposure and enthusiasm and endorsements and positivity, especially when contrasted with the incoherence and complaining and vulgarity and over-the-top outrageous lies. However, I have to respect the system. The people have spoken…emphatically.
   

The White House (4 April 2005)

Of course, the media is now crammed with opinions about why the Dems failed so miserably. She wasn’t specific/no details. We didn’t know her. The campaign was too short. Joe should have dropped out sooner. We needed a primary. Wrong direction. Failed administration. Poor economy. Low approval ratings. The dude-bro emphasis captured the less educated and cancelled the expected surge of women.

In the midst of all that postulating, I have not seen any postmortem that notes something I have complained about for years – Democrats are too damn timid. They never seriously challenge the Fox/GOP nonsense. They have allowed their party to be demonized. Democrat timidity has allowed the GOP to normalize years of voter suppression and election denial. Until they understand that so many of Trump’s votes were anti-Democrat votes, they’ll never recover. Trump’s supporters KNOW he’s not a nice man but believe Democrats and (especially) liberals are worse.

I hope the Dems figure it out and learn enough to pick more acceptable candidates, better strategies and stronger arguments. They need to come to grips with the widespread sentiments that drove the people to vote as they did and made 14 million people stay home compared to the 2020 turnout. Trump garnered about the same number of votes he got in 2020, but Kamala’s total was eleven million fewer than Uncle Joe’s.
   

Post-Insurrection Shutdown (7 April 2021)

And another thing… We ARE a stupid species…and BOTH political parties believe that. The GOP depends on us to be stupid so we will swallow their lies and misinformation. Democrats think we’re too stupid to hear straight talk about what’s really happening.

I don’t want to hear another talking head mention the price of eggs. We had to euthanize millions of diseased chickens. There were fewer eggs. They cost more just like everything else that is scarce and still in demand. The egg producers, transporters and sellers had to make their profits. If people stopped buying eggs, the price would have dropped immediately.

Take the promised mass deportation. Are you MAGA faithful ready to fill all those jobs working the farm fields and slaughterhouses? We’ll see how some red/rural towns fare after the feds cart off a big chunk of their local economy.

Speaking of cleaning up the illegals, don’t be surprised if we hear stories of red state cops doing their part by stopping members of the public who don’t look American enough. Maybe it will soon be advisable to routinely carry proof of citizenship…and we’ll be another step closer to living the Nazi life. “Show me your papers!”  
   

Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C. (8 August 2005)

I’ve been wrong too many times before so take this for what it’s worth. Given what the President-Elect has said over the years AND his performance the first time around AND what so many close to him have revealed, the nation is about to experience challenges it does not expect. We will be tested.

HOWEVER…

If our species does what it so often does, the new order will overplay its hand and attempt even more radical policies. Then the electorate will make corrections at the next mid-term elections…if we still have elections by then.
  

Earth Day, Washington, D.C. (22 April 2017)

I’m really glad the election is over, and I can get back to pictures, places and stories. Given the depth and breadth of Trump’s victory, the GOP will consider it a total mandate to do everything Orange Jesus wants. Don’t be surprised if things don’t turn out all that ‘Great Again.’