It's been crystal clear since before the 2016 election that having Donald Trump in the White House was dangerous for this country's national security and for the democracy that is at the very heart of this constitution and government, and out identity as a nation. He's spent the time since the voters ousted him plotting revenge against his enemies and laying out a campaign to get back in that includes having political power unrestrained by a government of, by and for the people. He's been open and public with statements revealing his fascist intentions, sounding more like the European dictatorships of the 1930's than an American Republican.
There's no question, in any reasonably intelligent, well-informed mind, that he incited the January 6th insurrection with the intention of disrupting the constitutional peaceful transfer of power, for the singular purpose of subverting the will of the people and remaining in office. His deliberate theft of classified documents, and his attempts at intimidation of Georgia election workers in an attempt to subvert the will of voters in that state are all part of a pile of evidence which proves his unfitness to serve in any capacity in American government, much less the Presidency.
Add to all of that his marital infidelity and immorality, which, again by weight of evidence, has continued unabated and goes back to the period right after his first marriage to Ivana, with affairs, according to his own admission, running into the hundreds, along with the public humiliation he brought his wives. Evidence indicated that this was happening all through his term in office, and has continued since his departure. He's a pathological liar, a tax cheat, a business fraud, a rapist, and a con artist.
On top of that, his four years in the White House show a record of incredible inept incompetence when it comes to government service and leadership. He failed at everything he did, including nominating competence justices to the Supreme Court who would rule by the Constitution rather than by their political agenda. His negotiations with the Taliban, eventually leading to the collapse of the democratically-elected government in Afghanistan, kicking that can down the road and causing his successor to have to deal with it, border on treason. So do his meetings with the world's most notoriously cruel dictator, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, his attempts to blackmail Ukraine, for which he was impeached, and his dealings with Vladimir Putin. His COVID policy and dealings with that crisis bear the marks of criminal incompetence, and lack of concern for the lives of millions of Americans.
But he's running again, is headed toward being the nominee of the Republican Party, and, if we believe most of the media's rhetoric, has a shot at being elected again.
I'm missing something here. On both sides.
Why Isn't Biden Getting Any Traction?
Joe Biden has had one of the more effective Presidencies in modern history. What a difference it was, in this country, when his administration put plans into place for dealing with the COVID crisis, in spite of some of the ridiculous conspiracy theories and the turning of medical research and scientific evidence into a political issue by far right wing extremists. In front of the collapsing Afghan army and government, undermined by his predecessor, he got over 100,000 people out of the country in matter of days, a huge accomplishment, especially given the way the media tried to make it sound like a disaster.
The economy has hit milestones in low unemployment, in wages and prosperity, in spite of the adversity of dealing with supply chain issues and the aftermath of the pandemic, that we haven't seen in almost six decades, and it is a sustained prosperity and growth, in spite of media attempts to stoke fear of a recession they were predicting would happen two years ago. Inflation came along, the result of the economic recovery from COVID, something he predicted, and in the process of dealing with it, his economic timeline is working exactly as he said it would.
The infrastructure bill is historic. I do not have to venture very far from my house to see and experience the benefits of it. A much needed reconstruction project along the eastbound Kennedy Freeway, which carries two major east-west interstates, 90 and 94, through the heart of Chicago, was completed a month ago. The reduction in travel times, and in traffic congestion was noticeable on the day it opened, clearing backups on other freeways out into the suburbs. Another huge project funded by the bill widened the westbound Kennedy between I-94 and I-190, which is the exit to O'Hare Airport, opening two additional exit lanes, and a third ongoing project, doing the same to a long stretch of I-294, I-88, I-290 and I-80, a chronic traffic nightmare on Chicago's west side, is nearing completion. That's just locally. This is happening all over the country to highways, bridges, airports, even the seaports and inland river waterways.
The repairs and solidifying of the NATO alliance in the wake of Russian aggression will go down in history as one of the greatest moves ever made by an American President. Biden's predecessor was going to end NATO, and open the door for Russian aggression to destroy the freedom of tens of millions of Eastern Europeans, and stop those who are still struggling to ever experience what we take for granted in this country. Yes, the Ukraine war has been a long one, and it's caused a lot of damage and destruction, and loss of life. But the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, because of what they've seen in us, and they're still able to fight because of the diplomacy of the Biden administration. They chose that over the slavery of dictatorship and corruption. That's patriotic American idealism in practice, in contrast to what Trump was offering.
I'm a beneficiary of President Biden's economic policy every time I walk into the pharmacy, and get my 90 day supply of insulin. I'd have to settle for a different brand, because what I take now would have cost more than I could afford, and even at that, would have been prohibitively expensive. But I pay $105 for 90 days. The drug company that makes it, and the pharmacy that sell it still make a profit, even at that cost.
And yes, the President is an older guy, the oldest we've had in our history, at least as far as his age goes, though life spans are longer now, and medical care is a lot better than it used to be. But this is the guy who rode a train ten hours each way in and out of Kyiv to meet Ukraine's President Zelenskyy in the middle of a war, and then took a brisk walk through the streets of the city to a press conference, without the benefit of American military security. He's obviously in much better physical and mental shape than the potential GOP nominee, even with cameras hiding the Republican's ailments and gaffes.
And yet, he gets a much smaller share of the news cycle, even on the networks that are known to be better at fairness, they seem to relish putting out every single C rated poll that show him trailing Trump, even by one or two points, and somehow miss those which are coming out every week showing the opposite. They report the fragments among Democrats, give almost as much attention to candidates like RFK Junior, Cornell West and Jill Stein, who don't have a chance at winning the Presidency, and focus their coverage on his age, over and over and over.
So yes, I'm clearly missing something here. Because to me, this looks like a deliberate and concerted effort to control the election and determine the outcome, with someone behind it pulling the strings.
That leads me to this one question. What are we going to do about it?
What I'm Going to Do About It
I'm pretty active and engaged with local Democrats in my precinct. We are blessed to be in an area where we are a clear majority, where we have good leadership and where we can provide some assistance in the way of resources and help to those in other areas where they need a little bit of a boost. We had a real nice effort going here on behalf of Tony Evers and his re-election campaign in neighboring Wisconsin, along with the other state candidates, and Mandela Barnes' Senate race.
I have a budget for monthly political contributions. It's not much but it's regular, monthly and added to that of others for better effect.
And I use this blog to get a hearing on social media. I hope others who read it, and readership has improved to about 1,800 a month, also share it on their social media and with their friends and political foes. Not all the feedback gets shown here, because at lot of the discussion and comments are senseless, rude, threatening or just plain stupid. But it's there.
I'm going to vote. It takes me five minutes to go inside that booth, get to the straight ticket screen and cast the ballot for every Democrat running.
What we ALL Need to Do About It?
We need to speak up. Counter the crap that the media puts out. Encourage our candidates to get themselves on a solid narrative, like the President has done, pointing out that his candidacy is in contrast to the Maga extremists who want to rob us of our freedom. I also think, at that level, the President's campaign needs to bring in the best minds of the Obama administration's re-election campaign and unify the effort. We MUST get this right this time. For the sake of the nation, everyone needs to work together.
We have the ability to apply pressure as we head toward nominating conventions locally and nationally. I'm working to get my self elected and sent to the DNC. I'm sending out email responses to the junk I get from Jill Stein, Cornell West and No Labels, telling them their nothing but a distraction and if they are truly interested in seeing their agence accomplished, they need to get out now and endorse the President for the sake of the country. When I have a chance, I show up at rallies and make my voice heard. I got cut off halfway through my comments on a local talk show last month when I criticized Stein and pointed out what she did to Hillary Clinton. The host had to back down, because afterward, there were multiple callers who picked up that theme and he couldn't get away from Stein's critics.
I will canvas my neighborhood and make sure, days before the election, that I knock on doors and help people understand that they need to go vote. I did that in Wisconsin in 2022, along with about 100 volunteers, and Democrats carried the precinct we were working in for the first time since 2012.
And of course, I will vote.
I'm confident that Joe Biden will win re-election and that the country, seeing the threat that Maga Fascists pose to our freedom, will stop Republican enablement by keeping them away from control of Congress. I really have serious doubts that the polling data being pushed regularly now, even on MSNBC, is anywhere close to accurate. Even the famous Ann Selzer's final Iowa poll was off by more than her claimed margin of error for the caucuses. I'm not seeing, in my social media circle, or here locally, any of the hysteria over Joe Biden's age, and I'm not seeing anyone who is planning on breaking for a third party candidate. Are there people who might like to see someone younger run? Of course. But that's not going to change their vote for Biden when he is the Democratic Party nominee.
I think the problem is taking this political mess seriously. But we'd better.
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