This election year will go down in the record books!
A lot has happened while I was away. One of the strangest things to happen was the all-but-nominated candidate for the Democratic party to drop out with only a few months left in the race. Not since LBJ refused to run for re-election has there been such an event. Of course, back then, we had the "smoke filled room" where nominations were clinched at the convention, with a lot of back-scratching and horse-trading deals being made. Today, the nomination seems to be all but secured by the time of the New Hampshire primary - which I guess is more democratic. Well, that is, until now.
Last time around, when Harris was aiming for the top spot, I wrote a piece on her and her husband and how their finances seemed to be in disarray. Well, to be more precise, they were as messed-up as most Americans - mired in debt with little in real savings or wealth. Americans love to have the appearance of wealth - fancy mini-mansion houses and "luxury" cars, all paid for with loans. In reality, though, they own nothing and have no real wealth.
But perhaps this is one way Harris will connect with similarly indebted voters. It may turn out to be an advantage. Mr.Walz similarly has no real wealth, but instead is relying on a traditional defined benefit pension to support him in his old age. Oddly enough, Republicans are attacking him for this, apparently trying to get the Billionaires all riled up against him. Who does he think he is, being an ordinary working stiff and not one of us! Only the rich should rule!
Of course, Trump is also in debt, but by a magnitude or two (or three) larger, and often indebted to some shady folks, such as Saudi Arabia or Russia. What's different, of course, is that Trump often doesn't pay back these loans, leaving banks or contractors on the hook for thousands or millions. Or in the case of the Saudis or Russians, they never expect to get paid back. Of course, if a loan is forgiven, you have to report that as income, right? Well, only for student loans, I guess - at least at the State level.
But taking her personal finances aside, it really is no contest as to who is a better candidate. We've already seen how Trump worked out as President and we voted him out of office, despite his conspiracy theories to the contrary. But this leads to the next thing that will make this election season one that is studied in future history books. Trump has promised to contest the election with more bogus theories and "evidence" that they cannot show us. Some election officials in some States are Trump minions and have promised not to certify the election - throwing it to the State legislature to decide where the electoral votes will go. And Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping the election gets punted to them, so they can select the winner.
And who oversees the counting of electoral votes? Vice-President Harris! So of course, they will argue a conflict-of-interest and muddy the waters further.
But the real problem is political violence, which some on the far-right are claiming is a legitimate form of politics as a whole, citing such events as the Civil War (who won that? I forget). I suspect more than one or two of these self-appointed patriots will cry "civil war" and shoot their lesbian neighbors as some sort of protest. It will get very ugly in December.
Merry Christmas.
P.S. - Read the 25th Amendment sometime. If Biden dies in Office, then Harris becomes President and the House and Senate have to ratify her nomination of a new VP. What a shitshow that would be.
