April 16, 2020--On Wisconsin

Under the radar, while understandably all attention has been focused on the coronavirus, the presidential campaign is gearing up. 

Trump's rambling press briefings have dominated the news as the death totals soar and the evidence accumulates that he wasted as much as two months denying there was a danger lurking.   

What concerns him is not the pandemic. To Trump that's a distraction from his real agenda--his reelection. It is also a mirror into what's important to him as well as what he fears.

Three things, directly related, terrify him--

(1) He might lose his reelection bid;

Which means (2) he would be vulnerable to criminal prosecution and, if so, could wind up jail; 

Then (3), always on his mind is money. Defending himself would require many millions while the Trump Depression is costing him a fortune in lost income from his real estate and entertainment empire.

No better example of the political trouble he is facing are the results from the recent Wisconsin elections.

For him there were at least two scary outcomes-- 

At the national level, though Wisconsin Republican leaders did all they could to suppress the vote, tens of thousands turned out, many risking their lives while having to wait up to two hours in packed lines to cast their ballots. 

The virus did not deter them nor did the fact that Republican election officials opened just five of nearly 200 historically available statewide venues for in-person voting.

Biden won in a landslide--he received 62.9% of the vote while Sanders attracted just 31.8%. Turnout was high even though a Biden victory was all but certain. 

Between the two candidates nearly 1.0 million votes were cast, about the same number as four years ago when the race between Bernie and Hillary was hotly contested.

This signaled to Trump that Democrats are fired up and willing to assume bodily danger to vote him out.

But, creating much more agita for Trump were the results of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court election.

In spite of a huge infusion of out-of-state money to support his reelection, ultra-conservative judge Daniel Kelly was trounced by more than 10 points by Democrat Jill Karofsky.

Wisconsin may turn out to be 2020's Florida. Whoever carries the state is likely to become president. And with Biden well ahead of Trump in the polls, it is no wonder Trump is unraveling. 

January 2, 2018--Required Reading

I've been working my way through Dan Carter's richly detailed and very well written, George Wallace: The Politics of Rage, The Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics.

Anyone interested in understanding the Trump phenomenon (like it or not, that's what it is) needs to do the same. It shows how economic hard times for many, xenophobia, and racism have previously been an incendiary mix in America culture and politics. 

Not just during the time when the bigoted but compelling George Wallace was a serious contender for the presidency but earlier as well. We have a long and full history of anti-intellectualism and demagoguery. Trump is the latest example.

Here's a brief taste to hopefully pique your interest--

After doing unexpectedly well in Wisconsin's1964 Democratic presidential primary, winning more than a third of the votes, Wallace was euphoric.

Wallace, constantly manipulating television's infatuation with visual action, dramatic confrontation, and punchy sound bites, effortlessly set his own agenda. The usual [nightly] two or three minutes of air coverage [by the three TV networks] allowed only a colorful charge by [Wallace] in a highly visual setting and a complex defensive reaction by [his opponent, favorite son] Governor Welsh. "Without any conscious bias," fumed the editor of the Nation, "the television cameras automatically focus on him and he projects very well."

Sound familiar?

Wallace--Standing In the Schoolhouse Door (University of Alabama)

March 31, 2016--Heading North & A Prediction

It's coming to the end of our snow-birding for the year. It has been a little intense--the first time in nine years we've been coming here that we won't be able to say goodbye to my mother.

As a distraction, I can't resist one more political prediction--

Donald Trump will not win the Wisconsin primary.

He may even come in third.

That will herald the beginning of what will by June turn out to be an ugly, so-called "open" GOP convention. It will be anything other than open. All deals, deals, and deals behind closed doors. Think House of Cards.