Is 2024 the "Final Battle"? Not exactly. DeSantis and RFK Jr stocks falling and food pricing still rising.
Jimmy Buffet, Monty Python, Vivek, Taibbi and Rove! OH MY!
No Virginia FREE Friday Zoom today.
Matt Taibbi kicks off the morning with a brief post Tracking Orwellian Change: "Democracy" Democracy may die in darkness, but its new connotations also squirm under the light
Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America admired our tendency to treat one another as equals, but worried people here might eventually become so self-satisfied that they’d allow themselves to be taken over by “a network of petty, complicated rules.” Said rules would be administered by a bureaucratic sector whose only issue with democracy is that everyone feels equally entitled to participate.
Speaking of democracy, Donald Trump has been setting up the 2024 nomination and general elections as “the final battle.” From the Axios article:
Apparently the Republican National Committee missed that memo as they went ahead and picked Houston for their convention in 2028. So…not final?
Moderators for the 2nd Round of Republican Debate Madness have been selected. This WSJ article from last weekend posits Moderators Have Ruined Presidential Debates. Let’s Get Rid of Them. Viewers and voters are better served by a direct exchange between candidates than by journalists acting as inquisitors
Adorable. Totes adorbs…
There is a better solution to these candidate pageants. And I’ve made my pitch…stay tuned.
But at least the Republicans are having debates. The first one was important and it basically set up the national question on abortion (largely due to Mike Pence) to be 15 or 40 weeks and states or federal government? Frankly, a 15 or 40 bumpersticker with comparative sonogram pictures would be worth a billion words.
Speaking of the 2nd Debate - expect Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2003 question to Al Sharpton to make an appearance:
Karl Rove offered his more than two cents on Vivek in his weekly WSJ columnVivek Ramaswamy, Political Performance Artist He has no government experience, but plenty of conspiratorial demagoguery to sell. On Vivek:
He regularly appeals to voters’ conspiratorial instincts. During a conversation with the Atlantic’s John Hendrickson, he said, “I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero. But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.” Mr. Ramaswamy later claimed he was misquoted. That is a lie; his grotesque comments are on tape.
9/11? Why? Why would anyone GO THERE?
BREAKING NEWS - Young Republican Poll offers glimmer of hope for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He beat Trump in their convention straw poll 36-35. Looks like it’s #TooLittleTooLate
RFK Jr’s polling average in Real Clear Politics has been cut almost in half from 20 to 13:
Speaking of Camelot. Monty Python called this one early:
Inflation is the hot topic at our house these days but not in gas prices or air fares.
The inflation topic I hear the most? Food. While the rate of inflation is lower that last year’s, it’s still being added to the previous baseline.
Two quick takeaways from the recent Roanoke College poll : Still a little heavy on college degrees + at 45% - should be 42 or less and 47% not impressed with either Trump or Biden. More on this poll next week - but you can nerd out here.
Videos - The Final Countdown ‘cuz the Donald said so and Come Monday by the Jimmy. Have a great weekend and drive safely!