Now it's time for the Democrats to get their ducks in a row, story and a photo by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Click illustrations to enlarge

After we heard about President Biden dropping out my partner and I were relieved. Like many Democrats we believed he would lose to Trump in part because of his not reassuring enough voters following the debate that he could handle the rigors of the campaign and, if elected, of the presidency.

The Democrats have the next week or two to make sure that their convention does not descend into chaos and to begin a well-crafted campaign in earnest.

Kamala Harris is the likely candidate at present, but her running mate hasn't been decided. If she's at the top of the ticket it can't be Gavin Newsom because he's also from California.

It could be Gov. Andy Beshear from Kentucky, the son of former Governor Steve Beshear, or it could Josh Shapiro, the newly minted govenor of Pennsylvania who happens to be Jewish. If it was Shapiro I can see the pundits asking whether America is ready for a Black woman and a Jewish vice president. I say damn well it is.

Also being talked about for the VP slot: Arizona's Senator Mark Kelly was an astronaut  which gives him a certain star power. He was appointed to replace Senator John McCain defeatingb the incumbnet Martha McSally.  Roy Cooper is the governer of the important swing state of N. Carolina where he narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican Pat McCorry in 2016.

Conventional wisdom (pun not intended) is that Harris won't pick a woman so this would leave Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar out. 

If it isn't going to be Harris a floor fight should be avoided at all costs. I think the Democrats are united in this. Any decision should be made in the modern version of the smoke filled rooms of old times. The eventual nominee should be nominated by acclamation. Ideally there will be a consensus of who the best person to run as her VP would be.

Of course there would be no smoke and at least half of the politicos there would be women.

No matter what happens now Trump can't play the "Biden is a doddering old man card." He has to the rejiggering his Irish jig choreographed to go after Biden.

His attack line calling his likely opponent  "Laffin' Kamala Harris" and saying that her laugh proves she's insane is, well, insane. (Watch video)

You can see videos of her laughing here and judge for yourself. I think her laugh is unhibited, joyful, and spontaneous. According to Sean Hannity (here) it is her laugh that is causing voters to "detest" her.

I couldn't find a good videoTrump laughing. I did find this of his enjoying talking about shooting migrants.

It will be Trump who is open to the charge that he is too old, and as a bonus, too unhinged, to be president and there will be numerous examples that Democrats can use in their ads. They and ther allies in groups like The Lincoln Project can quickly run counter-ads showing clips of Trump ads juxtaposed with clips of Harris or whoever is the Democratic candidate with a tag line like this one from Rocky II (see video).

Being Jewish I like "If that's all you got you ain't got bupkis! (This is bad grammar either way but it is accepted usage.)

AI generated images

Continuing with the boxing analogy, Harris can rope-a-dope, or I should say rope-the-dope, Trump the way Muhammad Ali, who was the 4-1 underdog, did when he fought and beat George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle.

You can watch a video about how he did this here.

On being to old to be president:

I am 80 and healthy but I know that someone my age even without any other health issues has to accept that doing the job of the presidency is tempting fate. Even if Trump wasn't a wannabe dictator he is 78 - I can say he's no "Spring chicken" considering all the images that came out of the Trump chicken-like balloon being ubiquitous - he's too old to be president because the odds of a life-threatening illness is just too great.

In addition to being 78 Trump has several health factors which could lead to his not being able to continue his term or dying in office. Among those we know of he is obese and has the thick fatty neck associated with several diseases, he has a lousy diet, he has poor sleep hygiene, unless you count his spastic attempts to dance at rallies, he gets no heart healthy exercise, and in addition to this he's a ragaholic. He also has Alzheimer's in his family and could succumb to psychosis.

Trump is going to need all the Geritol and Prevagin he can get to offset his crap diet and life style.

Meanwhile a very human and relatable side of Kamala Harris that hasn't gotten much publicity, and it should, is described here.  Run against this Trump and J.D. Vance!

In this Hollywood celebrity culture where a so-called TV star got elected despite having had no political experience Americans respond to "the it factor" (definition) or star quality. Enough people thought Trump had it, although many didn't.

Kamala is more than ready for the wall-to-wall TV coverage she will be getting starting today.  

Check her out on Jimmy Kimmel here.

Harris, who says she's a big Star Wars fan, said she just met Mark Hamil in The Green Room and he told her that the Force was with her. How can she lose?

Read previous blogs here. Post them on social media. Share them with your friends. Torment Trumpers in your life with them.

An X poster provides the Sunday Funnies. My version isn't amusing. by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Click image to enlarge

On the left is my redition of how his magical supernatural self-healing powers after his ear was blown of it regrew to be the biggest bestest ear ever. On the right is my fake post.

Here's the viral X post about this:

Click above to enlarge

I read an article about this here:

Here's Agent Self's X page.

He also posted "Trump: 'God protected me, but killed my supporter'” and "What kind of piece of shit—thanks 'God Almighty' for sparing his pathetic life, knowing full well, an innocent person took a bullet to the head, and died, from a bullet meant for you… Fuck this dirt bag." 

RawStory wrote that it wasn't clear who created the fake  tweet which had been viewed 1.5 million times. From what I can tell it was Agent Self. I doubt he'd take credit for it if it wasn't him.

His is a well-crafted parody worthy of The Onion:

"It took my entire ear off. The whole ear. But I went to the doctor, and he said, and this is true, he said, you heal faster than anyone I've ever seen. Nobody is healthier than you."

"And the next day, my ear was growing back, and the doctor said, nobody regrows ears like that, and its a really remarkable thing, regrowing an ear like that, most people can't do it. And I know that, because its not me saying this, its the doctor, its everybody saying, just, you're the best at regrowing ears."

You can add me to his 18,100+ followers as of today.

In addtion his own X posts Agent Self reposted numerous other X contributions prompted by his post and replies like these (click to enlarge)

This is a good one from 

Frank Novak

@frankjnovak

It’s really only satire if it basically would be unbelievable that someone would say this. Trump totally would say this so many will believe this, which while funny is totally scary too (that people will instantly believe something)

Here are just a few more screen grabs which you can on click so they are easier to read:

It isn't particularly difficult to superimpose your own text block on an X post or for that mater on a Truth Social post. Mine, below, isn't an attempt at humor..I just tried to take the perilous leap into Trump's mind and write what I thought he might put on Truth Social. (Click to enlarge)

Here's my not funny at all version. Click to enlarge

I made some typos... but then again Trump probably would too.

The Democrats need to show the exit to all of these people. If Biden can't do it another candidate must. By Hal Brown, MSW

 

The costumed or normally attired MAGA's at the RNC and at Trump rallies and those in extremist groups like the man (below) used to illustrate the RawStory article Veteran newsman schools neo-Nazis: 'When I look at you guys, I do not think master race' must be shown the exit. If not our lives, our way of life depends on it.

Above is the photo RawStory used to illustrate their article.

You can read the article and watch the local TV station's video  where the reporter interviews the Neo-Nazis here. It shows a terrified little girl hiding behind her mother as she confronts the Neo-Nazis:

Compare the hand tattoos:

This is how the article concludes:

It was time for me to speak my truth.

"Can I be honest with you guys?"

"You're a loser, scumbag," Minadeo (a Neo-NAZI) responded.

"When I look at you guys, I do not think 'master race.'"

At that point, Boysheim (another Neo-NAZI) interjected, "You're old and about to die. Your time is coming to its end."

In fact, what I saw was a group of wounded, angry men who've never accomplished much in their own lives, looking for someone else to blame.

"You're worse than the Jews," Minedeo shouted.

Again, more of my truth: "I really feel sorry for you guys."

Boysheim shot back, "I don't give a f**k what you feel sorry for. You're going to be in a grave soon, you dumb f**king, sell-off boomer."

Minadeo chimed in, "F**k you, boomer."

As I walked away, I felt an overriding feeling of sadness.

These are really pathetic human beings.

They are the only ones who seem not to know it.

The two last sentences got to me because while these people are particularly pathetic human beings and do not know it, they are no more pathetic than all members of the MAGA movement who without really knowing what it means for the future of American democracy will say they believe in Project 2025. 

In fact if Trump is elected Project 2025 will be today's Mein Kampf.

By the time you read this we may already know whether Biden is going to step down. Hopefully he'll announce this decision at least by Monday so prominent Democrats and Republican anti-Trumpers who have considered him to be a weaker candidate than others can focus instead on wholehearteredly endorsing him.

He won't learn about my advice unless someone with a website that more than the few hundred who read my blog publishes something I write. For example, when we were watching the recent video of Biden walking up the stairs to Air Force One, my partner who sometimes says this to me said "if I were Jill and was by your side I'd be saying to you 'posture, honey, posture' perhaps adding it's only a few more steps until we get inside.'"

Meanwhile I hope that Biden makes the rational and right decision for democracy. For those who don't subscribe to The NY Times below is an excerpt from Maureen Dowd' column today, Lord Almighty, Joe, Let It Go!" I posted an excerpt:

Everyone wants Joe Biden gone.

Even the people who don’t want him gone really want him gone.

“Everyone’s waiting for Joe,” said one top Democrat. “And he’s sitting at home, stewing and saying, ‘What if? What if? What if?’ We’re doing things the Democratic way. We’re botching it.”

I have many happy memories of Rehoboth Beach. I went there growing up and have Proustian recollections of crispy French fries with vinegar sold on the Boardwalk. But now my gladdening images have been replaced by a maddening one: President Biden hunkered down in his house there, recovering from Covid, resisting talking to anyone who will tell him the truth, hoarsely yelling, “Get off my beach!” at the growing list of Democratic lawmakers and donors trying to warn him that he is pulling down his party and the country.

It makes me sad that Biden doesn’t see what’s inescapable: If he doesn’t walk away gracefully right now, he will likely go down as a pariah and ruin his legacy.

The race for the Oval today is between two delusional, selfish, stubborn old guys, and that’s a depressing state of affairs.

Dowd concludes:

Given that Biden said it would take the Lord Almighty to make him drop out, I have no doubt that Pelosi has been using their shared Catholic faith to guilt-trip the president into understanding the stakes, and what she thinks the Lord Almighty would want. Certainly, she might have said, she doesn’t like Trump claiming, as he did this week, that the Lord Almighty is on his side.

Really, what the Democrats need is a thrilling open convention, rather than a coronation. Trump just had one of those, after all.

Here's what Carl Bernstein had to say (reference):

One of the legendary reporters who chronicled the Watergate scandal says an irate President Joe Biden now recognizes he faces long odds to defeat former President Donald Trump — and could announce Monday that he's dropping out of the race. 

Carl Bernstein talked Friday night with CNN's Anderson Cooper on "AC360," and said, "the president himself has now moved from being what was called 'contemplative' about his situation to recognition that it's very unlikely that his candidacy can be sustained."

That's true of his family as well, Bernstein said. Even so, the president feels "angry" and "abandoned" by Democratic leaders, including and most vociferously toward Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

Yesterday I wrote Newsom/Whitmer is a made for TV winning ticket. They possess the "it factor" here.

Click above to enlarge image.

 

Read previous blogs here.

Newsom/Whitmer is a made for TV winning ticket. They possess the "it factor," by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Okay, it's an old TV but new flat screen televisions are just boring rectangles. You get the idea from this photo and the one below about what I'm going to write.

Whitmer may not have the Hollywood panache of Julia Louis-Dryfus who is known post-Seinfeld for playing a vice president in Veep, but she still has the "it factor" for a someone who hasn't received more Emmys than any other actress.

This isn't going to be a deep political analysis.  In fact, I don't know much about Gavin Newsom beside his being the governor of California, and aside from her harrowing story about the plot to kidnap her, I don't know much about Michigan governor Grethen Whitmer. 

Nothing here is particularly eye popping. 

Kamala Harris is the logical choice to run if Biden steps down but she just doesn't have the it factor. To the contrary, she has the "not it" factor. I think she'd made a fne president, but too many people don't like her.

Saying someone has the "it factor" is another way of saying they have star quality. In a way that is nauseating to half the country Donald Trump had his own star quality.  

Here's a dictionary definition if the "it factor:" (source):

The idiom "the it-factor" refers to a quality or characteristic that makes someone or something attractive, appealing, or successful. It is often used to describe celebrities, performers, or leaders with a unique charm or charisma that sets them apart.

In short:

• It refers to the special quality or characteristic that makes someone or something stand out.
• It is primarily used to describe people but it can also be used to describe products, ideas, or trends that are popular or influential.

Kamala Harris is far more well known nationally than Newsom and Whitmer. If Harris ends up running this makes her easier prey for the Republicans than Newsom and Whitmer. Without missing a beat they can throw every criticism they were going to use against Biden at Harris. 

You could say that Newsom and Whitmer aren't well known enough to capture swing voters, but this is the age of someone achieving near instant fame by becoming something called "an influencer", witness Amber Rose (who I never heard of before she spoke at the RNC).

I looked at some of her YouTubes and she has no talent (judge for yourself here) and apparently she became an influencer because she once dated Kanye West (aka Yeezy).

From the ridiculous Trump and JD Vance for the Republicans we go to the sublime for the Democrats, Newsom and Whitmer. In addition to possessing the "it factor" they have substance. They've got Constitution Avenue street cred.

They can say basically the same words as Kamala Harris about any subject and look like they were picked by Alan Sorkin to star in a reboot of The West Wing.

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