Tucker Carlson might be Trump's best pick to run with him for VP

 

By Hal Brown

Anyone who says the following might be the best pick for Trump to ordain as his running mate:

From The Washington Post:

How a small-town train derailment erupted into a culture battle

The East Palestine train accident is one of hundreds each year, but it’s become a significant political flashpoint

Fox News host Tucker Carlson used his show to bring race into the discussion, decrying an alleged lack of urgency by the government for a blue-collar community with few people of color. “Is it because these are not their voters?” he asked Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who agreed with the premise.

This is small potatoes compared to Tucker Carlson's latest coup enabled by Kevin McCarthy. Whether or not other media are able to get all the J6 videos of the Capitol attack his getting first dibs will score big time points with Trump.

What puzzles me is, even though the word is in quotes, why Carlson refers to this as "insurrection day" instead rebranding it with a term that most people peacefully entered the Capitol and were there to make sure the election wasn't stolen. 

With the speculation as to whether Trump would prevail in the GOP primary leaning heavily towards it being the former president there has also been chatter in the punditry about who is angling to be his vice presidential pick. There's no similar discussion about who might be currying favor with Ron DeSantis to persuade him they would be his best running mate choice.

Look at this web search:

First, what would be in it for Tucker Carlson? 

While he's the top banana at Fox News, being second banana to a president of the United States who might die in office would make him president, and assuming Trump lived it would position him to run for president in 2028. The answer for him in one word is "power". He'd have to be patient and should Trump win he knows he'd be hand maiden to a megalomaniac but time would be on his side. In addition, what would he have to lose since if Trump was defeated he could simply go back to his former Fox News gig.

The second and more important question is what would be in it for Trump. What would Carlson bring to the ticket that nobody else would, and what are the drawbacks of having his as a running mate?

The only drawback I can think of is that Tucker is another crowd pleasing performer, an actual star. It's possible he could upstage Trump. He's Marjorie Taylor Greene without being certifiably insane.

The benefits include Carlson's star power. Trump could make sure Carlson never upstages him when they are literally appearing on the same stage by warning him about this. Carlson is smart enough never to do this. 

The only possible better lead-in act for a Trump rally than Tucker Carlson is Marjorie Taylor Greene, but does Trump really want a screaming manic introducing him? Besides, he can include her as a member of his rally show cast and she can appear before Carlson. Greene, Carlson, Trump: now that would be a MAGA crowd pleaser. 

With Trump who would make the best, i.e., the most competent vice president is irrelevant. It was a fluke that he picked Mike Pence who actually had some governing experience. He picked him because he was a national unknown who wouldn't upstage him. He believed in his grandiose self-confidence that he didn't need anyone to help him win.

With Trump running again he may have rethought this and want to run with someone who has their own huge fan base. He may have a moment of humility and want to run with someone that may actually bring him additional votes in the primary coming from those who lean towards DeSantis because they see him as Trumpian without being Trump. 

For Trump it is always about winning. Who can forget this?

The question I have is whether the star of a long-running hit show is if he'd be willing to allow an equally talented understudy to be hired.

Addendum: 

As a reward to Marjorie Taylor Greene Trump could make her his Chief of Staff. She's adept at sucking up and has demonstrated this with Kevin McCarthy. No puns intended here...

Click above to read snarky replies to this tweet.

Can you guess who just tweeted this?

Hubris is the delusion that causes people to mistake themselves for God. They imagine they have power, wisdom and foresight they don’t actually possess. It’s a species of mental illness. 

It is Carlson's latest tweet:

I am sure that the graduate of Harvard and Yale Law knows the meaning of the word "hubris". He's obviously not referring to himself, a high priest of hubris.

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Scroll down the page for Archie with links to these articles and more.

The MAGA GOP is doomed to be the Edsel of American politics.

 By Hal Brown

The Ford Motor Company wanted to develop Edsel as a fourth brand to compete with Chrysler and GM. The attempt failed dismally for a number of reasons in addition to the fact that many people thought the grill design was ugly. A popular joke at the time, Edsels "resembled an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon".

Those of use who remember the car recall the front grill. However, the rear was ugly too:

  You can read all of the reasons on Wikipedia for the failure here.

Wikipedia's explains:

The name "Edsel" became synonymous with the real-life commercial failure of the predicted "perfect" product or product idea. 

I noted the use of the word "perfect" since this is one of Trump's favorite words to describe himself and everything he does.

Wiki notes that "similar ill-fated products have often been colloquially referred to as "Edsels".

Flash forward from the late 1950's to the early 2020's and into the world of American politics. MAGA is the brand name for the Republican Party and people who identify with the brand are called MAGA's. 

Anyone who believes in small D democracy views the MAGA product as ugly on the inside, and sometimes on the outside. I won't inflict photos of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene screaming on you since these images are already easily imagined.

I will, however share a video of an run-of-the-mill MAGA cultist:

The woman also mispronounces ignoramus three times in a row. 

Update: Since I posted the blog an hour ago the number of views of this video increased to 1.8 million.

This is probably because it was the subject of this Raw Story article. I am sure that almost all of those who watched it were appalled by this woman's behavior since Raw Story is a progressive website.

I would have worried every time this racist woman reached into her purse for fear she had a pistol there. Perhaps she did.

She is why the GOP MAGA faction now in control of the party is doomed to become Edsels. These people are their base. The woman here doesn't seem to be mentally ill. She seems to be in total control of her faculties. Her beliefs are baked in. She represents the base that MAGA politicians appeal to. 

While there are millions of people like her, there aren't enough to swing all but select House elections in deeply red districts, and perhaps a few Senate elections and state governor and legislature elections. She and her brethren are doomed to become Edsels.

This is currently the numb er one trending article on Raw Story.

Addendum: The person who posted this video has a book which made The Washington Post list of recommended books to read in 2023: I Still Believe: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy by Sgt. Aquilino Gonell with Susan Shapiro 

DeSantis deserves to be called Ron DeSatan so why hasn't Trump called him that?"

 By Hal Brown

Public Domain, Wiki Commons, Hal Brown

About the image above.

If you think this story from this morning is bad...

Click above to read

... and this from early this month:

What in the hell is wrong with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis?

This top of the HUFFPOST website story describes the poisonous icing on the already toxic cake that is Ron DeSantis 

Click. above to read

Of course there's nothing particularly original about calling this sadistic bully DeSatan. For example:

Click above for link

Click above for link

Click above for link

What I wonder is why Trump hasn't picked up on this obvious nickname as he tries to demonize his most likely, and most formidable, primary opponent. Satan is considered literally the chief demon.

Trump has reportedly been spitballing nicknames since Ron DeSantimonous didn't catch on. He denied considering Meatball Ron and has used Ron DeSanctus which makes no sense. He hasn't used Ron DeAnus but I wouldn't be surprised if he's thought of it.

Why then not the obvious Ron DeSatan?

While DeSantis actually just allowed someone who arguably shouldn't have been put to death to be killed by the state, and his Covid policies may have led to more deaths, perhaps Trump is savvy enough not to open himself to being called out for his own satanic policies. 

Both Trump and DeSantis are classic sadistic bullies. I wrote about such people here. 

Comment:

 Ben Kalom said...

Nice article.

Well said.

Musicality is duly noted. Too bad it is dissonant, cacophonic, constant staccato, with much too much reverb.

Also
"...more cowbell!"

SNL viewers and fans will understand.

It is not anger control issues. It is "Look-a-me!" issues. All these folks want is to move away from being not seen to being always seen.

We already give them too much attention. All of this is behaviorally "Cluster B" and Cluster A mixed in. 

Apparently, being seen, receiving attention, being fawned over is akin to the dopaminergic quality of cocaine. They think they're funny. They think they're "Somebody!"

Back to music: the Billy Joel song "Big Shot" comes to mind.

Music says it all.

I would very much prefer to hear "The Sound of Silence" from them...

Mostly, they're a collection of Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols..

Addendum: 

This is a comment from the HUFFPOST article with another nickname:

13 minutes ago

After getting rid of the weak and the elderly during covid, DeathSantis now goes after the mentally disabled.

Nobody's safe, including your children!

After all, they don't work, live from handouts and are therefore useless according to maggat economic theory. 

Greater Idaho Movement: A proposal to trade parts of Oregon with Idaho

 

An earlier map didn't include Bend in Oregon. Since it is a Democratic leaning city I have adjusted the borders.

By Hal Brown

While Marjorie Talor Greene is making the news for wanting to reinstate the Confederacy those in Oregon and Idaho are following the greater Idaho movement. This is a proposal that has gained traction in Idaho and the very conservative mucho-MAGA eastern Oregon.

Click above for website

Click above to enlarge. The county Bend is in is Democratic, the county to the east leans Republican.

How red is Idaho. Consider this story:

Here's another example:

Idaho House votes to prohibit use of student IDs to verify identity for voting

Then there's this:

Click above to read

One of my very best friends going back to childhood lives in Sun Valley. I visited him once when I drove to Portland where I now live. 

Sun Valley is truly a beautiful place to live.  At least nine celebrities live there year round or part-time.  It has even been called New North Hollywood. 

Sun Valley is considered a premier winter resort:

Click above for Visit Sun Valley website

You are surrounded by mountains, but you are also surrounded by hoards of people who would enjoy watching you hang from the gallows if you are politically progressive.

The Political Climate in Sun Valley, ID is Somewhat liberal.

Blaine County, ID is Very liberal. In Blaine County, ID 67.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.

In the last Presidential election, Blaine county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 67.1% to 30.3%. 
Blaine county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000 (reference)

Boise the state capitol leans conservative but is not really hardcore MAGA.

There's no way that Oregon would vote to give away a huge portion of the state to Idaho. The population is highly weighted towards the western part of the state which is Democratic. 

I have a proposal for a trade. It isn't original. However I made a map to go with it as to how the borders could be redrawn. 

This would give both states the most unusual shapes, but so what. The boundary would be about a mile wide along the main route from the Portland area to Ketchum, where my friend lives, which is in Sun Valley:

Click above to enlarge

The roadways would be patrolled by the Oregon State Police. Nobody would have to worry about being arrested for bringing marijuana, which is legal in Oregon, into Idaho.

  Last year Idaho banned abortion after six weeks.

There would be enough room along the corridor for Planned Parenthood and other groups to open family planning clinics which would legally provide abortion services. Centers could be opened in Boise (pop. aprox. 240,000) and Twin Falls (pop. aprox. 50,000)

Of course Idaho and Oregon would have the same number of Senators. It is possible, but not a certainty, that Idaho would gain more members of the House since Oregon could redraw a congressional district to include the area along the corridor.  Idaho currently has only two members of the House. It would be one of the most unusual shaped congressional districts but that would be the way the cookie crumbled.

If Oregon wanted to play hardball they could gerrymander like this and make it likely they would gain one or more Democratic members of the House. Idaho now has two members of the US House while Oregon has six. No doubt the people behind the Great Idaho Movement want to gain one or more members of the US House at the expense of Oregon losing one or more.

Note that there are two phases to their plan. Why anyone would waste their time on such a doomed effort is impossible to know.

If this ended up as the sate of Oregon...

... it would probably have as many colleges and universities per square mile as the small New England states. Compare Oregon colleges to those in Idaho and make of this what you will.

"WAH" indeed, Daily Beast beats Raw Story with DeSantis title

 by Hal Brown

Here's the Raw Story title for the same story about Ron DeSantis saying he will boycott NBC and MSNBC until they apologize for something Andrea Mitchell said:

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The Daily Beast was more creative in their title. 

Click above to read

I was particularly struck by the red " | WAH |  " in the lower left. Positioned where a subtitle would generally go it wasn't exactly a subtitle. I'd call it more an "aside" meant to convey an editorial comment with a word which suggests the sound of DeSantis having a tantrum.

The editors could have used "Boo-hoo" instead to convey the same thing but "wah" is a word that sounds like someone having a hissy fit, literally a tantrum. "Wah" is derived from "wah-wah" which is a musical effect achieved on brass instruments by alternately applying and removing a mute and on an electric guitar by controlling the output from the amplifier with a pedal.

 

What a political world, eh? From the two top contenders to be the GOP  presidential candidate to the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene we have individuals who seem to have anger control problems and when they are offended express their feelings either by literally screaming during a session of Congress, making posts on social media, or hurling threats.

I don't know what would cure whatever is wrong with them. Perhaps meditation or yoga would be the prescription. Psychotherapy might be helpful. The basic message these people need to heed would be along the lines of what the hippies used to tell people who were overwrought or too full of themselves and is now a common meme (click here):

Addendum

Yesterday's blog was about Trump's blatantly self-aggrandizing visit to E. Palestine. It is still in the news. This Salon story photo shows how shameless and insensitive this man is. I thought giving out Trump branded bottled water was bad enough, but giving out Trump hats is beyond the pale.

Click above to read