We spend most of the day watching the Olympics, so you don’t have to. Before we get to the Opening Ceremonies – yes, I know they’re on tonight, but that’s a replay, they were broadcast live this morning and early afternoon on NBC -- the preliminary rounds of certain sports continued overnight (well…overnight in the U.S). Not necessarily the major sports, but most at least aren’t especially obscure. So, as the expression goes, attention must be paid. The USA men’s rugby team played Uruguay. I’ve never quite figured out the rules, including its strange, undefended drop-kick extra point, which seems to take place from the point where your team crossed the end line. It’s a bit of an odd sport that clearly was a foundation for football. But it’s hard to watch a game and not think of the episode of Friends when Ross was trying to impress his girlfriend Emily, and got worked up enough to become “Red Ross” as he rushed in to play…and got pummeled. In the game last night, the score was somewhat tight, until Perry Baker broke free, raced down the field and put the game away for the USA, winning 33-17. The Team USA women’s soccer team beat Zambia 3-0. But what stood out for me was that the final two goals were not only scored by Mallory Swanson…but about 30 seconds apart. It was an emotional moment for her, since her career had been pummeled by injuries, surgeries and infections that, among other things, has kept her out of the Olympics. But notable for me is that her husband is the shortstop of the Chicago Cubs, Dansby Swanson! And it’s clear that one of the reasons he signed a contract with the team last year was because Mallory plays for the Chicago team, the Fire. There was an exciting women’s soccer game between host country France and Colombia. The score was 3-2 when the game went into extra “stoppage time” for a whopping 10 minutes. The home crowd was going crazy, with Colombia aggressively pushing to get the one goal they needed to tie. But with the French crowd screaming them on, France held on to win. There also was a women’s handball match between host France and Hungary. While I like to watch most games, team handball is not one of my favorites, and even I have a limit how much I’ll watch of everything. To be clear, team handball has absolutely nothing to do with the handball most people think of, smacking the ball ricocheting off the walls. Rather, it is more like soccer, but with players running around and throwing the ball to one another. I just find it a bit boring to keep watching after a while. And in interesting news, 2-1/2 years after having been cheated out of the Gold Medal at the 2020 Winter Olympics, the U.S. figure skating team, that had been giving the Silver Medal, will be presented with the Gold in a ceremony at the Paris Games. The Russian team had gotten the Gold, but one of its stars later tested positive for illegal drugs, and they were disqualified. That moved the U.S. team up to first place. And that brings us to the Opening Ceremonies which were broadcast live earlier today, and as I said they will be re-aired this evening. A few random thoughts about them – The ceremonies are a truly impressive artistic achievement, taking place across all of Paris outdoors and mostly on the Seine (including having to take place in an ongoing light rain). There is more usage of film edited in throughout than I prefer, but the footage is well-done and interesting. The whole production is a bit frou-frou pretentious at times – including an overly-reverential, helmeted, phantom-like character weaving his way throughout, that has a nice, off-beat texture to it, though gets a bit annoying after a while -- but hey, that’s the French. Also odd is the very first musical performer is Lady Gaga – one would think they’d have found a French artist to kick things off. Overall, it’s an incredibly ambitious undertaking, successful, and very beautiful. I don't get many chances to make a pun in French, but this was a near-perfect example of Mise en Seine. (The event does end back in the Trocadéro Stadium for the official parts of the opening. It’s a much smaller facility than the main Olympic stadium, the Stade de France, but it’s filled only with the athletes and officials) Beautiful and impressive as it is, I was bothered by a significant part of it as a sports fan. One of the joys of the Opening Ceremonies is that as teams march in and are spread out across the stadium track, the camera and TV announcers are able to single out athletes from around the world, and tell interesting stories about them, which is one of the important parts of the Games – not just the competition, but the humanity of the world coming together. But with athletes all crammed together on their team boats, that wasn’t possible, and the “up close and personal” stories were borderline non-existent. From the TV perspective, I thought the NBC announcing was lousy. Mike Tirico is an excellent anchor host – but with no stories to tell about the athletes, he was limited in what he could say. He filled in okay, but he’s so much better than okay. He had two co-hosts. Kelly Clarkson is a charming person who, here, was out of her depth, and the bulk of her commentary was “Oooh, that is incredible. Incredible. Wow. Amazing. That is incredible. I love the rain.” Fun Fact: We can see it’s incredible. But she was eloquent compared to (for some reason) Peyton Manning. He’s a witty conversationalist, but as a former football player – not an Olympic sport – he had pretty much nothing to add. He also has no connection to NBC – he’s on ESPN, owned by ABC – so I’m not sure why he was there. Nor why Snoop Dog was either, especially since he doesn’t add much. I assume that maybe, for some reason, he’ll do little features throughout the Games. Throughout there were cuts to a fashion show going on in Paris. I don’t want to even try to describe it. So, I’ll just say it’s very weird and what most people think of the French when they have a nightmare. There was one small sequence I especially loved. It has to do with setting off flames and fireworks across what I believe they said was the Concorde Bridge, leading what was perhaps a museum or maybe an official building. And there was a long cartoon with the Minions. Yes, you read that right. I’m not quite sure what they have to do with France, though apparently Pixar has offices in the country, which is a bit of a stretch. It was an absolutely silly thing to have during the Opening Ceremonies – and hilarious. Ending at the Trocadéro Stadium, the Eiffel Tower nearby is decked out for a pretty nice light show. Also, since the Trocadéro is just a smaller arena without a cauldron, there is a nice twist as an international boat ride of well-known Olympians is needed to take the Olympic Flame and head down the Seine for the lighting ceremony at what was still an undisclosed location. But that’s not the end, because the organizers came up with a clever and moving way to continue the carrying of the Flame. As for how the lighting is handled, I’ll leave that undescribed for those who plan to watch later, though I’ll note that, as part of it all, Mike Tirico is correct when he says it’s the most unique cauldron you’ll have seen. And then that is continued with what I’ll only say is a beautiful and emotional surprise performance of the Edith Piaf song “Chanson d’Amour” – that co-host Kelly Clarkson was left literally in tears. Let the Games begin, although they already did a couple days ago…
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"I'd love to be nice, but I'm dealing against real garbage." -- New Trump yesterday, on Kamala Harris Well, that didn't last long. I hope that any press who suggested, based on only the first 15 minutes of his RNC speech, there was a new, more uniting Trump do some soul searching and a mea culpa. As I wrote the day after, there is only "Trump," and there has always only been Trump. Not a wisp of anything new. This about "garbage," that is Trump. It’s been Trump ever since he was sued by the federal government in 1973 – half a century ago -- over racial discrimination for not renting to Black people. It’s been Trump since 1989 when he took out a full page ad during the Central Park Five trial and called for the return of the death penalty – before the five young Black men were exonerated. And as the campaign goes on and as his early dementia worsens and the threat of Kamala Harris (and the threat of his remaining trials) solidifies, he will only become Trumpier. Later in the day, Fox host (and former W. Bush press secretary) Dana Perino was talking with Democratic strategist Michael Meehan about the speech President Biden had given the night before. And at one point, she said since Biden had dropped out of the race, discussion of age can now be "put aside." Too hilarious. As the old ad campaign for deodorant said, "Never let them see you sweat." MAGOPs can only wish discussion of age is put aside. Dream on. After all, when your candidate put the meal on the table, it will stay there and be eaten. With gusto. When your candidate is now the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history, and he made age a campaign issue, it will be an issue. When your candidate shows signs of what psychologists say is early dementia, it won’t – can’t – shouldn’t be put aside. To his credit, Mr. Meehan did not put it aside. And brought it up again. Kamala Harris’s campaign made it plain yesterday morning that Trump’s age would not be put aside – nor would the reality of his crimes. That was when they released an email immediately responding to Trump's Fox interview that morning – and bluntly and accurately entitled it: "Statement on a 78-Year-Old Criminal's Fox News Appearance." A couple of passages in the statement leaped out. The first was -- "After watching Fox News this morning we only have one question. Is Donald Trump ok?" And the second passage that stood out was a quote that came from campaign spokesman James Singer. That was when he stated -- "The dangerous threats of an old man don't create jobs, protect our rights, or keep us safe.” Blunt, pithy and focused on a larger, important issue for deeper context. (I also liked his next sentence: "Vice President Kamala Harris offers something different: freedom, lower costs, and opportunity for all." A very good political statement to build on his theme. Though it’s still the “The dangerous threats of an old man don't create jobs…” that brutally stands out. Obviously, it was racist and hate-filled when Trump called Kamala Harris “garbage.” But it was also really incredibly stupid. After all, unless you’re part of Trump’s extreme right, fascist, white supremacist base, no matter whether you like or hate Kamala Harris’s policies or personality, I’m sure that almost no one else thinks of her as “garbage." So, calling her that only makes Trump look utterly dismal. And racist. And misogynist. And like an old man shouting at the moon and yelling at the kids who kicked their ball on his yard. Also, I don’t think many people listening to Trump on Fox even believed him when he said, “I’d like to be nice.” In fact, most of them probably don’t want him to. Which will contrast throughout the campaign with the two Harris attributes that the Trump team has tried to smear her with – that Kamala Harris loves to laugh and dance. Two other attributes are critical in the race. One for VP Harris and one for Trump. They were both noted in this ad that Nicole Wallace aired on her show yesterday. I couldn’t find it online, but recorded it with my phone off the TV. It’s pithy and pretty much says it all. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, the Olympics are around the corner, as you know, and the Opening Ceremonies start on Friday. With the competition to begin the next day. Except...well -- at least that’s what I thought. It’s not true. The Olympics have already started! Really. Last night, while lying in bed, getting ready to go to sleep, I was flipping around the channels when all of a sudden I looked at the on-screen guide and saw – the Olympics! On the USA Network. Women’s soccer, Mali vs. Israel. And not only that, but right after, they had women’s handball, with Slovenia playing Denmark. And it didn’t stop there either – and wasn’t just these small, under-the-wire contests, but at 3 AM, the had the USA women’s soccer team playing Zambia. And went on all night. And continued all day. The Olympics are on right now as I type this – and will continue through the rest of the day. And all day tomorrow and beyond. In fact, if you weren’t up at three in the morning to watch the USA women play soccer, it’s being repeated tonight at 6 PM Los Angeles time. For that matter, tomorrow morning early – at 5 AM Los Angeles time, so maybe at 8 AM on the East Coast – the USA men’s soccer team will be on the USA Network playing home country France. The reason for this is that several sports have qualifying “pool” rounds to determine who gets to play in the final bracket. And if they waited to begin competition until after the Opening Ceremonies, they wouldn't finish the medal round in time. So, there’s actually a lot going on. And happily and joyously fun, too, they even had a featurette by my favorite Mary Carillo. In the past couple of Olympics they haven’t used her as much as they should, but if they already have one of her pieces on the very first day, maybe, possibly, hopefully they’ll have more. She does these wonderfully, offbeat, funny but smart and interesting Olympic stories about the culture of the home country. Her story last night was on the French love of escargot, and spent a lot of time on a snail farm, talking with a snail farmer. It was great. He used to be in tech, but decided he wanted a slower life. And yes, there were a lot of “slow” jokes. She and the snail farmer even had a race between two snails – to see whose would cover 6 inches first. (The snail farmer’s won.) She also interviewed a woman at a high end Paris restaurant that specialized in escargot. So, please, let there be more Mary Carillo!!! (And at the very least, please let NBC at least post online the few featurettes she does.) I should add that the Olympics have already had two make news stories of notable controversy. One was that an assistant coach of Canada's women soccer team and an "unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer" were caught using a drone to (inexplicably) reason spy on New Zealand. Pointlessly, given how highly ranked Canada is and how low-ranked New Zealand is. The assistant coach withdrew for one game, and the "analyst" was sent home and banned for eight months. The weirder story was that a chef for Team Russia, who has been living in France for 14 years, was detained by French police for working with Russia for ways to disrupt the Games. Go figure. Yes, the chef. Police say that terrorism isn't involved, though the intent was cause mischief (my word) throughout the competition. What that exactly means, I don't know. By the way, for those keeping score, Mali and Israel ended up their women’s soccer game 1-1, so each team left with one point for the standings. And the Danish women were ahead of Slovakia in handball 9-8 in the first half before I said, “Okay, that’s enough for tonight…” and turned off the set at 12:25 AM and went to sleep. I love the Olympics. But I do have my limits. More to come. Each day for the next couple of weeks. As I say, We watch the Olympics most of the day so that you don’t have to. Let the Games begin! Early. (By the way, though many people -- perhaps most -- think that the Olympic Theme was written by John Williams, and it's regularly identified that way on YouTube, he didn't. The Olympic Theme is "Bugler's Dream" by Leo Arnaud. What John Williams wrote is "Olympic Fanfare," which comes in here below around the 1:00 mark. And together they make a wonderful piece of music. There is video going around of a speech J.D. Vance made in 2021 to a conservative group. In it, he says that Americans who don't have children should “face the consequences and the reality” and not get “nearly the same voice” in democracy. (Side note: Why he calls his concept "democracy" is not clear.) But his suggestion on how to rectify what bothers him is even more idiotic. And yes, idiotic is the only way to describe it. Actually, it's idiotic before he even gets to the suggestion. It's already idiotic on the basic concept. Vance's suggestion is -- “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children.” Yes, really. Someone on Twitter had an excellent response, putting it in proper perspective. The person wrote, ""This is wild. So young people who have decided they aren’t ready for kids, people who have lost a child, people who are infertile, people who don’t want children, should not have the same voting rights as parents?!?!" For that matter, what about from the other end -- couples who decide they want as many votes as possible and have a baby every year. But then, for that matter, what happens if the parents disagree between them?! Who gets to decide the vote? (Oh, okay, in fairness, I know the answer to that one. This is J.D. Vance, after all, the man who has said that if a woman is in an abusive marriage, she should stay in it. So, of course, to Vance the father would get the tie-breaker vote. Which is another way of saying the father always gets to decide.) Personally, I hope that J.D. Vance keeps saying this over and over -- and that Trump is asked if he agrees with his VP selection. In fact, it's so monumentally stupid that it almost can't be called "divisive" since it's hard to imagine many sane people supporting it. Including children who would get "the vote" their parents would control. (I don't know what's more ridiculous a concept: a two-year old infant having "a vote" or rebellious teenagers aware that they have "a vote," but knowing their parents get to use it.) The speech is even worse than that, by the way. And yes, that's possible. In it, he referred to Democrats as "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too." And added, "How does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?" And specifically singled out Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Hillary Clinton responded to the Vance video and wrote sarcastically “What a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn’t hate women having freedoms.” For the record, in case you're forgotten sixth grade civics, the U.S. Constitution describes the requirements to be President or a member of Congress. There are three: age, citizenship and residency. Parenthood is not among them. For the record, too, Kamala Harris is a stepmother, raising children. And Pete Buttigieg has adopted children. That doesn't matter, of course, but it's still good to know, just for the sake of accuracy. And Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was only 29 when she ran for Congress. (Just for fun, there was a quote yesterday defending Kamala Harris on not having children. Not that such a defense is remotely necessary, it isn't at all, but this is just too wonderful to let pass by. After all, it was said by Kerstin Emhoff -- the ex-wife of Kamala Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff! "For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present.” Comparisons to Trump will be accepted...) After only a week, there have been stories of Republican officials already with misgivings about J.D. Vance being selected as Trump's VP pick. (C'mon, guys, didn't you think there might be problems with a guy who said Trump was "America's Hitler" and that "I"m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him"??!) And that was before it came out the other day that Vance wrote the forward for an upcoming book about the now-reviled Project 2025 (hated by both parties!) written by one of the project's main authors. And now this video has popped up. Surely there will be others. Speaking of videos, I think this is the right way to wrap things up with the proper perspective. Moreover, it's yet another example of why I like and admire Pete Buttigieg. Here he is the other other on Real Time with Bill Maher shredding J.D. Vance -- but as perhaps only Pete Buttigieg can do: politely and thoughtfully, without being vindictive or ad hominen attacks, just expressing his view from observation and experience. The other day, I posted a video here of two songs from the recent Encores production of Dear World, which I said originally starred Angela Lansbury. Well, this is Lansbury herself as a guest on Julie Andrews’ TV variety show in 1973 singing one of those two songs, “I Don’t Want to Know.” The musical, based on the play The Madwoman of Chaillot, was a flop (as was the movie that starred Katharine Hepburn), but it had some very nice songs in it. What leaps out in this performance below is that, rather than standing and throwing herself into a performance, Lansbury sings the number wonderfully just simply seated with the other guests. Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for president has completely thrown the MAGOP for a loop, uncertain what to do after having focused their entire campaign on President Biden. Indeed, it's done so to the degree that it’s made many of them panicked and crazy, and attacking in any way they can grasp. That’s not hyperbole. For starters, the MAGOP wants to literally sue the Democratic Party for making Kamala Harris its presumptive nominee, rather than President Biden. Such an action, as polite as one can be, is monumentally lunatic, especially given that (among many reasons) Democrats hadn't even officially named their nominee -- and still haven't. Further, the MAGOP also have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission so that Kamala Harris can't get the money previously raised by the Biden-Harris campaign, despite the reality that she's the "Harris" part of Biden-Harris. Years ago, there was an ad that said, "Never let them see you sweat." This the equivalent of the MAGOP going into a sauna, perspiring up a storm and broadcasting it live TV. But that's only a warm-up, the opening act of crazed panic. Because yesterday, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced Articles of Impeachment in the House against VP Harris. No, really. The reasons he gives for impeachment are…oh, seriously, who cares? It’s ludicrous -- trying to impeach people, after all, has become the MAGOP default alternative to governing -- but I’ll make it easier for everyone and translate all the various reasons he gave: because Kamala Harris is a Black woman who is challenging Trump. Not just challenging Trump, but Harris just had the biggest single day of fund-raising in political history, and brought in $106 million over the first 36 hours. Perhaps even more importantly, 62% of those giving money were first-time donors in the 2024 election cycle. And 58,000 people signed up to volunteer. A separate PAC, Future Forward, announced that they had additional commitments of $150 million. Further, the smears of Harris have already begun, the latest and perhaps most repugnant being that she slept her way through Democratic politics. (Considering the MAGOP's huge, existing problems with women voters already, this is sure to infuriate women all the more who too often have had to put up with such a charge whenever they succeed.) One of the most aggressive in reprehensively pushing this is Megyn Kelly, who -- given her years at Fox where sexism ran rampant -- you would think would be more sensitive and averse to saying such things. But then “You would think Megyn Kelly…” is a phrase that almost has lost all meaning at this point. Just so people know the actual story – so that, armed with facts and reality, and can response – this is what panicked MAGOPs are trying to twist into the implication is that Kamala Harris is sleazy, a slut and slept around: Thirty years ago, Harris dated a man named Willie Brown, the well-known Speaker of the California Assembly, for a year. It was a long relationship, and they were perfectly open about it. Though Brown was married, he had been separated for a decade. So, basically, it was two “single” people dating, for a year. That’s the story. And of course what the story also leaves out is the reality is that Kamala Harris was elected D.A. of San Francisco, twice elected Attorney General of the largest state in the country, elected Senator of the largest state in the country, and elected Vice President of the United States. You only accomplish any of that, let alone all, by convincing the public to vote for you. When she ran for Senator, she received 7.5 million votes. By Megyn Kelly standards, Kamala Harris must be exhausted. By reality standards, she has long been wildly popular in California. Furthermore, MAGOPs are also pulling out the desperate and racist and misogynistic attacks on Kamala Harris ranging from “She’s dumb as a rock” from Trump to that she’s just a DEI Vice-President hire, which are spreading like wildfire through the party. All of which are basic dog whistle racist codes at their core, as well as an attack on women. Of course, the reality to that is Kamala Harris was elected D.A., twice elected Attorney General, elected Senator, and elected Vice President of the United States. None of those are hires. All are campaigning and convincing the public to vote for you. Yes, I know that’s a repetition of the comment above. It bears repeating. Over and over. Not just to remind the public of the truth, but to drill it into the pea brains of the racist, misogynistic MAGOPs. The MAGOP have gone so crazed about Kamala Harris that its House leaders actually sent out a memo to party members urging them not to make racist comments about VP Harris. Pro Tip: when you have to send out an literal memo to your members begging them not to say racist things, you have already lost the racist battle. The most you can hope for is to stop the racist bleeding and try not to lose the racist war. The MAGOP have had such a meltdown over Kamala Harris and are so uncertain what to do about this accomplished Black woman (which speaks horribly about their skills in planning) that they are flailing around and lashing out at her about almost anything, even the most basic characteristic that we prize in people -- the expression of joy. The crack RNC Research team (which is hilariously incompetent, regularly putting out slams that only serve to help Democrats) has already had two such tantrums since only Sunday. Their first effort was a video of Kamala Harris standing with a big crowd of NCAA women champions to honor the athletes – it was a lovely video. And yet the RNC Research clods for some unknown reason (other than panic) tried to slam Harris for -- are you ready? -- standing in front of a one of the smaller young women, blocking her. Yes, really. Putting aside for the moment how infantile this “charge” would be, if true, in a presidential campaign -- first, the video clearly shows a military aide positioning people where they should all stand, and second…the “charge” show a complete lack of understanding for how the concept of angles work! After all, if the person holding camera simply moved two feet to the left, you would have seen the young woman behind Kamala Harris perfectly. But the MAGOPs are so lost, that this was something they felt they had to go after a Black female presidential candidate about. Never mind that their own party leader has been convicted of 34 felonies, been found liable by two juries for rape, found guilty of business fraud, said he wants to be a dictator, said he wants to throw out parts of the U.S. Constitution, wants to deport millions, wants to build internment camps, and has signs of early dementia. But…but…look where Kamal Harris was told to stand!! And that she laughs. Yes, that’s another issue Republicans and RNC Research are pushing. That Kamala Harris likes to laugh. And has a great laugh. So, in misguided hopes of ridiculing her, they’ve put out videos of her laughing. (Or “croaking” as the ace RNC Research team put it.) No doubt women voters just love seeing MAGOPs slamming a woman for laughing, showing emotion, showing joy. By the way, in response, Democrats online have put out videos of Kamala Harris laughing, as they understand that this is A Good Thing. As is dancing. Yes, Kamala Harris loves to dance. MAGOPs don’t like this. And ridicule it. Only in the party of Trump would dancing and laughing be considered a negative. And not realize that your criticism of it will only backfire on you. Because, again, Democrats online have put out video of Kamala Harris dancing, showing her joy of life. This is an old video, and I think maybe I’d previously seen two seconds from it. But I had never seen the whole thing. However, Democrats have made sure now that people see the whole thing. Because it’s pure joy. By the way, this video clearly is no reason to vote for Kamala Harris, or anyone. If it was, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire would have had a dynasty in the White House. But it is a reason to make a comparison of personalities if a question like, “Who would you rather to have a beer with?” or “Who would you let babysit you six year old daughter?”, is something a person feels is valuable. Or if age is important to a voter, assuming he or she thinks a candidate is qualified. Because, sometimes, pure joy is considered A Good Thing by many. (By the way, about halfway through, it appears like Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff shows up in a brown sport coat and gray sweater dancing in the upper right. Apparently, the family that dances together advances together.) MAGOPs hand-wringing concerns over Kamala Harris have already become so desperate in their panic attacks that they even got former conservative British Prime Minister Liz Truss to come to their aid. Truss went on Fox and criticized Kamala Harris for not being "brilliant." Putting aside how she would answer if asked whether or not she thinks Trump was "brilliant," here's how needy MAGOPS are at the moment -- in case you've forgotten, Liz Truss served as Prime Minister for only two months! She not only likely had almost no contact with VP Harris, but was herself ridiculed by the British so mercilessly to the point where she was literally compared to a head of lettuce. (Really!!) There is even a Wikipedia page on her and the lettuce. By the way, the head of lettuce won. So, that's how crazed and lost the MAGOPs have become -- and keep in mind: it's only been two days since Kamala Harris has become the presumptive Democratic nominee to be president! No doubt, MAGOP strategists will figure out things they want to seriously campaign on. But the bottom line is that, foundationally, this is who the party is and how little they have ready from the starting point. (Hey, even I've known for the past year it was possible that President Biden might have to withdraw from the race. But the MAGOP didn't figure that out and plan for the possibility??!) And the more these racist, misogynistic panic attacks continue, the more the public is likely to find it creepy, uncomfortable, foolish, and a reminder why they don't like Trump and voted him out of office last time. And why there was no Red Wave last time, either. The MAGOP at its core is racist and misogynist, joyless and empty. But that's not just me saying that, its members have needed to be reminded by their own party leaders not to make racist comments. And it all points to a big problem Trump may face if he and Harris debate. As I've noted here and elsewhere, Trump hates being laughed at. In fact, in a rally speech the other day, he actually said that out loud, how he hates, hates, hates, hates being laughed at. (A sure strategy heads-up to his opponents... Well-played, sir!) And this relates to a family story his niece Mary Trump has related -- how as a boy, Trump was ridiculing his younger brother at dinner, so his father dumped a bowl of mashed potatoes on him. And everyone laughed at him and he was humiliated. She took it a step further yesterday in a new article -- In the article, Mary Trump -- who is a licensed psychologist -- reiterated how her uncle "hates being laughed at." To which she added, "Donald also hates women (especially strong women) and minorities, so you can see why current Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris terrifies him to the point of incoherence. He says she’s 'crazy.' His childish nickname for her is 'laughing Kamala' because she feels joy, and joy is something he has never experienced and doesn’t understand. Faced with the reality that he is now running against a vibrant, intelligent, experienced woman who is fully two decades younger than he is, Donald spent Sunday and Monday flailing, trying to find an angle of attack that would stick." As a result, he's so lost trying to figure out what to do, she added. Imagine now that "laughing Kamala" laughs during their debate, assuming they do have a debate, which seems likely since Trump just suggested having several, which shows his concern. Imagine further if during her pre-debate preparation VP Harris figures out how to find places to not just laugh on stage with Trump, but laugh at Trump... To be clear, none of this is about Kamala Harris. It is about who today's Republican Party has become. Keep in mind, that reminder from GOP House leaders about not making racist comments went to its House members. No doubt they realized that also sending the reminder to their party leader would have no impact. But then, in fairness, they're okay with Trump having been convicted of 34 felonies, been found liable by two juries for rape, found guilty of business fraud, saying he wants to be a dictator, saying he wants to throw out parts of the U.S. Constitution, wants to deport millions, wants to build internment camps, and has signs of early dementia. So, what's another racist comment thrown into mix? And who knows? Maybe they'll pick up those voters who hate accomplished, successful Black women who like to laugh and dance. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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