News bits: Repubs up for re-election; Dark free speech in action

A WaPo opinion mentions some of the Repubs in congress and some of their fun, patriotic antics from recent years:

Some have already left office. But as many as 117 members of Congress are running for reelection in 2024. Here they are, drawn together; a collection of American politicians engaged in using democracy in order to attain the power to subvert it.

The whole House class of 2024

What a fine batch of patriots, from the crypt. With “people” like that in congress, America doesn’t need foreign enemies. Gosar is especially charming and witty, don’t you think? What a delightful person, as long as he doesn’t come over here.

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A WaPo article (not paywalled off) reports on how relentless authoritarian radical right dark free speech continues to convince all kinds of Americans that DJT’s coup attempt was, more or less, no big deal:

Three years after the Jan. 6 attack, Republicans are more sympathetic to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol and more likely to absolve Donald Trump of responsibility for the attack than they were in 2021, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

Biden's closing argument...

It’s officially a presidential election year here in the U.S.  Granted, it’s a long time until November, and with many variables in play.  With all that’s going on in the courts, our political future is very uncertain. 

But sometime in the coming fall, barring Trump’s imprisonment or one Big Mac too many, a final presidential debate between (likely) Trump and Biden will take place. There will not be a better, more perfect time for Joe Biden to “lower the boom” on the fickle electorate; when people are finally paying attention, where even the Trump lovers/worshipers/cult must look, will look, since Trump is sharing the stage. Many (a hefty chunk of them) can’t NOT look, they idolize Trump that much.

I believe democracy, indeed the ongoing American experiment itself, will all be on the line, leading up to the November finale.  It'll be showtime; no time for boilerplate speeches such as “The economy is good, the stock market is up," and other yada yada yada hard facts and data that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to your average person walking around out there. No, business as usual and boilerplate speeches will not do. The final appeal to the electorate must be of the caliber of The Mother of All Closers. We now know, through experience, that “standard operating procedures” are worthless in today’s politics. So where am I going here?

Bottom line: Biden’s 2-3 minute closer must hit people where they live. Emotionally.  Punch ‘em, and I mean hard, right in the gut. 

Surely, with Biden’s access to the myriad of great minds out there (e.g., Jon Meacham, Richard Haass, even Steve Schmidt) who know what it takes to manipulate people (in a constructive way), he/they can come up with something that hits people where they live: in their emotions. Heck, even I, an everyday housewife, think I could write a pretty effective closer, “tugging" “jerking at heartstrings” to be persuasive. Such a speech has to hit the sweet spot, where it doesn’t get pegged as hyperbolic or overkill, yet manages to scare the hell out of the “on the fence” potential Trump voter. It better bring a tear to their eye. 

Questions:

1. Do you agree with my argument/assessment, that it has to be a speech like no other?  If not, make your case against it. What should Biden’s October closing speech sound like?  Give us some examples of what should be his “punchlines/buzz words.”

2. Is Biden’s command of speech too weak to successfully pull this off?  If yes, who should be that spokesperson?

3. Is it the case that all the speeches in the world will not affect the outcome.  People, at this point, are already “cemented in” to their preferred choice?

Top ten predictions for the US in 2024

 Let's see if anyone agrees with my predictions.

1. Depends on who is running, but Trump will win if vs Biden

2. Democrats take the House, Republicans the Senate

3. The economy will decline slightly but not enough to be the #1 voting issue

4. The border on one side, abortion on the other will be the biggest issues for the election

5. If Biden does step down, provided someone other than Kamala runs for the Dems, Trump is toast

6. There will be no convictions prior to the election

7. More divisiveness and nastiness, not less, however..........

8. As a whole, the nation will become MORE progressive, not more conservative

9. Americans will grow weary of support for Israel and Ukraine

10. The NY Rangers will win the Stanley Cup

New Year’s Day - open topic politics, etc. 🤪👏☠️😘

Not sure there’s much worth posting today, or yesterday. Lots of repetition or incremental change on DJT’s crusade to kill off American democracy, and its civil liberties and rule of law. More papers are being filed in various courts. DJT is making increasingly fascist and outrageous sorts of arguments in his defense. Federal courts continue to actually take DJT’s drivel, lies and hyperbolic nonsense seriously. So, no new good news on that front.

Personal notes (what?? - G does personal notes?? Call out the National Guard -- something is terribly wrong): I need to organize my herbs and spices containers. They're a mess. I'll skip going to the gym today because . . . . because I can. But I'm adding a couple of exercises to the list of five things I do at home because doing them at the gym is tiresome and boring. 

milo has commented that in the old days people didn't write about lies. To me, that is a fascinating thought. That's based on written human history according to milo. If that's true, my seat of the pants (not yet on fire) explanation is that in the old days of subsistence living, wasting time, energy or resource on lies could get a person killed. In my narrative, liars had to be killed or silenced with a sharp slap up side the head with a 2x4 (or a big stick in ancient days before 2x4s were invented). Later, when civilization advanced and there was more distance between life and death, lies in epic stories and potboiler fiction were just harmless entertainment. But nowadays, political and other kinds of lies are back to killing people. My guess is that, directly or indirectly, lies cost the human species a few hundred thousand lives per year, maybe several million.

What else comes to mind . . . . . think, think . . . . . oh yeah, climate science denier lies are causing plant and animal species to go extinct (an indirect cause-effect linkage, but nonetheless real). People who toss cigarette butts on the ground ought to be slapped hard up side the head with a 2x4 and then made to pick up 2,000 butts and put them in the trash. 

A comment or two from Cat's Paw raised this stink:

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print.

Starting the new year with a bang!