Seems all I can do is politics nowadays.
I’ve noticed that the common opinion has shifted from a “this race will tighten down the line” to “this might be a Democratic blowout election.”
While by now it should be clear to those who come ’round these parts that I have no love for Trump, looking at his last couple of weeks as neutrally as one can, it has been nothing short of a series of disasters.
It all seemed to begin with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
The loss of the beloved liberal icon in the Supreme Court brought out the absolute worst/hypocritical in the Republican party (Merrick Garland, anyone?) and culminated with the infamous Rose Garden gathering to introduce Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court… which resulted in what appears to be a super-spreader event. In the end, we have many top officials within the government -Trump included- catching this virus, though given the evasiveness of the Trump administration, one wonders if Trump himself might have been infected already when that meeting occurred.
Mind you, I have no desire to see anyone ill.
Having said that, Trump and many of those people who were there, flouting a sense of invincibility, getting COVID-19 seems almost poetic justice or karma.
How do you keep downplaying/minimizing something that has, to date, claimed 211,000 lives?
The Vice Presidential debate, held last night, appears to have done little to move the general narrative. According to subsequent polls, Pence “lost” the debate. Even if the debate was a “tie”, the Trump campaign needed a sterling performance to try to break things toward them and this debate did not do that.
This morning, it was announced the next Presidential debate, set for October 15th, would be conducted virtually and Trump, calling into shows, stated he would not participate in any such debate.
Huh.
Today, not quite two weeks later and according to CNN, more than 5.4 million ballots have been cast.
Obviously there is a tremendous amount of interest in voting this year versus 2016 and in the coming days other states, such as Texas, will start early voting above and beyond mail in ballots.
Here’s the thing, though: We still have close to four weeks to go and any number of things can happen still.
I’ve already voted by mail and, out of an abundance of caution, delivered the ballot directly to the election office.
I’ve made my voice heard.
I hope everyone else out there does so, too.