Just The Right Amount of Fretting

From Greg Fallis:

We're two weeks out from election day and there's a whole lot of OMG OMG Trump's gonna try to steal the election if he loses OMG WTF do we do now?! floating around in social media. And it's making some folks downright frantic.

Yeah, Trump is absolutely going to try to steal the election when he loses. That's just a fact. We all know it. We saw him try to do it four years ago. Of course, he's going to try it again. This time he's better prepared for it. This time he knows what he did wrong last time. (Okay, that's not entirely true; Trump is just a bone-ignorant as he was last time, but now he's got a cadre of feral GOP fascists who are far more skilled at ratfucking.) This time the stakes are higher…both for the nation and for Trump his ownself. He loses, and he's looking at prison.

So yeah, it's understandable that folks are worried. EXCEPT for this: the Dems are also better prepared than last time. We've had four years to put as many safeguards in place as possible. We've had four years to anticipate Trump's moves. Things look better for us than they did four years ago. For example:

        • We've changed the Electoral Count Act to make it far more difficult for state legislatures to reverse the results of an election.
        • We have hundreds of lawyers, lawyers in every state, ready to counter the GOP's attempts to ratfuck the votes, and they've got dozens of briefs already written and ready to file, tailored to each state.
        • The governors of five of the seven so-called 'swing' states are Democrats. The two GOP-led states includes Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger both resisted Trump's efforts four years ago.
        • Of the 60+ lawsuits brought by Trump four years ago, all but one was shot down. Many of the judges in those cases were Republicans, some appointed by Trump his ownself. They're no more likely to agree with him this time.
        • Four years ago Trump had the Department of Justice and the Attorney General in his pocket to help him. Now, the DOJ and the AG are more independent.

This isn't to say that your anxiety isn't warranted. It's not to say there's nothing to fret about. Trump, his Nazgûl lawyers, and his angry supporters are willing to use any corrupt means that might give them a chance to obtain power, including violence. We HAVE to be concerned and vigilant.

But remember, Trump failed last time. He'll almost certainly fail again. Failure is Trump's true brand. Trump is all make-up and weird hair. His strength is mostly an illusion. So yeah, there's reason to fret. It's right and proper to fret about the election.

Fret enough to get out to vote. Fret enough to encourage your friends and fam to vote. Fret enough to put up a yard sign or cough up some coin to donate to your local candidates. Ain't nothing wrong with fretting about this election.

But don't fret too much.

When Is The Media Going to Do Their Job?

From Palmer Report:

Last night Donald Trump tried holding a town hall with his own supporters and an on-stage babysitter, but after just a few minutes he announced that he wouldn't be taking any more questions, and instead insisted that he and the audience spend the rest of the event listening to music. For the next thirty minutes Trump stood there on stage, at times frozen, at times directing the music with his arms, before he was finally led away.

It was one of the most mentally incompetent things that has ever happened in the history of U.S. presidential elections. And it's not as if it's something new. Trump's cognitive abilities have been on a downward slope for years, and it's become particularly pronounced over the past few months. He doesn't know who anyone is. He doesn't usually know where he is, and when he does occasionally remember, he lashes out at whatever city he's in. He talks mostly about sharks and batteries and cannibals. And now he's just standing there for half an hour in the middle of what supposed to have been a town hall.

If the major political media outlets aren't willing to cover Donald Trump's obvious senility and worsening dementia symptoms after this, then these media outlets might as well just shut down and give the money back to the shareholders. You can't ignore something like this. Not when it's this severe. And not when it's this important. This isn't some aging rock star trying to hide dementia, where the worst thing that could happen is a bad concert. This is a major party nominee for President of the United States, and a recently convicted felon at that, who's within four points of winning. We're talking about nuclear launch codes here, in the hands of a dementia patient who just spent nearly an entire "town hall" standing there pretending to direct music while a confused crowd looked on.

I'm not saying any of this to try to scare any of you who are reading this. You know the stakes. I'm saying all of this in the hope of shaming the mainstream political media into finally doing their jobs. Donald Trump is so glaringly deep into dementia, the media is not going to look biased by admitting it. If anything the media looks biased for trying to downplay what everyone can see is happening.

I've been saying all year that Trump's worsening dementia would end up being the story of the 2024 election, and now we're seeing that come home to roost. Kamala Harris and her campaign are now making Trump's medical competence, and his refusal to release his medical records, a central issue down the stretch. And there are no doubt persuadable voters who are seeing clips of a senile Trump and deciding to vote for Kamala Harris for reasons of safety. But when is the media going to do its part?

Bring It, Bitch

Attorney Mike Davis, one of The Felon's rumored attorney general candidates, is threatening lawsuits for anyone who calls the ex-president a convicted felon, writing on X:

"Dear Media and Other Democrat Operatives: Fair warning: Calling [him] a 'convicted felon' is defamatory. You may get sued."

Now, I will have to use his name to make my point … sorry in advance: Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies making him a felon. In simpler terms:

Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a felon.

Done.

[source]

VOTE BLUE!

No. We Will Not.

Guys, being called weird is getting under Mango Mooselini's weird, thin, orange skin:

Democrats attacking Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance as "weird" is still getting under the former president's skin, and had Trump arguing on Monday that he and Vance are "extremely normal people" during an event intended to tout his plan for the economy in York, Pennylvania.

"You can see it a little bit by this whack job," Trump said, apparently referring to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. "He said we're weird, that J.D. and I are weird. I think we're extremely normal people. Like you, exactly like … He's weird."

[…] The "I know you are, but what am I" approach hasn't seemed to work very well for Trump and Vance. "So far, at least, Trump-Vance has been incapable of finding an effective response," David Karpf, a strategic communication professor at George Washington University, told the Associated Press last month.

The ol' You're The Puppet maneuver, is—to put it bluntly—weird.