Oh, Wait. That’s a Joke?
Has anyone else noticed that it’s getting harder to recognize the difference between humor from news? As our world disintegrates into ignorance and hate, perhaps this shouldn’t come as a shock, but I have to confess that I’m having a deuce of a time with this.
The piece on the left (full article here) is from the satirical publication “The Onion,” but until I noticed that, I was busily piecing together in my mind how this could very possibly be true. For instance, it’s clear that the Trump administration is loath to incorporate science into its policy-making, whether it comes to evaluating healthcare plans, ocean chemistry, toxicology, crime rates, or climate science. It they don’t want to be bothered by facts about the present, why not reject facts from the past?
The caption at the bottom reads, “‘Trying to avoid repeating bad things we did in the past is a good idea, historians say.” Great stuff.
Craig,
(Yawn)Now your “Never Trump” rhetoric is getting repetitive, trite and without any discernible substance.
It’s kinda sad to witness what used to be full blown rants full of passion, dwindling into petulant sulky whining.
Meanwhile the President is slowly, but significantly broadening his base among Afro-American and Hispanic voters. The swing has been gradual, but solidified and like most of his voter base, remain remarkably loyal.
The President’s voter base remains around 45% with increases in Hispanic voters becoming solid and consistent.
As Mueller and other scandals recede, the President remains far more popular than any senior democrat. The old working class democrat base has disappeared. Democrat politicians must now rely on political fringe dwellers and middle class, suburban “swinging voters”. These voters are notoriously unreliable and difficult to poll with any degree of accuracy.
Capturing 5-10% of these electors for any candidate is never unrealistic nor easily predicted by polling.
The problem for the Democrats is without a reliable hard core voter base, they must capture the entire “swinging voter” segment. A difficult, but not impossible task.
The President on the other hand, only has to persuade 5 to 10% of “swing” voters to triumph.
To win in 2020, the President must;
1) Continue to build economic momentum, which will not be an easy task as the spectacular gains of the last two years plateau.
2)Be seen to win his trade war with China. Not easy, since the great dragon is a very wily and patient opponent. I believe this may be the easiest of the President’s tasks, since the US is still well placed with the cards definitely in the President’s favour.
3) Either solve the border crisis, or be seen to be irresponsibly frustrated by the democrats to the detriment of the nation. Border security is the democrats Achilles heel. The public want decisive action. The President is increasingly perceived to be at least demanding action and doing what he can.
In contrast the democrat seem confused, hypocritical, weak and devoid of any practical plan to resolve the crisis. Without an alternative, the President’s simplistic solutions have appeal.The Democrats look increasingly whiny, negative and dishonest.
4) Immigration. Leftist politicians and media wrongly assume Hispanics support illegal immigration. In reality, less than 10% of Hispanics voters support “catch and release” for illegal migrants.
Hispanic Americans are often the first victims of porous borders. Hispanic workers must compete against unfair, illegal labor. In addition, dangerous illegal aliens largely terrorize Hispanic neighborhoods.
Gang violence, like the MS-13 savagery mostly involves Hispanic victims like Carlos Rivas-Majano, one of 27 people killed by the gang on Long Island, N.Y.
Hispanic voters are becoming fed-up with ‘wannabe’ Hispanics, like Robert Francis O’Rourke, pontificating about open borders and tearing down existing border walls.
Hispanic Americans have suffered too many totally preventable losses, such as slain Arizona police Sgt. Brandon Mendoza and young Los Angeles mother Sandra Duran, both murdered by illegal aliens living in America despite multiple prior arrests in the United States.
To their surprise, they have found have found a leader in President Trump, who despite the media attempting to depict him as anti-Latino, has a message that resonates with many Hispanics.
5) Abortion. Catholic and Evangelical Hispanic voters in America finds their beliefs mocked, reviled and increasingly attacked by Democrats.
Increasingly, Democrat lawmakers support abortion up until the very day of birth (and even beyond), Hispanics are gravitating to the more pro-life Trump.
White 60% of educated “white” voters are comfortable with abortion on demand, less than 28% of Hispanics, and surprising only 36% of Black voters are comfortable with liberalized abortion.
The abuse and outrage by the democrats and leftist media toward the Trump presidency, appears increasing narcissistic and petty.
For all his faults, the President talks to voters about the issues the care about in their lives, and he delivers on his promises.
In contrast, the democrats seemed to still be unable to focus on anything but hatred of Trump and focused on prosecuting endless “inquiries”, with very little consequence to the lives of ordinary folk.
Right now, the only hope for the Democrats is to persuade Bruce Springsteen to run for office !
Craig,
I was just thinking about your gloomy observation, “As our world disintegrates into ignorance and hate…”.
Looking around this crowded airport with thousands of passengers of every nationality, creed, cultures, social classes, and ages, all peacefully embarking happily on different journey’s around the globe, it’s very hard not to conclude the world is improving, and prejudice and hatred caused by isolation is diminishing.
Sure there are still extremists, fanatics, misanthropes, and deranged people, but far fewer than the media would have us believe.
In the UK, the chaotic shambles an inept leader has made of Brexit has aroused feelings of betrayal and frustration, but there are no riots in the streets, no civil disorder, no terrorist bombs exploding, no matter how much the more sensationalist journalists eagerly wish for such excitement.
Embarrassing, but nothing the ancient city of London can’t handle.
In my life time I have witnessed the USA emerge from a deeply fractured and racially divided nation, to elect a African-American President!
Despite all the hysteria of a very overly excited and irresponsible mass media, the US has emerged as a far more tolerant and pragmatic nation as each generation passes.
Professional observers and commentators always misunderstood the effect of media extremists like Glenn beck and Rachael Maddow.
Unlike the media, the general public came to see these personalities as entertainers, only to be taken as seriously as WWF wrestling represents competitive sport.
In the midst of all the hyperbole and hysteria, the commonsense of ordinary people has triumphed. The public quickly yawned and dismissed all the antics as they got on with their daily lives.
This isn’t apathy, or decadence, it’s just the healthy sign of a democratic nation behaving more maturely than it’s leaders and elite.
As an American, you should be proud of your nation which has endured so much internal disruption, and yet the checks and balances within the system have proved more effective than ever in preventing the pendulum swinging too far in any direction.
The fanatics of the “me too” movement, will eventually burn themselves out and the good that was achieved will live on as part of the manners and standards of social conduct, while the extremism, injustice and insanity will be rejected and forgotten.
Here in the melting pot of this airport, I sit watching an Muslim family from I guess Malaysia, clearly excited by the great adventure of travel. The weary father smiles at me an nods knowingly as I return his nod.
It’s a shared international recognition of all fathers in such situations, one part he’s proud of his family, yet another part wishes he could escape and envies the young single travelers without responsibilities.
One of his small daughters smiles shyly, entranced by my companion’s strikingly blonde long hair, elegance and very American dentistry.
This tableau is repeated all over the airport, a veritable United Nations.
My phone rings and I move to take a video conference call in the quiet of the first class lounge meeting room facilities.
We may never meet again, but like ships in the night the memory of the family lives with me, I envy his pride in his large brood of children, accompanied by a grandparent, sharing a grand adventure together.
Suddenly, the opulent marble of the lounge looks awfully cold and sterile by contrast.
These observations convince me the world is not “disintegrating into ignorance and hate”, but steadily improving by the innate optimism, goodness and commonsense of the ordinary people of the world.