Toward the end of World War II, the Japanese were in dire straits.
Superior American forces were inching closer to their island country with an overwhelming advantage in naval and aviation forces. The end was near. In desperation, the Japanese resorted to “kamikaze” attacks on American aircraft carriers; this tactic involved the Japanese pilot deliberately crashing his bomb-laden plane into the U.S. warship, doing great damage and committing suicide in the process.
Thankfully, these kamikaze attacks didn’t turn the tide.
Many years later, the term “kamikaze attack” has grown to mean a futile, last-ditch effort by someone who is doomed.
We are now witnessing a modern-day kamikaze spectacle: the last stages of the 2020 Trump re-election effort.
President Trump, who trails opponent Joe Biden by double digits in some polls, has basically employed one lame “October Surprise” effort after another, every day for the past couple of weeks, trying to re-create the magic that put him over the top in 2016.
Of course, back in 2016 the Russians were working hard to dig up dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In response, ex-F.B.I. Director James Comey opened an investigation of Mrs. Clinton a couple of weeks before Election Day, providing Trump with just the boost he needed to win.
Would you believe that Trump agents are trying that same scam again this year? It’s true.
Republicans have been trying hard for the past year to identify some kind of scuzzy behavior by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, in the Ukraine. They failed to do that and, in the process, Trump got implicated in some extortion activities involving the Ukrainian President and got himself impeached for his troubles.
If not for a Republican-majority Senate, Donald Trump would be an ex-President today.
Undaunted, Trump agent Rudy Giuliani has supposedly unearthed a laptop supposedly belonging to Hunter Biden which he supposedly left unclaimed at a computer repair shot which supposedly contains all manner of compromising e-mails which supposedly reveal that he and his father are crooked.
Isn’t that amazing, that some Republican operative might find a discarded laptop containing devastating political information just a couple weeks before the election?! Wow, what luck! (Also found in the treasure trove was the Ark of the Covenant, The Missing Link, Van Gogh’s Missing Ear, and President Trump’s misplaced Nuclear Launch Codes.)
Of course, the Republican-led Senate conducted an extensive investigation earlier this year, seeking scandalous information on businessman/consultant Hunter Biden’s activities in the Ukraine and found…bupkis. It was a “Nothingburger”, to re-purpose some Republican slang.
Let’s face it: Giuliani’s miraculous “discovery” has the unmistakable odor of a futile, last-ditch effort of someone who is doomed. It also smells a lot like a Russian disinformation initiative. Just sayin’.
Besides, honestly, who in America gives a shit about what’s happening in the Ukraine? And, since when is businessman Hunter Biden running for President? This Giuliani red-herring is reminiscent of the “Benghazi” and “Hillary’s e-mails” scandals that so captivated right-wing America in 2016 but, eventually, proved to be nothing more than “Hey, look over there!” red herrings.
Speaking of smelling, the Republican Party has begun to sniff the possibility that they may not only lose the Presidency in November, but also their Senate majority. Accordingly, they have ratcheted up their machinery to warp speed in order to confirm the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett before the Democrats regain power in D.C. Justice Barrett may come in handy if/when Trump challenges the election results after Election Day…”fixed”, “fraud”, “illegal ballots”, etc.
Interestingly, now that Republicans have engineered the takeover of the Supreme Court by a strongly conservative majority, they are duly alarmed by the thought that Democrats, if brought back to power in Washington D.C., might want to reverse engineer that conservative majority. That seems to be the big campaign issue of the moment: “What is your position, Mr. Biden, on court packing?”
Unfortunately, with the political antics of the past four years, the patriotic, Democracy-defending credentials of the Republican Party have been seriously diminished. They are now seen by most Americans as the corrupt, power-hungry scum that they’ve long campaigned against. Party founder Abe Lincoln would be ashamed.
Republican members of Congress in tight elections are spending most of their time right now trying to subtly distance themselves from the legacy and antics of Donald Trump. Unfortunately for them, the Republican failure in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resultant collapse of the economy, have the effect of an anvil tied around one’s neck.
(That plus allowing Trump to behave like a tin pot dictator for four years.)
Republicans have never really understood (nor could admit) that the economy will not recover while the pandemic is still raging. They wanted to believe their own hype, that it was a Democratic hoax, and that, as their President said, “It will just go away.”
News flash: As epidemiologists have predicted for the past six months, the Fall has seen a resurgence in the pandemic. It’s happening in Europe, too, and unfortunately, the worst may be yet to come.
Reluctantly, many formerly dismissive Republican Congressmen, campaigning in their districts, are wearing facemasks now…to show their seriousness about the plague. It will be too little, too late for some.
President Trump, the world’s most famous anti-facemask fanatic, who has aggressively shilled supposed Covid-19 miracle drugs, such as Hydroxychloroquine, Chlorox, and Remdesivir in months past, has now shifted his Presidential endorsement to Regeneron, which he claims “cured” him of his recent infection. He also now claims to have immunity from Covid-19, which is news to medical experts.
The President’s overall strategy seems to be: to minimize the pandemic (he still claims that it will “just go away”); to hype supposed curative medicines (even experimental ones, not available to the public); and, to promise the imminent availability of a vaccine (“by Election Day”). His Coronavirus Task Force has been muffled, and the “star” of that group, esteemed epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, has been publicly contradicted by the President on medical facts.
In an effort to shift the public’s attention from Covid-19 and the economy, and receive some much-needed praise, President Trump has resumed his famous rallies in front of thousands of avid MAGA supporters. At these events, the President rails against Democrats in general, “antifa”, Obama, Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, “traitors” who have written tell-all books about him, Republicans who have defied him, public protestors, and journalists who don’t fawn over him.
In these “made for TV” events, every person in attendance is either wearing the ubiquitous red MAGA hat or a Trump campaign shirt and/or is holding up a manufactured Trump campaign sign, of which there are hundreds of duplicates in the crowd, with the words “Fill That Seat!”, “Four More Years”, “Keep America Great”, “Women for Trump”, and the like. I’ve even spotted an occasional “Blacks for Trump” sign, waved by some paid stooge. (There can’t be one hundred of those confused souls in America!)
These seem to me to be a waste of time and resources, as the attendees were going to vote for Trump anyway. Maybe the President just likes to hear himself talk and hear applause?
The only good thing to possibly come out of these rallies is the fact than some of the facemask-less fans will contact Covid-19, will get scared shitless before recovering (hopefully), and will become more responsible in public when the second wave of infection inundates the U.S. this Fall and Winter.
After blowing up the first Presidential Debate with constant interruptions and disrespect shown the moderator, the President was looking forward to an encore performance in the Second debate, but the Denier in Chief caught Covid-19 and it was canceled. It was just as well, because new rules were supposed to be in the offing to tone down Trump’s juvenile and disruptive behavior, and he opposed that. Instead, once the President recovered from his Covid-19 symptoms, two separate televised “town hall” meetings were hastily arranged, with each opponent having his own audience.
Unfortunately for the President, his town hall moderator, NBC’s Samantha Guthrie, was rock solid, taking no shit from him, and peppered Mr. Trump with a number of probing questions. He didn’t come off so well. According to news accounts, Joe Biden did better in his town hall meeting on ABC…which got more viewership than Trump did on NBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.
Charlie and I didn’t watch either one, having already sworn them off after viewing the First Debate and the V.P. Debate for a few minutes each. A colossal waste of time, we agreed and, instead, watched some re-runs of an HGTV home remodeling show.
As we approach two weeks left in the campaign, the President has little to brag about:
“The Wall”: Very little new construction has been accomplished in four years.
“Repeal and Replace Obamacare”: Republicans have failed to come up with anything better.
“Repeal NAFTA”: The trade deal with Mexico was repealed and replaced with a deal which is almost identical.
“The Tax Cut”: There was a tax cut, with 90 percent of the benefits accruing to the wealthiest Americans, as usually happens with tax cuts.
“Trade Deficit with China”: No trade deal, tariffs enacted to no avail, and trade deficit has grown.
“Rust Belt Relief”: Despite promises, no resurgence in manufacturing or coal production.
“Drain The Swamp”: Instead, the swamp of lobbying favoritism, backroom deals, and corruption has been enlarged, with the Trump family at the head of the public trough.
“Lock Them Up!”: Promised investigations of Democratic misdeeds and election fraud have unearthed…zero.
“Supreme Court”: A legitimate success story for Republicans by appointing two, soon to be three, Conservative justices.
“Disaster Response”: Low marks in Puerto Rico, hurricane ravaged areas in the South, and areas devastated by wildfires in the West.
“Coronavirus”: Leadership failure exacerbated the pandemic, resulting in 217,000 deaths thus far and a very divided nation.
“The Economy”: Failure to effectively manage the Covid-19 pandemic caused the healthy economy to collapse, and lack of leadership continues to plague the stalled economic recovery.
“Make America Great Again”: Failure in numerous diplomatic endeavors, as America has forfeited its global leadership position to China.
Of course, that doesn’t stop him from lying about all of his imagined successes, which he does 24/7.
In actuality, there’s been a lack of accomplishment due to poor leadership from the top down. Some of this is due to the “revolving door” of Cabinet officials and senior advisors in the Administration. The original “best and brightest” that Trump could find have long since either fled in disgust or been fired for not adequately kowtowing to the Boss.
As we approach the end of this election cycle, desperate measures are being taken.
There is a saying that has been attributed to Carl Sandburg, the famous American poet, regarding arguing a case at law, which I suppose could be applicable in a campaign for election: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table.”
For the Republicans and President Donald Trump, its table-pounding time.
Since an unfavorable election outcome is anticipated, a lot of noise is being generated about a supposedly corrupt process, “rigging”, illegal voting, and such…in Democratic-majority states, of course.
In Republican-majority states, mail-in voting is a splendid idea.
Actually, most of the impropriety discovered to date involves the…Republican Party…in terms of blatant voter suppression measures. States have made it harder to register to vote, harder to vote absentee, harder to get to a polling place, harder to drop off a completed absentee ballot ahead of Election Day, and so forth. GOP operatives in California have installed bogus “Official Ballot Drop Off” boxes around the State. Idiots using them can say, “Adios” to any ballots deposited therein.
Republican sponsored lawsuits, 300 of them, have been filed in heavily Democratic states, challenging mail-in and absentee voting procedures, setting up the prospect of election challenges weeks to months after November 3rd.
The President himself has refused to confirm that, if defeated, he will leave the White House peacefully. As a matter of fact, he has publicly winked at far-right militia groups and said, “Stand back, but stand by”.
A veiled threat.
I think Trump will be defeated by Joe Biden. I’m guessing the popular vote will favor Biden by 5 to 10 million votes, and Biden will achieve a decent majority in the Electoral College.
President Trump has a history of making threats and then backing off (for example, North Korea, Venezuela, China, Russia, Syria, etc.) when challenged. He’s the Macho Man who invented bone spurs to keep from going to Vietnam. Loud bark, feeble bite.
I think that Donald Trump will leave office voluntarily, not wanting to be rousted from the White House by the scruff of his neck. He’s a narcissist and he hates to be embarrassed.
He hates losing, so he will have to find a way to reimagine his electoral outcome as a “win” for real Americans.
I predict that President Trump will retire from Federal employment but will re-emerge as either a radio or television (or both) political talking head on Fox TV News, the E.I.B. radio network, or some similar right-wing media outlet.
This scenario was made more likely today when Rush Limbaugh, the blowhard energizes right-wing conversation and conspiracies via his nationally syndicated radio talk show, announced that he has terminal lung cancer. That’s unfortunate for the cigar-smoking Limbaugh, but the timing couldn’t be better for Donald Trump.
Having a national broadcast podium will enable Trump to act like a winner and shoot his mouth off, like he loves to do, with total disregard for the consequences. He might even write another book: “The Art of Grabbing America by the Pussy”.
That way, he can continue to take pot shots at Joe Biden, Democrats, and imagined enemies, while stoking disunity throughout America, like he’s done for the past four years.
The self-centered asshole will eventually die but, like the Kamikaze pilot, he will try to take down the ship (S.S. American Democracy) with him.
