Now that Joe Biden has withdrawn from the presidential campaign, Donald Trump, 78, himself becomes vulnerable on the issues of age and mental acuity, especially considering his own penchant for speaking in word salad. Like Biden, Trump is nowhere as sharp as he used to be.
One Senile Old Maniac Down, One To Go
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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I think the “battle” has shifted. It’s no longer the lesser of two evils paradigm where the options were a.) picking a Republican who’d screw you over or b.) picking a democrat who said he or she was your friend and was gonna fight extra double hard for you who THEN would screw you over and ‘splain it as not being their fault.
It’s now a.) the Republicans who are telling us that the problem is how immoral ‘Mericuh has become and how they’ve got a plan that’s going to bring all the blue-collar jobs back — which is an impossibility — while forcing everyone to pray to White Jesus (TM), or b.) the democrats who said he or she was your friend and was gonna fight extra double hard for you who THEN would screw you over and then ‘splain it as not being their fault.
Listen to Kamala Harris’ speeches. Better yet, print them out. Take a big Sharpie. Black out all the flourishes, all the rococo decoration. Read what’s actually being stated. She’s just telling her base what they want to hear. But she doesn’t have any actionable plans. Same with Trump. Biden was telling people that chip manufacturing was coming back to the U.S. Riiiiiight. Southeast Asia’s huge pool of exploited labor and massive reserves of key materials — not to mention all the contracts, business relationships, trade routes, etc., etc., are going to simply let the U.S. reclaim a multitrillion-dollar industry AND do so in a way whereby workers in the U.S. will be paid good wages. It makes Reaganomics sound like mathematical fact.
And that’s why Harris is going to lose this thing by a hair. Trump’s selling the better falsehood. (And, off to moderation? Let’s find out. Yup. Moderation.)
They had 4 years to make Harris look presidential. In that they succeeded. Plus she even sounds a little less horrible.
I don’t think they allocated any time for geek stuff like the meaning of words.
Biden would have had to run on his record, with Harris voters do not know for certain what faction of maniacs the “defense” department is going to be entrusted to.
Posts above a few lines automatically trigger moderation, you didn’t use any bad words I think 😉
I’ve had very brief posts moderated as well. And I’ve had long posts with “bad” words sail right on through. I thought at one point I’d figured it out. I really think it’s just random.
First we get complaints when the candidates don’t act presidential enough; they are too focused on issues but don’t present them well. Now we get complaints when the candidates focus too much on presentation, “all the flourishes, all the rococo decoration,” but don’t spell out their actionable plans. So, which is it? Do you want to have a beer with your candidate or don’t you?
I have NEVER wanted to have a beer with any of the candidates. Further, my objections to various candidates’ presentations — universally — is that the presentation is always affectation. Dubya pretending to understand about putting food on your family, when he’s never spent a single day of his entire life trying to figure out how to afford the groceries. Bill Clinton pretending to be a good ol’ country-fried man of the people. Hillary waited to get the signal from her focus group about whether she does or doesn’t like beer to begin with. This time, it’s gonna be (at least for now) Donald Trump pretending he loves his supporters, and Kamala Harris delivering her speeches like I walk down a dark flight of stairs with a two-foot stack of china plates in my arms.
Yes, I do expect a candidate to present issues in a presidential manner. That means the speech should be more than just aphoristic filler designed to get the crowds cheering like imbeciles. Read some of the stuff Kennedy delivered. Flourishes are not presentation. Flourishes are what surround presentation. A little is fine. But when that’s all there is, it’s like going to a diner and getting a plate filled with parsley snips and no entree.
Trump’s speeches are empty word balloons. Harris’ aren’t that far behind. Lots of “up with positivity” and very little substance. Biden was just as bad.
Apparently Scott Stantis’ FALSE EQUIVALENCIES travel as viruses.