Democrats In Disarray
Joe Manchin's move lasted about ninety minutes and the media’s hopeful retrospectives on a repeat of 1968 fell flat. Kamala Harris is nothing at all like Donald Trump - what we are seeing is the implementation of a decision that was made at least two weeks ago. There was never going to be any foolishness at the convention, the toxic media got treated as the problem they are, left without enough information to even attempt engineering a horse race.
Harris will demand a debate, if Trump won’t he will be seen as weak, and if he does it will be experienced prosecutor versus an adjudicated sex offender and convicted fraudster who’s having obvious cognitive problems. The media’s corruption makes this horse race much less appealing to them.
They will try to reassert their “Democrats In Disarray” trope as the party sorts out what the winning combination is. That’s not disarray … it’s a network threat, and unlike the Republicans, the Democrats don’t have an eliminationist ethos and an expectation that there will be some end of days battle. They’ll disagree, vigorously, but once those decisions are made, the crushing disapproval from all sides will close most openings for a wedge. The irreconcilable Democrats … probably aren’t Democrats, and in 2024 they’re probably not even actual people.
KH’s ethnicity and gender are going to inflame the racists and the succession chatter that was already brewing before the attempt on Trump’s life has kicked into overdrive. Had the Democratic convention come first I think we’d be looking at a Trump/Haley ticket in response to this. Now they’re stuck with an assclown whose wife is Indian. There will be orthopedic injuries as pundits try to twist themselves into position to hit Harris without landing a blow on Mrs. Vance in the same move.
Biden is free to govern, every necessary but unpopular thing that must be done will be considered, and many will be completed. That governing will include invoking the Insurrection Act if conditions warrant it.
I went long on popcorn futures right after Independence Day. And tonight, for the first time in a decade, I was asked if I was willing to do some election work. My answer was a conditional “yes” - as long as the tasks use the same tools I already support, I’m game.