REPUBLICANS FEAR LOSING IT ALL:...Control Of The House Of Reps In Play......Kamala Harris's Rise Has GOP Spooked...Speaker Mike Johnson Says Signs Are "Ominous"......What's That About?......Abandoned Down-Ballot Republicans, Like Local Mayra Flores, Are Not Getting Financial Help...

 
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Democrats are preparing a monster advertising blitz ahead of the November 5th election, beginning a whopping $370 million media outlay on Labor Day. It eclipses previous spending by any party in any political campaign.

Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her VEEP running mate Tim Walz open the party's national convention Monday in Chicago, buoyed by recent showings in national polls that have her ahead of troubled Republican Donald J. Trump.

And Republicans are worried. Openly.   

The energy Harris evident since President Joe Biden dropped out last month is spreading to down-ballot races.

The news website Politico reported Saturday that Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are feeling especially bullish about their chances in November thanks to the momentum Harris has been providing with her ascendancy.

While House Democrats in battleground districts were hesitant about tying their brands to Biden, they're now reportedly vying to have the opportunity to stump with her as they hit the home stretch of their own respective campaigns.

Republican Speaker of The House Mike Johnson labeled it an "ominous" development.

It's been a steady rise for the Harris/Walz ticket, while Republicans see their candidates - Trump and Ohio Junior Senator J.D. Vance - stuck as if in mud. They can't get any sort of edge on Harris/Walz lately.

It's still a dogfight, but it says something when Republicans admit a dramatic change for the worse in their Election Day fortunes.

President Joe Biden is the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention tomorrow night. The four-day gathering will also feature speeches by stalwarts such as former President Barack Obama and both Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The continuing Harris/Walz surge is also expected to see a positive bump in the polls coming after the convention.

Harris/Walz listed ahead in polls taken in crucial states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona.

In a shocker, Democrats in Florida insist their state is in play...

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THE CADENCE OF POLITICS:...Democrat Kamala Harris Riding The Blue Wave's Crest...Presidential Campaign Reaping Huge Contributions...Troubled Republican Donald J. Trump Has No Answer...For Him, Debate Sept. 10th, Sentencing Sept. 18th...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...They're talking nonsense now, but maybe it isn't really. Joe Biden up and resigning the presidency before the November election, allowing Democrat Kamala Harris to ascend to the office. It's just talk, yes, although the way things have been going all through this campaign, well...

It could happen.

And then what?

Then you would have Harris with all the trappings of the presidency, something that would never, ever sit well with Republicans or with their flawed-to-the-bone candidate, one Donald J. Trump. Look for the unexpected, the so-called "October Surprise" we have come to know in these campaigns.

Not that Trump is helping himself lately. He seems out of synch, has no real message for voters and is now even angering one of his biggest financial backers, the Las Vegas billionaire Miriam Adelson. Good luck with that, buddy.

But before that comes the first debate on Sept. 10th between Harris and Trump, followed, to his chagrin, by that sentencing of Trump in his Hush Money Trial conviction on Sept. 18th.

As pundit Al Sharpton put it on a Cable-TV talk show yesterday, "People don't understand that not only has he naturally lost it. The man is looking at a sentencing date."

That analysis of Trump's campaign is rampant out there. That he's lost the message is clear. Reports have it that he's not offered anything new and continues to play the racist/bigot part as if that could ever get him votes outside his rabid MAGA supporters.

Polls show it hasn't.

It could all change. That's where we are here two and a half months before the Nov. 5th vote, awaiting the vote but also the next silliness.

We hold our breath, momentarily but we hold it...

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THE WHISPERS:....Republicans Are Worried....They May Lose White House, Senate And House Of Reps... Talk Behind The Scenes, Some Griping Now Out In The Open...Walls Are Closing In On Trump...Can He Re-Boot His Awful Campaign?...Shoulder Pads?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Talk Show maven Newt Gingrich hasn't said a word in weeks. Mitch McConnell likely never will, not when it comes to Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. Where are the GOP's Big Boys these days? Have they resigned themselves to seeing Trump's campaign fold like a cheap suit?

That would appear to be the case.

Things are shaking out on the campaign trail - but mostly for Democrat Kamala Harris. She's hot, on a roll and not even looking back. Critics say her camp is being led by Barack Obama, the former president, as if that's such a bad thing. He's a leader in the party.

Her excitable VEEP nominee Tim Walz has far eclipsed expectations as a running mate. Talk about a clear difference between him and ditzy J.D. Vance, his Republican counterpart. Walz is winning over voters, Vance is fending-off photos of himself in drag.

You can spin it all day, but Republicans are in a big hurt.

Take the following, for example: Mesa, Arizona Republican mayor John Giles last week emerged into the media spotlight when he appeared on stage at 2024 Democratic nominee President Kamala Harris' and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz's rally in The Grand Canyon State.

"As you may know, I'm a lifelong Republican ... I have to tell you, I do not recognize my party," the longtime Republican told Harris-Walz supporters. ". . . .I have something to say to those of us who are in the political middle: You don’t owe a damn thing to that political party. In particular, you don’t owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward. And by all means, you owe no loyalty to a candidate who is morally and ethically bankrupt."

That's what, realistically, four criminal cases, a conviction on 34 felony charges and a load of bad moves will bring you.

Trump thought he could wash away his legal problems, but it's not happening.

Not even his South African apartheid pal Elon Musk could help him this week.

Both flailed away at a "conversation" billed as an interview that was roundly panned.

Trump is not well.

He's losing with every voter poll that pops up. Even his other friend, right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has abandoned him. FOX News now throws shit at him without flinching. Its viewers likely feel the same way. Stalwarts are fading fast.

Trump looks tired, distanced and, well, disinterested.

Yesterday, he was being ragged for supposedly weraring shoulder pads to make hinself look more fit than he really is. Even a fashion guide damned him for wearing the wrong ones, citing Trunp's square shoulders and growing belly as reasons he looks like a stand-up rectangle.

Wow.

And we used to think it was his weird hairdo that needed attention.

We'll go ahead and ask about the wife: Where's Melania?...

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CALLED OUT:......Conservative Wall Street Journal Calls Donald Trump A Loser...Bad Reviews Chasing Republican Candidate...A Lunatic, They Added For Effect...He's Not Doing Well On The Campaign Trail...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Nobody likes a loser. The rolling press needs one in every political horse race, and it seems even the Right-Wing news media has now hung the Loser Label on Republican Donald J. Trump. The conservative Wall Street Journal has joined the beatings.

The WSJ, btw, is owned by Rupert Murdoch's family, owner of once-Trump stooge FOX News. 

As you may know, it's been a brutal last few weeks for Trump and running mate J.D. Vance.

To add to the list of bummers suffered by the Trump camp, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Gerard Baker yesterday delivered a cold and mineral assessment of Trump's recent performances on the campaign trail headlined, "Trump is looking like a loser again."

Baker did give Trump some credit for doing a press conference last week at Mar-a-Lago while also slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for avoiding such interactions with the media. Baker, however, dove into the substance of Trump's remarks - and determined it was not good.

"By my calculation, about one-third of Mr. Trump’s remarks fell into three categories: false, obtuse or lunatic," Baker wrote. "I’m not even talking here about the usual grotesque hyperbolic assertions or baffling verbal manufactures, the finest of which last week was surely the description of 'people dying financially because they can’t buy bacon.' "

It's just the latest.

Numerous publications and cable-TV broadcast talk shows have been questioning 78-year-old Trump's low energy, his slurring speech and his decision to lay low and not hit the campaign trail.

His much-younger VEEP choice, 39-year-old Vance, has been branded a woeful amateur, his alleged strange dealings with couches and weird photos from his college days at the forefront of his coverage.

We'll see what today brings, but good news is something the Trump Campaign just can't buy these days...

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THERE SHE IS:.....No, Not Miss America.....Uh, J.D. Vance, The Current Republican Party's Nominee For Vice President...In Drag...Oh, Boy...What Will Donald J. Trump Think And Say About This?...It'll Be Good...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Well, yeah, that's him in a blonde wig and cool summer women's outfit - your Republican vice president nominee J.D. Vance.

In drag.

And so goes this weird campaign, one wild development after another.

This one, however, hits close to the home known by liars and hypocrites the world over. Republicans running a dude in drag? Say it ain't so, Nancy Reagan.

My, my.

Just when it seems that Democrats had brought normalcy to the 2024 election. Along came the photo you see above all across the Internet. You say viral, we say SuperViral!!!

Hell-o, anti-depressants for Donald Trump.

He's got to be livid at this news. Vance is the 39-year-old graduate of prestigious Yale U., a candidate who had has ragged on some of our valued culture mores, dumped on childless women and called them cat ladies.

That guy in drag?

We'll await his explanation on this one...

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THEY'LL BE BACK:...MAGA Americans Playing At Racists & Bigots...After This Next Election, They'll Wish All Is Forgotten...Go Ahead, Mavis And Hank, Be The Club...It Happened Once Before, In '92...

By PATRICK ALCATRAZ

McALLEN, Texas |...You know them as your neighbors, perhaps your co-workers. They're MAGA Republicans, and that hasn't always been a bad thing, not in a country of 300 million where your choice is between two political parties. Democrat politicians are not the angry ones, not the boisterous ones, not the one who want to take American back to a place that never existed.

Who remembers the Reform Party of 1992 that attracted a load of Republicans in support of Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot?

Yeah.

They said they were disenfranchised, left behind by George H.W. Bush's Republican Party. For months, the Reform Party newcomers roared mightily as Perot's presidential campaign surged. And then he dropped out, presumably because he got wind that some Republicans were about to release photos of his Gay daughter.

So, what happened to the masses that had gone to the Reform Party?

They went back to the Republican Party.

Count on this: the same thing will happen with MAGA Republicans. They will have nothing after Donald J. Trump loses the upcoming 2024 election. Will they be forgiven? More than likely, as no one is taking photos or names and making a list of these Americans.

MAGA will fade into the history books, leftover hats and T-shirts off to the flea market heaps.

Should other Americans call them out?

They will, but that, too, shall pass.

Americans are nothing if not faddish. MAGA served up a plate of something new in our national kitchen and there went the easily impressed and the genuine racists and bigots, the latter a bunch never as big in size as they claim.

So, bear with these errant neighbors.

They hitched their dreams to a flawed man, to a rudderless ship, to an aging, lame horse, to a broken-down Conestoga wagon of days gone by.

Welcome them back, for they have sinned against the family, much like all of those angry Americans who screamed for the Reform Party of '92.

Forgiveness too is an American character trait...

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THE PLOT THICKENS:....Buoyed Democrats Have Seen Candidate Kamala Harris Rise In Popularity... This, While Republican Donald Trump Sinks In The Polls...Sounds Good, But Devious Republicans Have A Plan-B...And It's Both Scary And Dangerous...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...She's winning. National polls have Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris inching ahead of Republican Donald J. Trump. That's been the headline all week long. And, yes, there has been some concern expressed by a few Republican leaders, although the supportive MAGA crowd shows no sign of defeat.

But defeat is in the air for Trump.

Mostly, the reports say he may or may not agree with the results should he lose in the November 5th General Election.

So, the follow-up questions these same pundits are asking themselves is: What will Republicans do if their candidate loses?

They will take to Trump-friendly courts in an effort to overturn the election.

I know, no surprise there. 

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on August 8, a writer warned that if Harris wins in November, an "entire army of Republicans" is "ready to block certification of the election at the local level."

And there was this in the same report: "Trump is no longer on track to win the election - which he has been for more than six straight months. Instead, the momentum, money, voter registration, volunteering, grassroots organizing, polling, and online engagement all favor the Democrats, and it looks now like Trump could easily lose. But that won’t happen, because Trump doesn't lose.…No need to worry about mayhem on January 6, 2025 when Congress meets in joint session; the election deniers plan to stop a result right away if it looks like Harris is winning."

Their mission is simple: "Refuse to certify anywhere - even a county that Trump won - and prevent certification in that state, which prevents certification of the presidential election. A Harris victory could become a nightmare."

In its latest edition, Rolling Stone magazine reported that "pro-Trump election conspiracists" in swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia are working as "county election officials" and plan to refuse to certify the election results if Harris wins.

Marc Elias, publisher of Democracy Docket, told the magazine, "I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election…. Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared."

So, maybe that's why you've been seeing a lazier, unenergetic Trump lately.

He's banking on all the federal judges he appointed, including the three currently on the Supreme Court.

It's a serpentine plot we follow every presidential election.

This particular sub-plot sounds damned plausible...

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QUIET QUITTING:...Is Donald Trump Already Out Of The 2024 Race?...Pundits Chiming In With, Well, Looks Like It...Press Conference At Mar-a-Lago Yet Another Disaster...MAGA Republican Looks Bored & Whipped...Younger Democrats Harris/Walz Enjoying The Ride...His Next Rally In Bright-Red Montana?...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...He's looking caged, a man with soul so dead and a candidate who may have flamed out too soon. Republican Donald J. Trump is on the ropes. The fire seems gone. Less and less rallies in his campaign, the next one a questionable one in friendly, Red Montana.

Is he quiet quitting?

It would seem so.

Trump held a rare news conference yesterday at his Mar-a-Lago resort and again threw out his tired moaning and groaning. His words said he was wanting to fight, but his look was that of a very old 78+-year-old man.

The pundits were cruel and, well, dead-on. 

Watching the press conference, conservative political strategist Mary Anna Mancuso declared, "Trump is quiet quitting his own campaign."

Hours before Trump’s Thursday presser, she wrote: "Trump is panicking."

And during the news conference, she noted Trump was "spiraling."

And later, she concluded, "Trump is not ok..."

Interesting, eh? This new assessment comes after some rather obvious wheat-stalk lashings of the bellicose Fake Republican Trump by his beloved FOX News, the Red Outlet that is, little-by-little, distancing itself from the convicted felon.

Perhaps Trump has caught-on.

He's been losing poll votes steadily to the Democrat Harris/Walz ticket.

Never the one to see himself as a loser, Trump may be almost there, however. There's been fewer rah-rah peeps from his sons and daughter in recent days, and, well, that September 18th sentencing in New York on his Hush Money Trial conviction has to be weighing on him.

Will he quit ahead of the November 5th election?

Trump hates to lose...and maybe knowing he is losing has cracked his fragile ego.

Go before the blow, that sort of response...

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NEWS FATIGUE:...An Expected Result Of Our 24-Hour Info Cycle.....Americans Have Been All-In On Hot National Politics.....First, Biden/Trump...Then, Harris/Trump...Are You Tired Of It All?...Many Of Your Fellow Voters Are...Political Games Don't Help...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...So, is your candidate winning? Have you stayed up with the desperate daily grind of one news cycle after another? Are you confident going into the election's stretch run? Can you debate the issues with friends and neighbors? While we're at it, do you know as much about abortion, immigration, Social Security, the long wars in Ukraine and Palestine as any TV talk show pundit?

Well, if you do, you may be a good candidate for political burnout.

So say a few polls.

One commissioned by the respected Medill School at Northwestern University (conducted just this May) measured news fatigue among American adults. In response to the statement ". .I’m tired of receiving and processing news about the 2024 presidential election," 48.8% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed while 21.8% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 28.2% responded "Neither."

That's just about half of the respondents saying they've heard too much.

We often say that the Nation is in the woes of Trump fatigue, but we would also agree that the news business has been, well, all over the place, there & back, here to stay, not going anywhere anytime soon and all that noisy rot.

I know I could use a break.

And apparently, it is the "older" Americans who seem to have tired of it all, according to the same poll. Perhaps because retirees are home all day and have news up the wazoo the entire day.

Still, there are almost three months to go and nothing about the news coverage will change.

The dollars are simply too big for these ratings-conscious broadcasters and influential newspapers with millions-reader websites, especially those with an access paywall, like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Is anyone watching the Olympics?

Yeah...

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THE RUNNING MATE:......Tim Walz Energizes The Democratic Party......He's Kamala Harris's Running Mate In The 2024 Presidential Election...Looks The Essence Of Calmness...But A Bulldog Rages On The Campaign Trail.....Republicans Are still Wondering About Their Own, One JD Vance...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas |...Tim Walz, says New York Magazine, is the "Super-Normie running mate." CNN called him the ". . .do-no-harm" candidate. Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris got on the telephone yesterday to offer him the vice-presidential slot in the party's 2024 ticket...and Walz wouldn't answer his cellphone.

He has no caller ID.

Walz is a bit different from the many bellicose national politicians currently on the scene.

As the magazine put it, the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota is "part of the 55+ demographic that learned not to pick up unknown calls for fear of scams."

Welcome to a real life "calming effect."

Tim Walz is a campaign tiger quite able to dish out the killer quotes. Only, the former schoolteacher has the face of that cool dude teaching social studies while also handling football coaching duties. Looks are good in politics. As they say, "It's not how you feel; it's how you look."

Last evening's rally in Philadelphia starring Harris & Walz gave America its first glimpse of the man who could become the next vice president on Election Day, November 5th.

The country has seen the Republican offering - Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a graduate of prestigious Yale and a candidate seemingly out to make a fool of himself and his family. Missteps have chased his candidacy since being selected by troubled Republican nominee Donald J. Trump last month.

Walz has no such clouds following him around.

He is a football-Sundays, Middle America sort of dude, a farmer, ex-National Guardsman, congressman and pro-enough social issues to be the perfect running mate at a time when the country is divided on such things as the easy availability of guns, abortion bans, immigration, wars in Ukraine and Palestine....and even labor union membership.

It's a wonderful time to be a political pundit.

Tim Walz plays the doting grandpa in this movie...

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FIGHTING THE FAMILY:...Fearful Republicans Now Spitting At Each Other...Democrats Riding A State Of Grace...In Georgia, A Brawl Breaks Out At Opening Of Trump Field Office...Local Cops Called...Wild Spitting Confirmed...Evidence Found On Republican's Face... Democrat Harris Picks Tim Walz As VEEP...

 
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Well, you could say it was coming with the way things are deteriorating for Republicans these days. Follow that up by noting odds of winning the 2024 election seem to be souring for the party's presidential hopes. Certain signs indicate a rise in voter eyes for Democrat Kamala Harris, as old Republican Donald J. Trump sinks in poll after poll after poll.

Now, they are fighting each other.

This one took place in Valdosta, Georgia, a small community along its southern edge better known for good high school football. 

News reports had it a celebration at the opening of Trump's campaign office in Valdosta was marred by a physical fight between two hothead conservatives.

Police and witness reports gathered by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution following the July 29 event showed that Brandon Phillips, the top aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) intervened in an argument related to election security.

Local activist Sam Carnline told police that Phillips spit in his face, prompting physical retaliation.

". . . .Brandon Phillips got in the middle of the conversation because he didn't like the questions he was asking," the police report said. "Words were exchanged between he and Brandon, because he was upset that Brandon spit in his face."

While Phillips denied spitting in Carnline's face, the police report concluded that he did.

Phillips later told the Journal-Constitution that he intervened because he did not like the questions Carnline, an activist for paper ballots, asked Republican State Rep. John LaHood.

"They say politics can be a contact sport, and sometimes it is," Phillips explained. "I certainly don't mind defending any volunteers or officials who are trying to contribute in a positive way toward a Trump victory from outside agitators with the opposite agenda."

At least one witness suggested Phillips did not start the violence.

". . . .One of the witnesses was Dennis Futch of Moultrie, a veteran Republican activist," the paper noted. "He told the AJC that he didn't see Phillips spit, but that if he did it was inadvertent because they were both shouting. He said he saw Carnline shove or hit Phillips twice."

No charges were filed. Both combatants were told to go on their merry way.

It's a small fight in a small town in the South.

But perhaps it's a sign of things to come for the desperate Republican Party.

You think?...

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THE VEEPS:...Democrat Kamala Harris Has A Deep Bench...Running Mate Candidates Abound...Which One, Then?...She's On The Clock...Decision Expected Perhaps Today...It'll Be An Experienced Pol, Not A J.D. Vance...Republicans Inhale...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's a candidate's first major decision. Selection of a presidential running mate is always a Big Story. Quick analysis of the decision fills the nation's newspaper pages and time on broadcast news. American History shows us some winners and some losers.

In 1972, Democrat Walter Mondale picked a Midwesterner by the name of Thomas Eagleton, a U.S. Senator from Missouri.

Nice, everyone said. Good choice. And then it emerged that Eagleton suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life and had received electroshock treatment.

Eighteen days after being selected, Eagleton was out.

Republican George H. W. Bush caught a lot of heat after he selected Dan Quayle as his VEEP in 1989. The Indiana senator wasn't exactly the sharpest nail in the shed, they said. In a visit to an elementary school in New Jersey, Quayle led a classroom spelling bee. When a 12-year-old student was asked to spell the word "potato" on the blackboard, he did.

But Quayle corrected it to "potatoe," which was wrong.

Quayle never lived it down.

The examples are but two.

In 2006, Republican George W. Bush's VEEP, Dick Cheney, shot a fellow quail hunter while at a Texas ranch in Riviera south of Corpus Christi. The vice president claimed the shooting was an accident. The victim, Texas attorney Harry Whittington, suffered pellet wounds to his face, neck and chest but survived the shooting,

Cheney was criticized for not reporting the shooting. It wasn't until a day later that the ranch owner called the local newspaper to report the incident.

It can be crapshoot, although most VEEP selections seem to have worked out for winning presidential candidates.

Democrat Joe Biden, who served two terms as VEEP for President Barack Obama, had no missteps that embarrassed his boss, although it has been reported that he advised Obama against killing Osama bin Laden as Seal Team 6 prepared its mission on May, 2011.

Obama proceeded to give the order, and the world had one less terrorist to worry about. 

The burning question this morning is whom will Kamala Harris select?

Harris’s campaign told reporters over the weekend that the first rally featuring Harris's running mate would take place in Philadelphia tomorrow, August 6, leading many to speculate that Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is the pick.

Harris has not yet made a decision, though her campaign has focused specially on Shapiro and Arizona senator Mark Kelly, "with Minnesota governor Tim Walz also in contention as well as two slightly longer shots: Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg."

We'll soon know.

It's not exactly the glamour job in Washington, D.C. Then Vice-President John Nance Garner, serving President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933-1941, once described the job as "not worth a bucket of warm piss."

The press later sanitized the quote by writing Garner had said "warm spit."

I don't know about you, but I predict Republican VEEP nominee J.D. Vance will deliver a whopper of a quote or misstep before this current campaign is over...

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WEIRD IN TOWN:...MAGA Republicans Normalized Welfare Queens, Deadbeat Blacks, Lazy Hispanics... Now, They Cry At Being Called "Weird".....It's Just A Word, But It Has Stuck...And They Are Not Happy... Hatred Of Immigrants Is Not Normal...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Words have a life of their own. You remember and likely still use the word "nerd". That one dates back to the early-1950s and Detroit, Michigan, where it was first used to mean a drip or a square - as in a social loser. It's still very much around.

Republicans are wondering if the word "weird" associated with them will also stick.

To write the obvious: They are not happy. Democrats are still laughing. One of their own affixed it on Republicans recently, and "weird" has become a drag for the GOP. Thank Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota for pasting the word on the face of every MAGA Republican from coast-to-coast.

Are they really "weird"?

Well, bellicose party figurehead Donald J. Trump is not your normal American, and his VEEP nominee J.D. Vance (shown at left in photo below) stands accused of having sex with a couch. Oh, but there is so much more to stick on these guys. We'll let the working press stay on this campaign phenomenon. "Weird" is white-hot on the trail.

 Normalizing oddness (is hatred odd?) has been the strength of the Republican Party for years.

This from a report published by motherjones.com: [ "Weird" reverses and intervenes at a crucial point of our society. It says the appeals by the right to supposed family values (anti-trans bigotry; restricting no-fault divorce; slashing public-school funding; hatred of immigrants) are not normal. They aren’t fundamental American values that the liberal elites have somehow derailed. They are, instead, deeply strange. And "we" (a new silent majority that Walz invokes in his use of "weird") are tired of it.]

I know, I know. Its politics (polititicalspeak) and all of it is partisan, one side trying to diss the other.

In-your-face vocabulary plays a key role in defining politicians and their campaigns.

That is historical.

Trump and Vance may be weird, but they are only the latest. Their coupling certainly is a new one, what with the presidential aspirant on the ticket being 78+ and his running mate half his age, the man on the top of the ticket wealthy and the second banana not so much. They are not - and never will be - equals.

That's weird, I suppose...

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DONALD TRUMP DROPPING OUT?:...It's Not Out Of The Realm of Political Possibilities...He's In Deep Legal Trouble And Apparently Fast-Losing Ground As Presidential Candidate...A Stay-Out-Of-Prison Deal With Prosecutors?...It Could Do It...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It came out of the blue yesterday in an interview with squirrely ex-White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci - would Republican Donald J. Trump leave the 2024 presidential race, and if he did, why would he do it?

Scaramucci has known Trump for years, from their many business ventures in New York City.

It's something of a stretch at this point, but the thinking is that bad polling numbers, perhaps a coming election night defeat and looming criminal cases said to be strong against him would lead Trump to cash in his political chips and call it a day.

I'm not buying it in its entirety.

A serious health development might do it, however. Trump is 78+ and showing it these days.

Plus, would steadfast prosecutors who have seen Trump place appeals roadblocks at every turn of their cases even consider offering him a plea deal?

I say no, they would not.

Polling numbers would not scare him away, not with his however-small collection of bellicose MAGA supporters. Imminent defeat at the hands of Democrat nominee Kamala Harris?

I'd say we all know Trump's massive, entitled ego would never allow him to think such a prospect.

He is the Old Man in the contest, a serious consideration he once threw out daily at 81-year-old Joe Biden when the president was headed for the nomination before dropping out in mid-July.

Americans are primed to vote. This election has grown in magnitude for a variety of new reasons, one being Harris's ascension, which has been - and would be - historic.

Plus, what other credible Republican would replace Trump, and is there still time for a replacement, what with early-voting ballots set to go out next month? It's a baffler.

Ultimately, we would say that Anthony Scaramucci is throwing out a rather out-there scenario, not that it is out there somewhere but that it is sort of far out there...

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WOULD HE DUMP VANCE?...Republican Donald J. Trump Needs To Reverse His Recent Losing Streak... GOP VEEP Nominee, J.D. Vance Has Been The Far Side Of Woeful...Could You Also Leave It To Trump To Rid Himself Of A Vice President?...On "Day One," If He Wins...Russia Abolished Its VEEP in 1993...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's the talk of Avant Garde politics, something to throw the entire game into a new field. To read the magazines is to see reporting off the 5Ws style (who, what when, where and why) preferred by the newspapers.

Magazines have the entire sky's vocabulary to choose from. And the critical thinking takes its chances.

One of late has it that Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump's flirtation with fascism may his likely decision to ditch vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance. Not ahead of the election, although that, too, is in some thinking but if he wins, wherein he will say a dictator does not need a vice president.

Very much like Russia did, when it eliminated the position of vice president in favor of a prime minister in 1993, after a brief 2-year run.

Things are not going well for Trump these recent days. His boisterous ways at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference in Chicago earlier this week, where he openly wondered about presumptive Democrat nominee Kamala Harris's ethnicity ("Is she Indian or is she Black?") rankled even some within his party.

That was the overlay of the troubled campaign. Underneath roils the question of whether Trump will keep Vance, a novice politician in the Big Scheme of things who has created a few major headlines, something Trump allows only for himself as the party's figurehead.

Vance's missteps were legendary. He threw out the fanciful thought that there was something terribly wrong with childless women who placed more interest in cats that bearing children. That drew gasps and likely cost the party a few million voted in the upcoming November General Election.

Then came a wild rumor that has Vance having sex with a couch. That has yet to be proven, but the mud sticks to his face and to the Trump-Vance ticket. Who knows what he will say or do today. It all created the new smackdown word of "weird" most Democrats and political pundits quickly assigned to both Trump and Vance.

As criticism, "weird" was lame, but the problem for Republicans is that it seems to have stuck.

Republicans as weirdos?

Check today's news stories from the campaign and cable news talk shows for confirmation.

The flipside of the story, whether Vance will be dumped, is also out there in some prominence. For voting's sake, senior Republicans would probably advise Trump not to mess with the ticket, as ballots have to be certified by the states ahead of early voting, which is slated to begin in September.

Vance is likely safe, for now.

All bets would be off if Trump wins on November 5th.

The related 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established the complete order of presidential succession.  The official text is written as such: In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Well, unless the dictator ignores all that. Trump has said he would be a dictator, although only for "Day One." Hold him to that empty promise and you're holding onto melted cheese.

Russia's all-powerful President Vladimir Putin has no vice president. His strongman political post has a prime minister with expressed zero ambition for the country's top post.

Putin, in fact, is president for life...

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CAN SHE WIN?:...Yes, Democrat Harris Can...But The Mountain Is Everest...Even Against An Openly Racist Trump...Americans At The Crossroads...She Picks VEEP...Will It Be Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro?...Kelly Of Arizona?...Walz Of Minnesota?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...In this country, the media covering politics is all about the next move. What will the rising candidate do or say? Who will she pick as her VEEP? Why did he say that to the gathering of Black journalists? Where did the shots come from exactly? As one commenter to yesterday's story on this blog asked: Will Democrats court the Native American vote in Texas?

It's all out there.

And every angle, tidbit, nugget and campaign minutiae is fair game - part of the game.

Next Tuesday is Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris's big stop in Philadelphia, where pundits are saying she will appear with her VEEP selection, current Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

She's not made it official yet, and there are two/three other possibilities, but that's today's angle.  

Shapiro would be a worthy VEEP. He's a sharp dude, well-spoken, good record and all that. Plus, Pennsylvania comes with 20 Electoral College votes and is widely expected to be one of the decisive states in the 2024 presidential election.

Pennsylvania is an important state. The Keystone State backed Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election before switching support to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

It's all up in the air, of course.

Partisans can be excused for ballyhooing their party's chances, for continuing an avalanche of pointed dings at the opposition, for pretty much claiming victory ahead of the national vote. This side, that side. That's the country's political arena these days. Often, that is bullshit sideline to sideline.

Still, the seriousness side of the campaign reigns supreme from coast to coast.

Both sides can win, that's the pre-game hype we're getting from the news media.

Kamala Harris is the proverbial breath of fresh air, that's for sure. Gone is the Republican Party's mantra that the Democrats were fielding a very old man, someone who could not show up for work every day. That shifted the moment Biden dropped out of the race last July 21 and endorsed Harris.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, appeared with attendees at the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB) convention yesterday in Chicago and, instead of asking the group for support, went on a racist rant against Harris, blabbering about her claiming at once to be Indian and Black.

It did not sit well with that crowd, but that's Trump and current Republican thinking.

It says here that the larger number of Americans are bored with Trump and his selfish shenanigans, with his blowhard ways, with his legal problems, with his maniacal backers, with his lies and with his belief that there is appetite for fascism in these United States.

There isn't. Not enough to matter anyway...

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IS THIS AMERICA OR WHAT?:...Democrat Kamala Harris Sees Her Campaign Afire..."White Dudes For Kamala" Stuns Republicans...Zoom Call Nets Her $4 Million In A Jiffy...Politics Flaring Out.....It's A Red, White And Blue Thang...Get My Ex On The Phone...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It gets going. That's Joe Biden in the rear-view mirror. Kamala Harris is on the hoof, as we say in Texas. She's hot to the news media, hotter to her supporters. I mean, "White Dudes For Kamala Harris"?

Not even Hillary or Bernie Sanders created so much road dust.

This election seems to have it all. A Republican who is said to have had sex with a couch (VEEP nominee JD Vance), another who is - egads!!! - a convicted felon with a cultish mob behind his effort.

And wait until we get the Democratic Party's VEEP nominee.

The stadium roof will fall!

Election Day, this November 5th, cannot get here soon enough. High drama hits Middle America. Everybody's hyped-up. The band has been cued. Americans are double-checking their voter cards. Family dinner has accepted open talk on politics.

Harry Nilsson is around here somewhere: Everybody's talkin'.

Can you hear a word they're saying. It's instant analysis, Baby. Who's up and who's down, the goods on truth and lies, our political food tasty as a rack of BBQ ribs over in Lockhart. Someone get me Narda on the phone. That would be my ex-wife and I need to get something off my chest about our marriage. Coming clean is good for the soul and the country.

The vote will matter perhaps more than it usually does this time.

No retreat.

Democracy or WTF knows what?

Candidate Harris, fighting for the America we all know, is on the rise. That group of White Dudes headed by some famous Hollywood types (Jeff Bridges, for one) got everybody so excited on a Zoom call that her campaign added more than $4 million to its coffers.

Is this America, or what?

It is, and we should all be thankful for it...

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NEW ENERGY:.....For The Press, A Re-Boot Of The Once-Staid 2024 Presidential Campaign Arrives Just In Time.....Democrat Kamala Harris Injects A Fresh Vibe To The Contest.....Angry Republican Donald J. Trump Left To Agonize...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...He desperately wanted to face-off against the old Democrat Joe Biden. Legally-strapped Republican Donald J. Trump even called the 81-year-old president "Sleepy," as in drowsy and doing nothing, ready for the nursing home, about gone opponent.

It's not that race anymore.

This one, between Democrat Kamala Harris and the same now-boring Trump is a new game. As they say in pro tennis, "New balls!"

Harris is 59, Trump is 78+.

That's one optic of the ongoing presidential race. The other is delivered by daily news reports that have redefined the race as one a bit more excitable. No longer is the Democrat the old codger in the field. Now, it is nickname-addicted Trump. It's not working.

The press has jumped on the horserace bandwagon. They have and see one now.

This paragraph from a report in Columbia Journalism Magazine puts it in current perspective: [...the manic recent news cycle has led to a spike in engagement with online news, offering publishers "a much-needed reprieve from bad traffic and ratings." Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr reports that the news cycle has energized political reporters, too, as "pure adrenaline" kicks in and "a campaign cycle that has long seemed a bit sleepy is now anything but." ]

Headlines tell the story.

It's impossible to check-in on the day's news, either print or broadcast, and not see the wave of excitement. It's yet to crest, but that's coming.

Election Day is set for November 5th.

I'd say that's the only certainty in this campaign. It'll shake out over the next three months, likely bring a few more dramatic surprises and even a gasp or two.

Buckle-up...

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THE IMMACULATE HANDOFF:...Grace, Rarely Seen In Politics, Thanks To Joe Biden...It's Still A Race To The White House...A Brute Runs For Racists, Kamala Harris Runs In Defense Of A Tired Nation...2024 As An Existential Year...Actually Voting For The Future...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It isn't often that some action out of our political leaders in Washington, D.C. has us thinking that, yes, Maria, there are timed when we do show our best side.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

The president didn't have to leave. He was fine and comfortable in The White House, still taking care of things, still admired abroad and still itching for a second four-year term. But he, too, knew the wear & tear of his 81 years on this God-abandoned planet.

Biden bowed out two weeks ago, accepting sympathetic and wild criticism from friends and political foes. He said nothing about being tired or even ill when he told the country via a televised address that he would be handing over the reins of the country to the next generation.

That would be one Kamala Harris, his 59-year-old vice president and a politician with the ready, biggest smile raring to go, as they say in speed competition.

We remember JFK's "Profiles In Courage," a book that highlighted unselfishness in politics. It's a read well-worth the time, especially in these times.

Democrat Harris will proceed to make Biden proud.

She is a fighter for patriotism of the sort Republicans actually like but can't seem to land. Theirs is a daily existence filled with out-in-the-open hate and bigotry. Theirs is a love for this country that cannot stand the test of time. Theirs is a candidate running for office solely to stay out of prison.

That Republican is Donald J. Trump, the former freedom-loving Democrat now seeking fascism.

Trump could only aspire to be the sort of public servant Joe Biden has been for more than 50 years. He could actually sit down and compare their records...and see for himself what a shitty candidate he really is. But, alas, he won't do that - not even for his country.

Joe Biden did what he knew he had to do. It was, indeed, his age calling.

History, we would wager, will be kind to Joe Biden...

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SUN VIDEO:...News From The Front...Politics-On-A-Stick...He Says, " I Am A Christian"...Doesn't Mean It's True...Oh, And He Promises You Christians Won't Have To Vote Again In Four Years...WWJD???...

BULLET OR NO BULLET???:...Republican Donald Trump Still Insisting He Was Hit By An AR-15 Bullet At His July 13th Rally In PennsylvanIa...FBI Says No Bullet, Then Maybe...Trump Meets With Netanyahu Yesterday Without Bandaged Ear...No Bruise, Scar...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Perhaps the guy just heals well. A powerful AR-15 bullet ripped off a piece of his right ear at a rally earlier this month, is what Republican Party presidential candidate Donald J. Trump keeps saying. The FBI wouldn't say that was true, but then offered the idea that, well, maybe, in response to heated pressure from senior Republicans in Congress.

But that's Trump and his supposedly damaged right ear in photo above, as seen yesterday while he met with troubled Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

No bruising, no scabbing, no scarring.

Amazing.

It was only earlier in the week that Trump still wore a patch over his injured right ear.

Looks like that's out the window.

The shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania last July 13th, is still a mystery. Well, not that he was shat-at, but whether it was, indeed, a bullet that struck him. The scene is well-known: Trump at a podium addressing an outdoor crowd before gunfire rings out and he is seen raising his right hand to his right ear as he drops to the stage. Then we see him rise with Secret Service agents all around him, right ear bloodies, blood dripping down the side of his face.

But the mystery remains. Was it a bullet, or was it glass or bullet shrapnel that struck him.

He has doubters.

An AR-15 bullet would do real, lasting damage, some say, like leave him deaf for some time and maybe suffering from a broken neck.

Trump has exhibited none of that.

But he insists he was shot and that is something he has said over and over at his rallies and in postings to his Truth Social media.

Now, it appears he could not care less about any remaining doubts as to the veracity of his claims.

Donald J. Trump has moved on, as if it never happened...the bullet thing, we mean...

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THE ECONOMY:...Americans Not Exactly Bitching About Consumer Prices On Basic Goods...Concerned, Yes...Bitching, Not Really...Numbers Point To A Good Economy...Politicians Talking About Other Things...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...So, where is the one issue generally at the top of any national political season - the economy? How's your bank account? Is everyone okay? Are we better off today than we were four years ago, as the politicians and pundits love to ask every election year?

It's not bad.

Republicans may be damning the price of bread and eggs, but it's not bad. Not at all. Americans are lucky to have well-stocked grocery stores and working gas pumps. You should see how people in other countries struggle with that.

This excerpt from a report on axios.com: [ . . .Economists anticipated lackluster economic growth last quarter. Instead, growth surged, a sign of the still-resilient economy.

The soft landing was very much intact this spring. Price pressures eased, but not at the expense of the strong economy and labor market.

"While these estimates will be revised a few times, they do point to the continued strength of the U.S. economy despite the high interest rate environment we've been in for over a year," NerdWallet economist Elizabeth Renter wrote Thursday morning.

The economy grew at an annualized 2.8% in the second quarter, up from the modest gain of 1.4% at the start of 2024.

The consumer was the key driver of last quarter's strong economic growth. Personal consumption expenditures increased at a 2.3% annualized rate, gaining from the 1.5% pace in the prior period. That category contributed 1.6 percentage point to the increase in GDP figure.

Another big contributor to growth: Businesses stocked up inventories at a strong rate, adding 0.8 percentage point to GDP. Given that consumer spending was so brisk last quarter, the stocking was likely to keep up with current demand - not to make up for prior shortfalls. ]

The economy has not exactly been a topic on the presidential campaign trail, at least not yet.

Perhaps its ongoing strength has kept it as a low-rung issue, a host of other major news developments - assassination attempts and candidates dropping out - in the race superseding its usual standing.

Prices for the basic consumer needs have risen a bit, but maybe not enough to bother political interests. It wasn't that long ago that the price of a dozen eggs (average $3, a bit higher in Texas) set the tone for some political criticism. That waned and is now largely off the screen, no blip in sight.

That may yet change as candidates near the election finish line.

For now, it appears Americans have other things on their minds....

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THE LONG GOODBYE:...Joe Biden Tells Americans He's Handing Over The White House To A Younger Generation...Last Night's Speech Showed Him Very Much Alive, As Republicans Insisted Biden Was Very Ill Or Even Dead...Donald Trump Led The Chorus...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...His was a sort of long goodbye, but President Joe Biden says he is sticking around for the next six months to do the job he was elected to do. Biden is not sick, extremely sick, dying or dead, as many in the Right-Wing media asserted in the last 24 hours.

The president has opted to not seek reelection.

Last night, in a nationally televised speech, he offered Americans a reason for his departure. Biden is a weary looking 81 years old and that has been highlighted to the Max by Republicans who have said all year long that he is just too old to be president.

Biden rather agreed in saying he is okay with passing the torch to a younger generation.

Still, even that will draw complaints from Republicans backing Donald J. Trump in the 2024 General Election scheduled for November 5th. They openly wonder who really is in charge of the government, and more than one GOP congressman has sought his removal under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would remove a president incapacitated by mental decline.

Trump asked the question over and over in harried postings on Truth Social.

As explained in a report on Poynter.org, "If Biden were to transfer his presidential powers and duties to the vice president, he would do so under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment.

"The president must transmit a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate stating that he or she is 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office' and is accordingly transferring presidential power and duties to the vice president under Section 3 of the Amendment."

Biden is not there yet.

The Democratic Party is apparently fine with Vice President Kamala Harris seeking the presidency now that Biden has dropped out, only that also is disconcerting to a Republican Party saddled with the oldest candidate in the race, 78-year-old Trump.

As per the Poynter.org report, powers transfers have occurred only four times in U.S. history, during the terms of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush (twice) and Democrat Biden, when he underwent a medical procedure under anesthesia.

Republican criticism is vacuous political talk.

"There's also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. That time and place is now," Biden said in last night's speech.

Biden will serve as president throughout the rest of the year and likely be there next January 20th to hand over the job to the winner of the upcoming election...

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THE STRETCH RUN:...Presidential Election In Full Gallop Now...It's 59-year-old Harris vs 78-Year-Old Trump...Good & Evil On The Ballot...100 Days To Go Before Election...Elon Musk Denies Giving Trump $45 Million-A-Month...There Goes The Bell...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Three months and 12 days, that's all the time you have to decide, America. Yo, vote away! It may or may not be the most important presidential election in the dizzied history of this country, but it will be a national test of sorts.

November 5, 2024

That day, yes.

It's a contest between Good & Evil, we have been - and are being - told. Daily, in doomsday news reporting that has had no recent rival. This is Crunch Time, fourth & long, last at-bat, make it or break it free throw or the 12th round and you're behind on points.

There is no one left to quote.

We have arrived on candidates with good and bad intentions. The choice would seem to be clear, only it is not. Fog has more appeal in times of trouble. Vote Harris or vote Trump. The nation awaits its fate.

The Eagles were right all those years ago: there is no more New Frontier; we have got to make it here.

President Joe Biden is gone from the contest, Donald Trump has chosen his empty-suit running mate, Elon Musk says it's a lie that he's giving Trump $45 million-a-month, and polls are now showing Mrs. Harris has taken a lead, of sorts.

Who knows, I know.

The female director of the Secret Service resigned yesterday, after a contentious hearing in the pro-Trump House of Representatives, where she was told by one congresswoman that she was "full of shit" when explaining the recent wild shooting at Trump's rally.

And that bullet Trump said nipped his ear, as Trump claimed and, well, keeps claiming, well, reports have it that no AR-15 bullet would have been kind enough to leave any part of the ear on his head. But the story is still fluid, still yielding bits & pieces of info as to what happened.

Trump lived, however, and that's the election contest we have: a victim of a failed assassination and a woman who could realistically become the first woman president ever for this grass-whorled country.

Vote your conscience...

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS DESK:...Trump To Dump Veep JD Vance?...It's Out There...The Plot Has Changed In The 2024 Presidential Election...Biden Dropping Out & Harris Ascending Has Republicans Up Against The Wall...Vance Is Dogmeat After Rousing Democratic Party Convention...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The saying is open for all sorts of interpretations - Politics makes for strange bedfellows. It is a truism as old as anything in this grass-whorled country. I mean, Goldwater/Eagleton?

Yeah. You get it.

Latest to hop on the Republican Party's sagging motel bed is Ohioan J.D. Vance, recently named as vice presidential running mate for Big Mattress Donald J. Trump. He's young at 39 - half as old as 78-year-old Trump - and he's still jumping up and down like a kid atop that bed.

Not for long, say some political sages who now argue that Vance will be dumped soon.

Why, you may ask this fine, fine Tuesday morning full of hope and promise.

The Democrats have forced it, they go on. Forced it by losing sitting President Joe Biden and promoting younger VEEP Kamala Harris to head the ticket in the November General Election.

Would he do it? Would Trump tell Vance to get lost if his chances dim, at least from his self-serving perspective?

Yes, he would.

That's his style - take what you need and leave the rest. Hey, no hard feelings. Life is full of tough decisions, Baby. Yeah, thanks for playing along. Good luck to you, kid.

The next question is who would Trump select to fill the vice president slot?

He is surely looking at the rising popularity of Democrat Harris and awaiting her own VEEP selection. Plus, Trump will gauge the success and voter perceptions of the Democratic National Convention and weigh his options.

He'll need a real freakin' tiger and not a Yale-Educated former mellow conservative like chubster Vance.

Who could that be?

Yeah, I know you know...

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