Trump's health and his relationship with Black women

His health:  He won’t release his health file.  If elected he would be 82 years, 7 months, and 6 days old when his term ends in January 2029–if he lives that long.  He has all kinds of issues (obesity, cardiac risk factors, rapid cognitive decline).  If he does survive, he will be older than Biden is now.  Think about that.  Of course he may have other problems.  We don’t know because he won’t release the records.  What is he hiding?

His relationship with Black women:  Here is what radio personality Charlamagne tha God said about that:  “Trump hasn’t had a good relationship with a Black woman since they took Aunt Jemima off the bottle.”  

Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin

In 1854 a group of men from two political parties, the Fee Soilers and the Whigs, gathered in a one-room school in Ripon, Wisconsin, to discuss the issue of slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.  They emerged as members of a brand new party, the Republican Party.  In 1856 the party ran its first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont.  Fremont may have had the best political slogan of all times:  “Free Soil, Free Men, Fremont.”

Four years later the Republicans elected their first president, Abraham Lincoln, although Southern states refused to accept the election results and started the Civil War.

I think the Republican Party will split after Trump loses the election in November.  it is already coming apart.  Trump and his followers comprise one faction; normal conservative Republicans comprise a smaller unorganized faction, but in this day of social media and instant communication, that faction can quickly expand.  People like Liz Chaney, campaigning today with Kamala Harris, is a conservative who believes in preserving the constitutional order.  Millions of Republicans are ready to join her.  I’ll even suggest a name.  “The Traditionalists.”

Stealing signs

A few weeks ago the chair of the Carbon County Republican Party wrote a letter calling upon Democrats to stop stealing Republican signs.  He said with ring cameras and game trail cameras the Republicans would catch those nasty sign-stealing Democrats and they WOULD PROSECUTE!

This, girls and boys, is called projection.  The MAGA people have made sign stealing into an art.  I have already gotten calls from at least five people who need replacements for Harris signs taken from their yards.   I have not yet seen any defacing of signs, but I certainly saw lots of that four years ago, and I’m sure it will happen again.  

Democrats also don’t call the cops when signs are stolen.  We understand that the police in Carbon County have far better things to do that worry about yard sign theft by some misguided and immature MAGA clowns.

I do know of one instance where a guy with limited mobility living in Weatherly had a Harris sign ripped down and thrown into the street, and his MAGA neighbor picked it up and stuck it back in his yard.  I thought that was kind of sweet.

I also got a tip on something that won’t prevent your sign from being stolen, but it may may the thief wish he had not taken it.  Coat the sign with clear Karo syrup.  Sign stealers will regret it as soon as they grab the sign.  

Kris Kristofferson, 1936-2024

Well I woke up Sunday morning

With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad

So I had one more for dessert

Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes

And found my cleanest dirty shirt

Then I washed my face and combed my hair 

And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day

On a Sunday mornin’ sidewalk

I’m wishin’, Lord, that I was stoned

‘Cause there’s somethin’ in a Sunday 

That makes a body feel alone

And there’s nothin’ short a’ dyin’

That’s half as lonesome as the sound

Of the sleepin’ city sidewalk

And Sunday mornin’ comin’ down.  

or this one:

I don’t care who’s right or wrong

I don’t try to understand

Let the devil take tomorrow

Lord tonight I need a friend

Yesterday is dead and gone

And tomorrow’s out of sight

And it’s sad to be alone

Help me make it through the night

That is as good as it can get.

A typology of Trump supporters

A typology of Trump supporters

Over the past few months I have heard my friends and Harris supporters say “I don’t understand it.  I just don’t get how someone could vote for that man.”  Actually there are a number of reasons why people vote for Donald Trump.

They will make a lot of money.  This is a relatively small but important group that anticipates tax cuts for the top 1%, government contracts, or both.  It includes people like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.  It also includes crypto-currency investors and certain Wall Street types like hedge fund operators.  Another subgroup is social media company execs who are worried about anti-trust breakups.  Never overlook financial reasons.

They are mad at college graduates.  They think college grads look down on them and make fun of them.  Sometimes when they talk about tariffs providing revenues or “Jewish lasers setting forest fires,” it is hard not to make fun of them.

They are racists.  Not all Trump supporters are racists, but all racists are Trump supporters.  

They are Nazis.  Again, not all Trump supporters are Nazis, but all Nazis are Trump supporters.

They don’t have many friends.  The Trump cult gives them a warm feeling of belonging to a large purpose.  When low-income people spend large sums of money on Trump merch, they are probably in this group.

They fear immigrants.  They believe in the “great replacement” theory, or they don’t like the idea of white people being in the minority.

They get their information from limited sources.  Fox, of course, but also right-wing conspiracy theorists and sites like “Truth Social.”

They have always been Republicans.  Believe it or not, they think that since they registered Republican, or their “family has always voted Republican,” or “the Republican Party is the business party,” that is the way they must vote.  I believe this is the largest single group of Trump voters.  While changing parties might be easy in theory, it is part of many voters’ identities.

They have masculinity problems.  This is the reason that some of the “bros” are attracted to Trump.  They need to feel like real men in a world where they are largely superfluous.

They are religious fanatics who think Trump is on their side.  This would include many anti-abortion people or followers of religions that believe women should be subservient to men, like members of the Taliban or some Christian fundamentalists.  

They are angry at inflation and think Trump’s policies will stop it.  

It takes about a year for people to realize economic conditions have changed.  If they had noted the record payments to stockholders and CEOs, they might blame the business class, but it is easier to blame Biden.

They can’t imagine a woman president.  Especially a Black/Indian woman president.  I believe this isn’t more than 2 or 3%, but elections can be won on 2 or 3%.  

They don’t understand how the government works.  This would include members of the Supreme Court who think a president can have unlimited immunity for official acts and people who think a “temporary dictator” would be a good thing. 

Of course Trump supporters can be in more than one category.  

What I find scary and depressing is that I never thought so many of my friends, neighbors, and even relatives would be willing to roll the dice and support a candidate who has proven deficient in knowledge, empathy, and decency, and who has already done great harm to what I consider to be the best country on earth.  This is what many of us are finding so difficult to accept.

Americans don't know how to behave

No, I’m not writing about the incivility of Trump followers, their obscene signage, the threats they make against election workers, or the cult-like parroting of lies.  I’m writing about Red Lobster.  

In June 2023 Red Lobster, which was still trying to recover from Covid, announced that it was beginning a program called Ultimate Endless Shrimp.  You could have as much shrimp as you wanted for only $20.  

Instead of behaving like normal adults, people launched into amazingly greedy behavior.  They sat at their tables for hours and stuffed themselves.  They boasted on TikTok how many shrimp they ate.  “Hi, I’m Jimmy, and I am planning to eat 65 shrimp tonight.”  They demanded doggie bags to fill with shrimp.  They brought Tupperware containers and hid them on their laps and dumped their plates of shrimp into the containers.  They made selfish pigs of themselves.  Employees, pushed to keep up with the orders and serve the shrimp, began to quit in large numbers.  

In May of this year the Red Lobster chain filed for bankruptcy.  

Some of the information for this post is from David Segal, “Tracing the Downfall Of a Seafood Giant, New York Times, (Sept, 22, 2024), pp. 6-7BU.

Crank letter from Lehighton

I received a crank letter today.  It was hand-addressed and anonymous, but I knew it was a crank letter because the return address was “Your Friends, Lehighton, PA”  I don’t have any friends in Lehighton, PA.

I did, however, learn a great deal from the letter.  For example:

Harris is a Marxist.

She wants to control our food supply.

She will collapse the power grid.

She is part of a movement to reduce the world’s population from 8.3 billion to 500 million.

She wants Medicare for all.

She will impose a tax rate of 70-80%, and finally, 

the media is hiding the truth from us.

I didn’t know any of that.