What a difference a week makes...

All praise the Kamala Harris Juggernaut! She's on fire, taking the fight to the hapless racist and misogynists of the Republican party, and it is absolutely fabulous!

Last Sunday, I was standing in line at the grocery store, when the news hit that Biden was halting his campaign. I will admit I was in a foul mood, because I figured that the media, the never trumpers, and the Democratic establishment had finally badgered Biden into just caving in.

As I was in line, stewing, I couldn’t blame Biden. He has had a fantastic term, delivering far more goodness than we dared to hope for, deftly navigating the shark infested waters of Congress and the Senate. He was able to do what the Republicans bragged about when Trump took office with all three branches in Republican control, but was never able to get their shit together.

But after the debate on June 27, well, that brought all the hate, worry and consternation. It was like we were resigned to failure. I figured that once again, my Democratic party would find a way to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.

I also “knew” that the power brokers who finagled the standing down of Biden were also looking past Kamala Harris in their fever dreams, assuming that she was tied to the enfeebled Biden¹. I presumed that the tide would wash both of them out.

Turns out, I was wrong to be worried.

No, I was right that the Democratic establishment power brokers wanted a fresh face, encouraging a messing truncated primary with a battle on the floor of the convention. And their voices dovetailed with the never trumpers who are really good at trying to tell Democrats how to do their job². A sinking feeling manifested itself in the pit of my stomach. I came home and penned this newsletter to highlight my malaise:

They fucking did it...

Then a miracle happened. Biden opened his mouth, and delivered a full throated endorsement of Kamala Harris.

And soon the floodgates opened. Endorsement after endorsement came in. All the wish-cast candidates that the Never Trumpers had been masturbating to all endorsed Kamala. Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, and others that they preferred. You know who most of them glossed over? One guess…

Yep, Kamala Harris. Oh sure, they said she should toss her hat into the ring, but none of the Never Trumpers were enthused, and they were cocksure that she would be way behind all their “acceptable” Democrats.

But there isn’t going to be a contested convention with a floor fight to bet on like the awful spectacle of a dog fight.

Nope, none of their “pets” played ball to challenge Kamala, and she worked the phones like a whirling dervish, sewing up endorsements, and lobbying (quite effectively) for delegates to commit to her.

And they did commit. In spades. Early in the week, Kamala went from candidate to presumptive nominee garnering the support of more than enough delegates to seal the deal.

Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it Never Trumpers and Obama insiders who had designs to play king-maker.

Nope, I sit here on Saturday afternoon and Kamala has had one heck of a week.

She is taking the fight to Trump, playing up her experience as a prosecutor against the felon. The Republicans seem to have been caught flat-footed, expecting the stubborn Biden to remain in the race, and all their strategy was tied up in painting Biden as a doddering grandpa, who keeps losing his bridgework and mumbling. Now, they are flummoxed and their go to is the racist coded “DEI” to smear Kamala as a diversity hire.

Uh, no, she’s going to just curb stop you motherfuckers. And it is going to be glorious.

Just a week ago Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles sat for a victory lap interview with The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, confident that in the aftermath of the Republican National Convention the election was sewn up, that they were going to play rocks/paper/scissors for the Chief of Staff position in the second Trump administration, and who would get a plum Ambassadorship.

The juiciness of their being caught flat-footed is just delish.

Now, the momentum is in Kamala’s direction, the selection of JD Vance as Trump’s VP seems to have been an own goal, intended to run up the margin with the base rather than expand the electorate.

Oh, and Vance as a candidate? The man has more skeletons in the closet than a necrophiliac. The man just exudes inauthenticity. He has no charisma, and has so many bad takes in his past history, all out in the open and easy to find, that you have to assume that they have laid in a pallet of Heinz Ketchup for Trump to fling at the wall bottle-by-bottle.

Even the frontal-lobe dementia addled Trump must realize that his taking his coked-up fail-son’s advice to select Vance was a disaster³.

But the beauty is that the Democrats are dusting off the wall of insults that Trump’s campaign hurled about Biden being too old and flinging them back at the tangerine terrorist.

With relish.

All those attacks are coming back to haunt him. And Trump’s mumbling, rambling and unfocused aphasias on the stump are beginning to be covered with the departure of Biden by the press.

Not only that, but a PAC that was formed to support the campaign of Nikki Haley against Trump has switched their allegiance to supporting Harris. They are now “Nikki Haley Voters for Harris⁴”

Biden’s Strategic Masterstroke

While I do not know what happened behind the closed doors, I do feel the need to speculate.

Biden has dedicated his life to public service, and he knows a wee bit about stagecraft.

I suspect that he knew after his abysmal debate performance in June that he needed to step aside. But he also knew that a few key milestones were coming.

First, the RNC was scheduled the week of July 15th. This was going to be a coronation of the bronzer-ed god. The week and the news cycle were going to be all on the Republicans.

Fine, let them have it.

Then the Saturday prior to the RNC the attempted assassination of Trump happened, and Trump’s instinct to pump his fist was going to make him seem invincible.

So, Biden let the man-baby have his turn in the sun, knowing that Trump wasn’t going to be meaningfully changed by the experience.

It was probably that cockiness that led to the selection of Peter Thiel’s ball-washer JD Vance for his #2.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, after the morning politics shows were aired, he used a pretty bland letter to announce that he formally was standing down, setting off a mad dash of theories and plans, foiling the post coital glow post-convention that Trump was basking in, and then shortly thereafter nudged the snowball that was to become the Kamala Harris campaign rolling down the mountain, growing into an avalanche of support.

All the while the Republicans were caught with their dicks in their hands, wondering what the fuck just happened to them.

And today, some quality polls are beginning to emerge showing that the momentum has shifted, and that team Trump is going to be on their back feet.

Furthermore, I read today that the Trump campaign has only spent a little less than $16k on media buys since the primaries ended, relying on organic media coverage that the wankers at the Post, the Times, CNN, and other outlets were providing for free.

For the last week, Trump has gotten virtually no positive press, and very little press at all. This is new to him and his campaign. They are used to the Media following him around because Trump is good for clicks, and thus money. Not only that, his VP nominee is ALSO getting flensed by reporters suddenly turning critical eyes to the Trump campaign and finding lots of warts and rot. Gee folks, about time you took the kid gloves off.

And his 90+ minute rambling acceptance at the RNC, projected to be a reset to a gentler, kinder, more coherent Trump? Yeah, this didn’t work out like they advertised.

Trump is Trump, and he can’t be a better person.

The campaign isn’t over, and we are still three weeks from the DNC, but it feels good.

Final Thoughts

Instead of sitting in the corner of a darkened room, sucking my thumb and eating carton after carton of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream lamenting what a second Trump administration would be like, I now feel “hope”.

The path isn’t easy, nor is it going to be without some ups and downs, but I feel for once that the inevitable isn’t the worst case. As an avowed realist, I refused to think it was all right, and about 9 months ago I realized that the odds were that Trump would be victorious.

I did believe then that Biden was the best candidate we had to put up against Trump. No way would I have bet that an unknown entity would emerge as a strong contender.

Now, Kamala is the right candidate, at the right time, and she has immense talents that are perfectly suited for this moment. My donations to her will be made in confidence.

And watching the Trump campaign and the Republican lawmakers sputter and struggle, stuttering worse than Joe Biden has in decades is particularly delightful.

Sure, the far left is going to throw a hissy-fit and stomp their feet, but they aren’t where Americans are.

Nope, it is a good day. Three weeks until the convention, Kamala is taking the fight to Trump directly, and getting under his skin as good as Rick Wilson does. And she makes it look effortless.

Whilst I was looking forward to her destroying JD Vance in the Veep debate, she is going to just D E S T R O Y Trump on that stage. Oh, only if he doesn’t grab his own mangina and excuse himself.

Bwah ha hahahahahahahahaha

1. Not my term, but one I heard bantered about by Democrats who should fucking know better

2. This really pisses me off. Outside of a few of the Lincoln Project principals who have been steadfast in staying in their lane, most of the others felt like they should have a seat at the table in the selection. Look lads and lasses, you all had your hands on the rise of Trump, you need to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up.

3. I remember reading a piece about Trump in the 2016 time frame where at one time he was interviewed about his children, and he admitted that he didn’t want to name a son after himself. The reason? “What if he is a loser” - uh yeah, that ship sailed old man

4. It is funny. Haley’s team sent a Cease-and-Desist letter to the PAC, but since the PAC is independent, they don’t have to listen to Haley. Delish!

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