Okay okay -- my title is a tad deceptive. No one watches "tv" anymore, least of all me, but it now appears that DJT may skip the upcoming Republican presidential debate and instead sit down for an interview with Tucker Carlson, albeit not on tv but online. The "must see" part is genuine, though. I would be fascinated to learn how Tucker would handle Trump, and how Trump would handle Tucker. Both men must have misgivings about the other, but both might be inclined to stifle those doubts in the interests of presenting a united front against Bidenist tyranny. Perhaps. There's really only one way to find out...
Then again, since the report comes from the New York Times, maybe it's 100% FAKE NEWS!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: It probably makes sense for DJT to skip this debate (s?)He's way ahead and I think the core of his support consists of those convinced that he's ours and that he and we are being done a wrong unprecedented in US history. We are MOTIVATED and I think he knows it. We've got his back: let the others seek the VP nod. You are right in cautioning that this increasingly dynamic and dramatic evolution presents the possibility of astonishing developments in the next 15 months. But it might well take something momentous to shake our determination to stick with him through this crucible. In its fluidity,1968 is brought to mind by all of this hurly burly so far. It's resolution was astounding.
ReplyDeleteIs that so, Jack? Were you "astounded" by Nixon's election in 1968? The polls seem mostly to have predicted it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_opinion_polling_for_the_1968_United_States_presidential_election Personally, I wouldn't be "astounded" by either a Trump or a Biden win. I would be genuinely stunned by the actual swearing in of Trump in January 2025. A preemptive nuclear strike on Mar-a-Lago, ordered by Biden during the interregnum, strikes me as more realistic.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: As I remember, Nixon's redemption was the capper to an astonishing political year. In the long run, his success was certainly unlooked for. In '62 he was finished, that was flat. In '64 he was a faithful soldier only. I remember him starting to draw some serious speculation perhaps by early '67. Rockefeller belatedly ran against him for the nomination and Reagan was mentioned. Humphrey was a weak candidate (I made my first Presidential vote for him) ;his "politics of joy" nd Wallace drew
ReplyDelete. . . his "politics of joy" slogan was insipid. Wallace peeled off alot of southern dems who realized that party despised them. After it all, even though it didn't happen overnight, it was still hard to imagine Nixon as President.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective, Jack. You lived it, of course, and I didn't. The polls seemed to suggest that Nixon had a very good chance of winning, but I'm sure you're right that many people found it hard to imagine him in the Oval Office. He must have seemed like a lightweight...until he wasn't one. I wonder: did people expect Wallace to fade late in the game, like most third party candidates, and, if so, did they expect Humphrey or Nixon to benefit? Good point that the loss of the Southern Dems was a body blow to the modern Democratic Party, from which they still haven't fully recovered.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I don't remember what we thought the Wallace candidacy would amount to. The whole year was so counterintuitive and unprecedented.The true extent and effect of the counterculture was not fully evident but in "Muskogee Oklahoma USA" it was getting people pretty riled, even though Merle Haggard had not eloquently heralded it quite yet. The South did decisively demonstrate in the election that it had fully kenned the withering contempt in which it was held by imperious liberals and being Southern, it kicked the election out from under.Georgia Senator Zell Miller, an erstwhile Dem, years later summer it up well: "I didn't leave the party, it left me". That was the dynamic Wallace mobilized in '68.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: There are analogous factors at work now. How about those country songs, "Not in a small town" and "Rich men north of Richmond" which have become very popular lately? The "comeback kid"story, for DJT and, I loathe the thought, Hillary, may be at work. The country is harrowingly polarized as antiamerican leftists openly seek to forcefully fundamentally transform it and as America itself reconciles itself slowly to the looming fundamental threat to it's civilization !
ReplyDeleteJack, it's an interesting question whether Wallace's candidacy actually changed the outcome in '68, or not... It certainly helped Nixon win a bunch of Southern States (or would he have won them anyway???).
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_United_States_presidential_election
Yes, populism remains a powerful force in American politics. You might say that DJT and George Wallace have a certain amount in common -- for instance, the withering contempt that the Eastern elite visits upon them...