Friends, it's hard to believe that the selection of a vice-presidential candidate and running mate wouldn't be the top story of the day, but you can argue that today Trump's pick of J.D. Vance has been somewhat overshadowed by ongoing discussion of the failed assassination attempt, as well as the dismissal of the documents case by Judge Aileen Cannon. Let's start with Vance. I don't know much about him at all, but from what I can tell many consider him to be a conservative populist, a la Trump, and an intellectual, which is not an easy combo to pull off (just ask me!). Many view him as the sort of fellow who could conceivably assume the mantle of MAGA leader after Trump exits the scene. That's saying a lot, because Trump's shoes are notoriously hard to fill. What's most heartening about this pick is the fact that Vance isn't just a mindless Trump puppet. He's a man of substance, and his selection suggests that Trump takes seriously the future of the movement and the future of the country -- which would come as a surprise to those who think that Trump cares only about himself. In fact, Vance probably doesn't help Trump win the election in November at all, unless you think that maybe he can appeal to working class whites in the Midwest, and maybe he can. He certainly won't help with women or minorities, and those are pretty important demographics that Trump may regret failing to target more directly. To me, in short, the Vance choice indicates that Trump regards himself as the favorite in 2024, and he's planning for the future, and he believes that Vance is the guy who can guide us into that bright future, when The Donald himself has faded away. I hope and pray that he's right.
https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/07/15/donald-trump-announces-jd-vance-as-running-mate/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn07dv4mrg2o
Meanwhile, in a severe blow to the lawfare gambit, the classified documents case against Trump has been thrown out by a federal judge. Good! Unfortunately there's plenty more legal jeopardy on Trump's plate. Still, the legal system has very rarely given Trump a win, so this is one to savor!
Lastly, there are a lot of serious questions swirling around the Secret Service's bungling of the security for Trump's Pennsylvania rally. To leave such an obvious area of vulnerability open to exploitation by a would-be shooter is totally unacceptable. Do I think this suggests incompetence or malice? Well, I tend to believe that, if the Deep State wanted Trump dead, they would have found themselves a better marksman, but that's just me. To put the pieces together, we really need to know more about Thomas Crooks and what drove him to do what he did. Let's hope he was a lone nut, because if he was anything else our country is in much deeper trouble than we thought!
Dr. Waddy from Jack: DJT's debut at the convention was the most dramatic political event I have seen. He deserves the adulation he received for his gutsy stand against the appalling neomarxist curse empowered and imposed by the Dems and for his physical and moral courage therein!
ReplyDeleteAnother advantage I see in Vance is that he eloquently admits he was wrong about DJT. In varying degrees, who was not so? I see the MSM has already commenced to carping about his "inexperience". Ehh, four years as a Marine enlisted man, war in Iraq, a superlative academic career apparently free of submission to the antiamerican left , authorship of a well received book on a significant American culture and election to the US Senate. That at age 39. Of course that cannot compare favorably to sagacious Obama in his epic journey through "community organization" and vast legislative tenure before he ascended to the pinnacle to which he was entitled. Right MSM "journalists"?
Jack, I wish I had seen coverage of the first night of the convention. I shall have to seek out highlights. Even the talking heads were moved, and that's a heavy lift!
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, Vance isn't going to be a major factor in the campaign. It's Trump and Biden, Trump and Biden, Trump and Biden. Luckily, the advantage has swung decidedly, but maybe not decisively, to Trump.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: So far, Vance projects an impressive presence. Its a good ticket; I think your opinion of the probability of him not being a major factor is quite plausible; it has generally been true of VP candidates. Johnson and Agnew may have made a difference in their tight elections. Vance appears to be a formidable and highly competent man who should enhance confidence in Maga and the probably ever increasing multitudes of those who demand a solution to this sitting disastrous Administration.
ReplyDeleteLast night, Haley gave a graceful endorsement of DJT. She can afford to go along in hopes of getting along in '28. Gov. DeSantis ripped off a real hum dinger of a speech. The lesser known speakers, a formerly dem union guy, crime victims and more, spoke skillfully and effectively in what must have been a thrilling experience for them.
Tragedy has cast a terrible pall over the last few unimaginable days. Objectively speaking, the antiamerican left has sustained much deserved setback. Redemption of our country by the restoration of the person that murdered husband, father and good citizen was there to see could be a memorial for that gallant man. That deliverance appears to be a strong possibility and must be the motivation for continued unrelenting, unstinting resolve to see it through.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: DJT has garnered much sympathy from his brush with death and he richly deserves it. Since it is plausible to attribute the attack to the insane hatred for DJT openly and presumptuously fomented by antiamerica ,it has focused much more attention on all the savage travails the antiamerican left has visited upon him in their desperate, increasingly futile and counterproductive devotion to personally destroying their worse nightmare. Very importantly, aside from advancing justice for DJT, that also necessitates considering what their onslaught says about the kind of rulers they would be. Judging by the manner in which they have exercised the power they already have, it is reasonable to think that their goal is clear: totalitarian control . Their method (any means necessary )is by now reasonably obvious. It is wise to assume that accomplishment of their goal will not in any way temper the dictatorial methods which, because they are perfectionists, they will always employ. Its appallingly, counterintuitively true but we can and must face it foresquare and stop it: America harbors a very powerful faction pledged to destroying it . It's already established record gives this conclusion an unavoidable credibility.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: The discreditation of Jack Smith in the documents case should take make any case he is involved in which tasks DJT look like what it very probably is: politically partisan misuse of a solemn and painfully evolved legal system. The dems did not select their "point man" well. Lawfare is accelerating down the slippery slope to vicious Soviet and Nazi style absurdity.
ReplyDeleteI hear the Justice Dep't may bull forward with an "appeal "of the documents decision. I suppose under the antiamerican left's "expansive" view of our law anything is conceivable. Meanwhile NY AG James ( who thinks the whole country her constituency) might take pause from her summer reading (Andrei Vishinsky's treatises on creative prosecution) to consider whether her efforts too are actually helping put DJT back in power.
Glad you've been impressed by Vance, Jack. I suspect I will be too, when I finally have time to watch him. These heady days of non-stop tourism are wearing me down!
ReplyDeleteWhat's Haley's motivation in finally bending the knee (again) to Trump? Who knows. Let's face it: the GOP is coalescing around Trump, whether the Never Trumpers like it or not, and the fact that he's increasingly likely to win means more and more people who instinctively despise Trump will get on the bandwagon.
Jack, no offense, but I wonder how true your statement is, i.e. that Trump's brush with death has increased public sympathy for him. I think, quite frankly, that if you look at the broadest trends in terms of favorability, not much has changed, and what little has changed is likely to change back in a flash. No, my gut tells me that Trump isn't winning because the public likes him. He's winning because they like Biden even less.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump
Lawfare seems to be sputtering, yes, but I wonder whether, should Trump win, it will be dusted off as a means to harass him in office... It could be more effective as an irritant than it was as a campaign strategy.
Dr. Waddy,
ReplyDeleteI concur that selecting J.D. Vance presents an opportunity to uphold Trump's legacy in his absence. This choice effectively puts to rest the question of "what's next."
This selection balances the ticket more substantively than one based mainly on gender or race. (Note the opposition's quandary)
Moreover, Vance's background provides a striking contrast. He's been critical of Trump in the past, so he can not be cast as just another mind-numb Trumpist. His origins differ vastly from Trump's, yet they share fundamentally similar principles and policies.
If they can articulate their vision in a way that resonates with those from J.D.'s heritage, it will, as you suggest, attract old-school Democrat working-class voters. Many of whom may need more to be convinced or motivated. That is no small thing.
For those who haven't yet watched "Hillbilly Elegy," it is well worth your time. It is an inspiring story that is hard for the opposition to attack. The essence of this film sheds light on themes of family, poverty, addiction, and the American Dream. One has to believe that is why DJT chose this exceptional individual as his running mate.
JDV brings an invaluable life experience and perspective. Now, let's leverage that when articulating the vision.
Well said, Richie! Based on your endorsement, I will watch the film. I owe Vance (and Trump) that much. It's pretty amazing that his book had as much success as it did, given the realities of the publishing business and its biases, and it's even more amazing that Hollywood deigned to give Vance the time of day. You make a good point that Vance may provide exactly what Trump needs. On the face of it, in the age of identity politics, a white male candidate choosing a white male running mate is a boneheaded move, but if we're to be honest the election will be decided in a handful of Midwestern states, and white, working class swing voters may well be the key. So...maybe Trump isn't just thinking about the future. Maybe he's got a workable plan for the near term challenge, i.e. the election, too.
ReplyDeleteTrue! On the face of it, the VP pick is culturally unwise. On the other hand, DEI is DIEing and this is one more kill shot. One would have to believe the folks in flyover would like to see that practice extinct.
DeleteThe realities of the publishing business' bias could only be overshadowed by that of the movie business. Any movie with a Rotten Tomatoes 25% "Critics" score while receiving an 82% "Audience" score is likely a must-see!
Dr. Waddy and Richie et al from Jack: No offense at all taken: you always support your assertions well. It would be churlish and antiintellectual of me not to reply with full respect for their credibility. I'm confident that you take responsible disagreement in this vein too.
ReplyDeleteMy immediate reaction to the assassination attempt was "well, he's just been elected". I am familiar with the type of firearm that presumptuous brat may have used and knowing that that caliber fired into a crowd had to have had terrible consequence I quickly suppressed that thought.
Of course the Trump haters were miffed that the attempt failed. Their conduct since 2020 or at least their approbation of it, makes that harrowing probability manifest. The verbal swill they have commenced to express, even brief days after the event, yet again emphasizes how very fundamentally malign they are . Perhaps that will finally convince some of those of good intent who remain nominal Dems and cautious Independents that the deadly serious antiamericans the dems obsequiously embrace are a profound threat to all we hold dear in an American civilization that radical rump has long since condemned.
Richie: I certainly agree with your view of JD. I live in the flyover country which he so ably described in his book. We are, beyond measure, fed up with patronizing and presumptuous neomarxists who characteristically consider our "fundamental transformation" to be necessary and inevitable and who delight in imposing themselves on us. I once told a black friend who lamented seeing Confederat flages flown in our area " I honestly think what most to those people are saying is 'leave us the hell alone and stop trying to force unwanted and unneeded change on us' " Setting an eloquent advocate like JD against them raises the possibility of them publically losing their composure, as they so often do when insolently contradicted, and consequently demonstrating their essentially emotional mode of "reasoning". One might be reminded of Captain Queeg under questioning in the film The Caine Mutiny Trial when they fly into their characteristically frantic and abusive tantrums when confronted with opposing views. I think JD might be just the man to calmly work them into such corners as their unreasoning and bigoted impulses lead them.
By ". . . against them. . . " above I mean against the antiamericans. Jack
ReplyDeleteRichie, no one would like to see the end of DEI more than I would, but I'll believe it when I see it. Republicans are constantly hiding behind the nearest sympathetic black man, because they believe it gives them "credibility". When WE stop playing into the Left's hands on this issue, we'll know we're making real progress.
ReplyDeleteJack, I have no doubt that Vance will be an exceptionally good messenger for the conservative cause, and that's all that you can really ask of a running mate.
Jack, note that the Feds are releasing info about the shooter VERY SLOWLY. That was entirely predictable. Any animus he had towards Trump, and any connection he might have had to the mainstream media that has so maliciously and consistently slandered Trump, will be suppressed, if possible, and released in dribs and drabs otherwise, so as to minimize its impact. The media honestly doesn't care who the shooter was, because there's no way they can spin this story that helps Democrats. Ergo, the story simply needs to go away, and they will make it do exactly that.