Skip to main content

Notes on the Campaign: The Last week before the Election of 2016






We are experiencing an exercise in Political Science. In that the message that was Bernie's and Trump's, that of middle-class America losing ground, living through the Great Recession, and the continuing Income Inequality, has somehow been lost in this closing chapter of the race.

 The Message has been buried in the Media. The media's culpability has lifted Trump, by giving him basically free air-time.

 The Experiment: Trump has no ground game. (Note: But the RNC Does!)

 Clinton & Women: The story seems to be buried that this would be the first Woman elected President. And if elected, then it would be women who bring her home…

 The Never-Trump Movement: has not gone away. These are not Democrats, they are loyal Republicans.

 The Violence and Racism that have come out of the wood-work and into the daylight from the Alt-Right of America.
The Criminal Element: when you hear screams of "Lock her up" and other ugly messages from the Trump rallies. Trump also insists the race is "rigged" before it has been conducted. Perhaps the race is rigged, but not against Trump?

 *The Humor: SNL has been getting it right, by focusing on both flawed candidates.

 *Breaking the Glass Ceiling: is a theme for Hillary Clinton, and it continues to be her goal in ending this election.

 *Trump: in his own words, has been his worst enemy. By stepping on his lead, he says things and creates controversy where none existed.

 *Clinton: shows that all candidate's have their faults. Her weaknesses seem to be her tendency to cover up the real person, and if she did, most agree she's rather likable!

 *The Media: There are some heroes, and lots of soul-searching and culpability found with the wide net of reporting that encompasses all Media covering this race. On Morning Joe, they laughed and giggled their way through the primaries with Candidate Trump. Then, the show took a dark and nasty turn with lots of unprofessional behavior, unsurprising from Scarborough. Is MSNBC still a credible network? They need to define what they stand for in the aftermath of the Election.

 Some standouts have been Kurt Eichenwald, the Newsweek Reporter who uncovered Trump's business dealings, and David Farendholt from the Washington Post, who looked into his charitable donations or lack thereof. There were the NYT Reporters who broke the story of Trump's taxes, or rather the fact he hadn't paid them for years.

 The Uninformed Electorate: has become a major factor in this race. As mentioned, the many stories that broke about Trump, not even beginning to scratch the surface regarding his past misbehavior with women, showed that many Trump voters didn't want to believe any story about their candidate. 

 Do TV Ads Matter? Not as much anymore, it seems. Jeb Bush spent over 100 million dollars and his ad buys saw his numbers move not one bit.

 *Does Ground Game make all the difference? That's what we've been led to believe by the Clinton campaign, and yet Donald Trump was boasting of his small amount of  money spent on GOTV efforts in Florida.

 Do Polls Matter? If they get this race wrong, not at all.

 *This is a Change Election, right? (No Hope).

 A pause in the action to remember the plans for a balanced budget commissioned by Obama so long ago. The Simpson-Bowles plan was a good one, and parts of it were invoked when Obama tried to do "The Grand Bargain" with John Boehner. But to no avail, as the deficit looms large and no one is mentioning it these days.

 There's a great piece about the Trump voters done by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. It digs deep into what defines this group of voters.

 The Scary Thought: A different Trump could actually win this thing!
One who would: Forge some kind of path for Immigration; who didn't engage in Islamophobia; who wasn't Anti-Trade; who wasn't Anti-Globalization nor an Isolationist.

 *The Fall of the GOP: is invoked with the question: How did they get it so wrong? about Trump?
Why couldn't they stop this flawed candidate? Bush had 150 million dollars, so obviously no amount of cash on hand could have saved them from their fate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fifth Risk: A Chillingly Prophetic Narrative for our Time

  For those who have never read this book, ,”The Fifth Risk” is a chillingly prophetic narrative that perfectly embodies the reasoning and set of circumstances that have led us to this point in the pandemic. Not only is there no plan for getting us out of the Pandemic-at least from the Trump Administration- there is instead a decisive narrative which Lewis lays out that allows you to understand why there is a pattern to the idea of simply ‘dropping off the cliff.’   The plan from the beginning, long before the Trump Administration even began to take power, was to break down the walls of governance that had surrounded the Washington agencies for decades prior. Of course, many of Trump’s supporters argue: That is the point! Steve Bannon proudly declared that government would be ‘de-constructed.’ And even those who ended up disagreeing with Trump heavily, such as John Kelly and Rex Tillerson, did help implement the policies that were laid out in the beginning of Trump’s tenur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hillary and the Man in the Arena

From the standpoint of one who voted for and endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, there seems to be a question hanging in the air. How could someone who opposed the Clintonian dynasty support Hillary’s bid for the Presidency? Isn’t it a bit hypocritical? Or at least inconsistent with the view previously taken? This is true for many supporters of Obama. Some on the left cannot support her bid for President.They see many of her acknowledged flaws and conclude she cannot be a viable option. My view comes from watching her over the course of the past eight years, four as the Secretary of State within this Administration. And having watched the two debate in 2008- Obama vs. Hillary- there can be little question that the divide that separates them on most issues is a small one. Theirs is a centrist left view of the world. On Foreign Policy, I daresay that Hillary would never have worked for Obama had she held wildly opposing views from his own world view. But the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Katy Bar the Door: The Fall of the House of Reagan

·           Can this Marriage be Saved? There seems to be a disturbance in the force with the Tea Party activists and the rare seldom sighted moderate Republicans all coming out of the woodwork to ask what happened. There seems to be no way to reunite the odd, feuding factions that have erupted into deep schisms in the Republican Party. All one can do is to grab popcorn and stay tuned for what The Donald will do or say next… ·          Can he be Stopped? If you plaster his face at the post office, with the caption below Donald Trump’s picture reading, Can Someone stop this man?, would anyone be able to act? The GOP seems to be in a panic suddenly, as they realize that this man is soon to become the new face of the Grand Old Party.   ·      Old adages do apply: “ Nice Guys Finish Last ” We’ve learned over the course of the last few weeks that those tired old ...
Post a Comment
Read more