A Week That Will Live in History
Several weeks ago, the prevailing attitude among many was that the Democratic Party, tied to a fumbling Joe Biden, was marching toward the edge of a cliff.
But now, the euphoria is so rampant that one must be careful to not go overboard and assume that Trump is in a downward spiral from which he can’t recover.
I want to think that’s true, and I hope it’s true, though we may have to wait until the upcoming debate to see what conclusions emerge.
But think back to election night in November, 2016. The final polls looked good, and we were so sure that we were on the cusp of the Hillary Clinton presidency.
The latest Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll shows Harris with a national lead of several points over Trump, but within the margin of error. For the moment, at least, let’s take comfort in the fact that Trump’s polling lead over Biden has been wiped out.
And let’s all enjoy what promises to be a joyful Democratic convention, and let’s see if the Harris-Walz ticket comes out of it with the kind of satisfying poll bump that Trump-Vance did not get. As I’ve written before, getting Taylor Swift on board this week would be welcomed indeed!
Perhaps you saw the news today about the new Harris poster from artist Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic “Hope” poster for Barack Obama.
This one, too, will be iconic in its own right. It is outstanding, which means it will probably be under attack by Trump by the time you read this, or soon after.
He certainly was fixated on the TIME cover drawing of Harris, which reminded me of the occasion when large-scale, fake TIME Man of the Year covers were found on display at Trump’s golf properties.
A piece by Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair suggests that Trump may have a form of PTSD, related to visions of mortality following how close a bullet came to taking him out, and also his ongoing anger at being “cheated” when Joe Biden stood down.
At minimum, it certainly seems he is doing all he can to sabotage his own campaign, doesn’t it?
Why else would the GOP standard-bearer, who needs to win Georgia as part of his swing-state strategy, go so hard at the popular Republican governor of that state?
Why else would he anger our patriotic veterans with the ridiculous assertion that the Medal of Freedom is equivalent to, and even better than the Medal of Honor?
I am not the only one who thinks that Trump’s whole purpose in running for election is not to win, but to stay out of prison.
I thought I’d share with you a couple of recent photos of a semi-political nature.
This first one shows my friend Tony Doom, his daughter Missy and VP candidate Tim Walz. Tony and his wife, who reside in Nevada, spend summers back in their native Minnesota. Active in Minnesota Democratic politics for decades, Tony is good friends with Walz, as well as with such luminaries as Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken.
This next photo was taken last week during a visit by California Congresswoman Katie Porter to my Nevada community. I’ll let you guess which one is me in the photo. Next to Cong. Porter is Las Vegas City Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, and at far left is local Harris-Walz volunteer Maria Palleres.
The occasion was a visit and press conference with Cong. Porter to commemorate the anniversary of the creation of the Social Security program.
I’ll bet most of you remember “The Brady Bunch” and its popular theme song.
With a nod to that popular program -I fell in love with Florence Henderson at an early age- here is an updated version of the theme for you to enjoy as you settle in for this week’s convention: