This is the worst presidential election in my adult life. I am being deluged with phone calls, text messages, and emails—sometimes as many as 20 a day. Nearly every video I watch and most web pages I read are interrupted by pleas for political contributions.
In my opinion the two presidential candidates are objectively the worst of my lifetime. I have said many times that I have not and will not vote for Donald Trump. My reasons are somewhat different from those of most people. Many people complain about his lying but I don’t think that’s true. I think he lives in a world of his own imagination, something the Japanese call kizoku no sekai in reference to their own aristocracy. It is a malady of the rich and powerful. In addition he is remarkably poorly informed and incurious.
Furthermore, I believe that those who think that Kamala Harris is just being cagey during the election are kidding themselves. I think she’s vapid, even vacant.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter what she believes or if she believes in anything at all beyond getting elected. Perhaps she’s just a placeholder for those who are actually running our government. That’s not a relief to me since they are wrong about so much.
I appreciate your assessment of both candidates. I know you are anti-Trump, but you are not a rabid Trump hater. I do not agree 100%, but they are philosophically consistent and intellectually honest (are these even understood anymore). The Jesuits would be proud of you.
Like him or not, Trump forced a lot of policies to be discussed. Unfortunately, the best we get from any side is pseudo-intellectual support for any policy or position.
I think 2016 was worse as Hillary was worse. While she was nowhere nearly as corrupt as Trump she wasn’t that far off.
” he lives in a world of his own imagination”
But in his imaginary world he believes everything he sees on his prepped TV shows or his sycophants tell him. I have to think there is a fair bit of cognitive deterioration. Living in the NE not that far from NYC we have been exposed to a lot of Trump for along time. He is much different than he was 30 years ago. He wasn’t actually bizarre like he is so much now and he was coherent. He calls it his weave, but when Biden did it we called it dementia.
Steve
The choice is between the Democrat Evil Party and the Republican Stupid Party, so I went Stupid. However, the Deep State, the permanent senior civil service is firmly in the saddle, and neither Evil nor Stupid can control or even resist them. JFK tried, and they killed him. Message sent and received.
“Nearly every video I watch and most web pages I read are interrupted by pleas for political contributions.”
It really is the worst. At least in a battle state, the ads are asking for your vote (or to vote against). In deep blue states, they just treat viewers as piggy banks.
I live in Illinois which is not remotely a battleground state. Maybe we’re getting overflow from Wisconsin.
As far as “piggy banks” goes, IMO you’ve got to consider the fund-raising claims in light of the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. In 2016 Clinton outspent Trump 2-1 and lost. In 2020
Trump outspent BidenBiden outspent Trump 5-3 andlostwon.Added note
I have corrected the comment above. Thank you, CuriousOnlooker.
That accords with my offhand recollection as well. At the time I speculated that Democratic presidential campaigns may have become more expensive than Republican campaigns due to differences in how the parties view politics and political office.
Double checking Opensecrets — in 2020 Biden out raised and outspent Trump by a ratio of 5:3.
That accords with my recollection of reporting during that campaign.
I believe people underestimate how much Trump has been influenced by Roy Cohn.
These aren’t lies, they’re tactics. Win no matter how or what you have to say or do.
If he wins, the battle just begins, the permanent state apparatus will fight for its survival.
This is the question, do we want leadership, or only the pretense of it, are we going to accept permanent state rule by the three letter agencies who will appoint people like Harris and then continue multiplying regulations that require teams of lawyers and accountants for entrepreneurs to navigate?
Are we going to be that sclerotic?
All of the media is now captive and so I disregard their cacophony of warnings about Trump’s derangement or eminent dictatorship. He will continue to be hobbled, as he should be, by congress, but he won’t be captive to agency insiders.
I’m going with leadership.
That’s why I say the most pressing agenda item for any presidential administration is civil service reform.
@Dave:
Team Trump will be a different animal this time around, plans are being laid and Trump today is now only the pitchman for a conservative team that is ready for whatever they throw at the new administration.