Posted on 08/28/2020 6:26:17 AM PDT by SJackson
A Democrat shares his thoughts on the RNC -- and makes an intriguing prediction.
I watched the second night of the Republican National Convention the same way you fall in love or go bankrupt: gradually, but then suddenly stricken by a strange and somewhat inexplicable premonition. It was this: Donald John Trump is going to win in November, and win big.
Yeah, I know all about the polls. I understand the deep distaste many Americans, including some traditional Republican voters, feel for the president. I am well aware of the criticism of his conduct in handling COVID-19, or the riots following George Floyds death, or any number of issues. And yet, as Trumps first surprise election ought to have taught us by now, when it comes to modern American politics, the only principle that truly matters is the Ooga Chaka principle: We vote for the candidate who gets us hooked on a feeling and high on believing.
Last week, the Democrats used their convention to deliver three key messages: Joe Biden is a very decent person; Joe Biden is not Donald Trump, who is not a very decent person; and, being both a very decent person and not-Donald-Trump, Joe Biden is passionate about amplifying the voices of women and minorities, which is one important way to prove both your decency and your not-Trumpiness.
Who, precisely, might get hooked by these messages, and on what feeling? That Biden is a decent person is indisputable anywhere outside the airless quarters of the most quarrelsome partisans. That he shares little with the man he hopes to defeat is obviousby now, Trumps fans and detractors alike have very few misconceptions about the mans character. That leaves us with the DNCs heavy schmear of identity politics, a sentiment that doubtless resonates with the partys educated, affluent base but says very little to those weary Americans who wonder why their cities are burning and why on earth anyone would ever want to defund the police.
The RNC, on the other hand, had a much more hearty offering on hand. It had no actors, singers, comedians, billionaires, academics, or former presidents present to offer perfectly polished paeans to character. Instead, it had people of faith affirming the singular importance of safeguarding the freedom of religion; immigrants affirming the notion, not controversial until very recently, that an American citizenship was an exceptional honor, not a universal right; blue-collar workers affirming the all-American reliance on small businesses, not tech behemoths; law enforcement officials affirming the foundational truth that, in America, when we disagree, we talk things over, not burn things down; and African Americans affirming the belief, central to the thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. and entirely alien to the current crop of race hustlers, that its the content of ones character, not the color of ones skin, that ought to matter.
In other words, whereas one party had the same narrow dogma repeated verbatim with very little variation, the other haddare we say it?diversity: of gender and of race and of experience, but also, more importantly, of interests and ideas.
This is not to say that watching both conventions will get a sizable number of voters to stop worrying and learn to love Donald Trump. But it is to say that its becoming increasingly more clear that the Democrats real problem isnt the partys aging candidate or its rambunctious left flank but, rather, its relationship with reality itself.
A party seriously interested in recapturing the White House wouldve done well to launch its bid by drafting a road map that roughly corresponds to Americas territory. It wouldve benefited from going long on big ideas and short on big personalities. It wouldve sought to vigorously court the millions who rejected it last time around, choosing instead to bet on an imperfect upstart. The Democrats orated, emoted, and fixated on nothing but the orange-haired object of their obsession.
To make matters worse, if you were watching the convention on TVas fewer and fewer Americans do these handheld, device-driven daysyou were treated to the dizzying but not altogether unpleasant experience of seeing the talking heads on cable news ask you to believe them rather than your own lying eyes. To hear the pundits tell it, the RNC is one part Thunderdome, one part plantation owners meeting, a series of dark and stormy nights dedicated to hating anyone or anything that isnt white, rich, and smug. Examples are plentiful and sordid, but heres one: After suing CNN and settling for an undisclosed sum, Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky high school student who was portrayed as a baby Grand-Wizard-in-training by our malicious media, appeared last night to tell his story. He was polite, earnest, and engaging but that didnt stop our moral and intellectual betters from once again telling a very different story. Sandmann, sneered one cable news stalwart, was a snot nose entitled kid who was best ignored. That stalwart? Joe Lockhart, of CNN. Theres no better way to describe the last four years of American journalism than the mantra coined decades ago by Seinfelds showrunners: No hugging, no learning. And, like Seinfeld, all MSNBC, CNN, and their likes can produce these days are shows about nothing.
For better or worse, Americans want somethinganythingelse. Many dislike Donald Trump, and so will not vote for him no matter what. But many more, when in the privacy of the voting booth, will do what voters so often do and vote for the party that looksand feelsmore like them, and that can get them high on believing in an America that looks like the one they know and lovean imperfect but good nation ever slouching toward a brighter tomorrow. These last two nights, the RNC has made a very convincing case why that party may very well be the party of Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump.
IMHO, mail in fraud will only affect the states that would go for Biden anyways.
The Dims want a BIG popular vote win so they can riot and sue about electoral college results. “not my president!” will continue. *AND* they hope to screw up the legal and Constitutional vote for President via mail in delays, miss electoral college votes (”Disenfranchised entire STATES!!!!”)
And once again the vote will go to the Supreme Court so the Insane Left can continue their mantra that DJT is “illegitimate!”.
OR, DJT could just sweep the nation Bigly ;-)
Putting on my stalking cap and while smoking my pipe, I channel my inner Sherlock and muse about the dog not barking and what it tells me. If the Trump campaign thought they were in trouble, they would have brought forward the Hunter Biden factor and the corruption of the Biden Family, BUT, mentions of that were so minimal that I missed it.
My guess is that the ‘D’onkeys and their media allies were primed and waiting for it and are now fumbling! We have 2 months of hard campaigning to go BUT I think I am smelling the flop-sweat from the ‘D’ side. I am NOT CONFIDENT and will be making my campaign contributions but, compared to 2016, I am feeling better!
Joey Fingers strikes again!
Uh, Joe Biden is NOT a decent person.
I agree. SanFranNan’s remarks on debating are telling.
One in a million. So...there IS a chance.
And Kamala Harris is NOT a decent woman. Not is her indecency confined to spreading her legs to climb the political ladder of power, though that is just one well-known example.
I wouldn't bet a nickel either way on this.Mail in ballot fraud will be a huge issue this year...particularly in the several big states that the President won by a narrow margin in '16 (FL,PA,MI).
If he loses all three (through fraud) it's President LegsInTheAir by this time next year.
Black American citizens are in fact in the day to day process of destroying America. The great mass of black citizens are in fact anti American and must be brought to heel.
We know there are in fact many black true American citizens but they are a minority of a minority with no authoritative voice
The truth is that many black lives don’t matter because they are actually enemies of us true Americans
Corollary: Black Jock lives don’t matter
White, rich and smug pretty much defines the elitist left.
“Mayor Daley changed history when his open Chicago fraud delivered Illinois and the Presidency in the 1960 election to Kennedy.”
The thing is, if Nixon had carried Illinois he still would have lost the presidency, as he would have been around 20 EVs shy of the number needed to be elected.
That Biden That Biden is a decent person is indisputable anywhere outside the airless quarters of the most quarrelsome partisans.
Wrong
Biden used his office to influence-peddle. Used his son and his brother. In the Ukraine and in China. That is not decent
These people make up facts. If they win in November -or in December as they will drag it out- They will destroy.
The Democrat convention was about how much they hated Trump.
The Republican convention was about how much they loved America and how optimistic they were about her future.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out which of those messages is going to sell better.
Bingo!
“Ooga Chaka principle: We vote for the candidate who gets us hooked on a feeling and high on believing.”
That’s so funny. The Ooga Chaka Principle.
My wife is a historian and very talented speaker who can deliver a well thought out message of just about any length without notes or a teleprompter. She is invited to speak at many events but every Veterans Day and Memorial Day there are usually politicians before and after her at the podium. She also has spoken at many Republican Party meetings over the years. The contrast is so shocking that typically the politicians will tell the organizers that they will not speak immediately before or after her at future events. They are so lame by comparison.
Afterward even at Republican party events people almost always approach her and berate the lame speeches by the politician and praise her. I do not understand how so many career politicians can be such awful speakers. It is actually incredible.
But Trump did get his licks in, he crushed Biden like a used dixie cup, tore him up like a used snot rag...
“He may well carry CA.”
Now you’re talking crazy. :)
I do think Trump will do better than he did in 2016, but he isn’t going to carry the West Coast. He may, though, pick up Minnesota, and maybe even Nevada.
Really, that’s all that needed to be said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.