Shocker: Biden Eats Ice Cream!

Joe Biden eats ice cream. How dare he!

At brunch today with a group of friends in Queens, we were discussing Biden's precarious position with Israel. The waitress was taking our orders as the confab began and she said she was concerned that Biden was eating ice cream while discussing the Gaza situation. She expressed dissatisfaction with his seemingly casual attitude while holding forth on matters of international concern. I immediately leapt in with "So you'd rather have Trump? A man who was found liable of sexually assaulting a woman and then lying about it, fomenting an insurrection, trying to overthrow our democracy, committing business fraud, screwing up the government's response to the COVID pandemic, paying off a porn star, etc. etc." The waitress said she wasn't thinking about that, she just wanted to criticize Biden (not in those words, but she didn't even appear to consider Trump's many flaws in comparison with Biden's minor ones.)

I said, "This is the choice--Biden or Trump. That's it. I would rather have a 1 Biden eating ice cream, than 1,000 Donald Trumps eating hamburgers and throwing them against the wall." I could see I was getting nowhere and cut the talk with her short. I did leave a nice tip.

There were also shrieks of despair from Dems over the "Uncommitted" protest votes in the Michigan primary from voters unhappy with Biden's stance on aiding Israel and not pushing hard enough for a ceasefire. Yes, Michigan has a large Moslem-American population and they are unhappy about Biden's apparently unconditional support of Netanyahu. But will they really vote for Trump in November--or just as bad, stay home on election day? Trump's even more pro-Israel than Biden. Will they forget about his Moslem ban? 

Biden's in am impossible position. If he doesn't push for a ceasefire the left will dessert him. If stops aide to Israel, the Jews will be furious. Hopefully he can force Netanyahu to commit to a ceasefire. Unfortunately, Netanyahu will probably not concede to a two-state solution which looks like the only way to solve this situation in the long term. 

2024: Can Biden Win the Media War? Will Cheney Run for Prez as an Independent?

I thought the Trump reality show was at least closed for the summer with the last of the J6 Committee hearings before Congress returns in September. But no, we have to have yet another installment with the FBI search of Trumpy's tacky Florida home in search of missing classified documents. This justified execution of a warrant (not a raid) has pushed aside Biden's triumphant passage of a series of bills including the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chip one, and the one helping veterans exposed to burn pits. Republicans had to be shamed by John Stewart into voting on the last one and they were against a $35 cap on insulin. 

I worry that the benefits of these bills will not be felt by Americans until after the midterms in November, plus the price of gas may not be going down enough to convince voters to go for Dems. Yes, the price at the pump has been steadily dropping, but just under $4 is still too steep. 

A Dark Time

The forces of darkness are getting stronger in the US and around the world. It seemed we had a glimmer of hope when Biden defeated Trump, but our joys of liberal sanity have been short-lived. No sooner does the COVID crisis wane than Putin decides to invade Ukraine, sending gas prices through the roof. Even though Trump has been kissing Vlad's ass and would have done absolutely nothing to stop his boyfriend if he had been re-elected, MAGA nutbags will blame Biden for the inflation and price increases. States are passing laws banning books, forbidding teaching history with accuracy, and silencing gay families in the early grades. The latter complaint stems from the "Don't Say Gay" Bill in Florida which claims to protect elementary school children from the horrors of acknowledging the existence of gay and trans people. Governor DeSantis is confusing sex education and gender identity with gay visibility. He and his right-wing base don't want to admit there is nothing wrong with being gay. What happens if a gay teacher casually says "My partner and I went to the movies this weekend?" or if a student with gay parents brings up his or her family? Can the teacher of this class be sued by the outraged parents of "straight, normal" students? Previous generations of gay people were stereotyped as single, sex-crazed, 24-hour party people. Now we have families and kids and we're in commercials and on game shows. We're like everybody else. That's what frightens these people.

The recent SCOTUS confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson are another indicator of the deep polarization of our politics. Republicans who voted for her a year ago for a lower court appointment now villify her and smear her just to score points with the base. Their reasoning seems to be "The Dems treated Kavanaugh badly, so we have to do the same to their nominee."

I fear the dissatisfaction with inflation will spur a Republican takeover of the House and possibly the Senate this November. Then Biden will not able to get anything done. In 2024, I pray the disenchantment with Trump will be enough to keep him out of the race, but he could still secure the Republican nomination despite his two impeachments and incitement to overturn a legitimate transfer of power. Biden will then be 82 and if it's a Biden-Trump rematch the outcome is far from certain.

Where Are We Now?

Joe Biden acts like a human being
rather than throwing paper towels
after a hurricane.

As summer ends, most of America--myself included--thought we would be in a better place by now. Trump is no longer president and we have a sane, compassionate man in his place. The corona virus was supposed to be defeated and all kinds of great legislation should have been passed. But instead, the delta variant, climate change and the Taliban had other plans. So far only one big bill (COVID relief) has passed. After plateauing, the COVID death toll is rising. Labor Day travel and the return to classrooms threaten another spike. Never mind that one of the main causes for the pandemic resurgence is vaccine hesitancy and downright denial, mostly by Republicans. (I suspect there are more than a few non-vaxxers who are refusing to get the jab just to make Joe look bad.) Biden will get the blame anyway.

Prediction for 2020 and Beyond

The impeachment hearings wind down

Prediction as the impeachment hearings end: I have a bad feeling the Supreme Court is going to let Trump end DACA and keep his tax returns. The House will impeach, but the Senate will not remove the slime from office. Moscow Mitch will pitch it that yes Trump did attempt a quid pro quo with Ukraine, but that's not a high crime and misdemeanor. Then the Dems will nominate someone like Warren or Buttigieg who is too scary for old white people in the swing states like Penn., Wisconsin etc. Mayor Pete is moderate, but he's gay. The thought of a gay president, no matter what his politics, will be enough to frighten off voters in the middle, plus he doesn't have the black vote. Younger black voters are angry with him because of his record on race relations and policing as Mayor of South Bend and older black voters are additionally turned off by his openness about his sexuality. Not all, but enough to make a difference.

Even if it's Biden, he won't be "flashy" and "energetic" enough for Trump's moronic diehard supporters. Trump will be re-elected. Maybe the Senate will flip and both houses of Congress will be Dem. Trump will get crazier, confident that he can get away with anything even if the Senate is Dem. He'll do something else impeachable and we'll go through all of this again.

I pray that I'm wrong.

Swing Voters: Now They Pay Attention

I admit it, I'm a terrible loser. I don't enjoy watching the political shows now that things are not going my way. All is gloom and doom amongst the liberal media since President Obama's lousy debate performance last week. Romney did an excellent selling job of himself as a moderate and Obama let him get away with murder. Polls are tightening up. What I find incredible is that there's a whole huge chunk of the electorate which hasn't been paying attention until now. That's what Mittens is betting on. He's thinking that among the 60 million who watched Debate One are folks who haven't been listening to his hard-right positions on Medicare, taxes, abortion, etc. and those people are saying to themselves, "Oh he's not so bad. Those Democrats and that damned liberal media must have been exaggerating like always. Now I can vote for him, get a job at Staples, and still have gay marriage, abortion rights, and civil liberties."

Just today Romney said he wouldn't change anything about abortion laws to make them more restrictive even though he told Mike Huckabee he was in favor of a personhood amendment and had on many occasions said he opposed Roe V. Wade. The only thing Obama has right now is defending Big Bird and unemployment falling below 8 percent. Why didn't he punch back at the plastic man? He'd better rally or we could have phony Mitt and Queen Anne and those five Pat Boone sons to stare at for four years. The VP debate on Thurs. will not matter even if Biden knocks out Ryan.