Probably another coup attempt in November 2024 and/or January 2025 if Trump loses, which is looking increasingly likely. That should be fun.
Politics
String
It’s not surprising that when there are two 900-year-old candidates in the running for president who can’t seem to string two sentences together, they end up roughly tied.
And it’s also not surprising that when someone who isn’t a senile near-zombie emerges, she is more appealing than a weird pervy felon or a nursing-home-escapee hair-sniffer. I mean, fucking hell, that Harris is in the lead now isn’t some grand mystery that takes Hercule Poirot to solve. It has nothing to do with Harris’s policies or lack of them, or charisma or absence of same. It’s just that she can articulate a coherent statement without rambling, doesn’t look like she just wandered out of Shady Pines, and might actually live out her term.
That’s all. But that’s a lot.
Cratty
What puzzles me about people like Ian Welsh and many others who worship at the feet of autocrats like Putin and Xi is…do they really think the world would be a better place with totalitarian leaders like that in control? Do they think their own lives would be better?
What in the world is the damn end goal there? Having lived in authoritarian countries (Egypt, China) I can tell you that what they imagine would be some paradisaical existence almost certainly would not be. And I will never, ever understand the obsession with Putin and their worship of him. He’s a petty thug. He’s a weasel. He’s got more delusions of grandeur than Anakin Skywalker. Worshiping Putin is fucking embarrassing.
America is not perfect. But if I had to choose, I’d live here a thousand times out of a thousand versus Russia. I truly do think Ian Welsh and all his Putin-cozying compatriots should emigrate to Russia and sign up for some meat waves being spammed across the front lines in Ukraine. If they are true believers, it’d make sense to show Putin their true level of devotion.
Of course they won’t do that. Because it’s all the middle-age equivalent of being a 15-year-old edgelord. Except even more clownish.
Kursk
Good for them — though I still think the operation is strategically pointless from a military perspective. Politically, though, it’s been a rousing success. It shows that Putin is weak, Russia is overextended militarily, and that Ukraine can execute a meaningful op if they are not held back by absurd restrictions on their use of force against a brutal occupying enemy.
And not as important but still funny, it makes the Putinoids like Ian Welsh fucking apoplectic. That is a small reward, but a nice one nonetheless.
Pricks
You can tell Walz was a good veep pick because it’s causing the Republicans and conservatives to engage in even wilder and weirder conspiracy theories and attacks. This time, though, the Democrats won’t let Walz be swift-boated. That was one of the most dishonorable events I’ve seen occur in the history of US politics and if there had been any justice in the world, the Republican party would’ve been disbanded from the inside after that.
But swift-boating won’t happen again — the Dems are smarter this time. Walz was a solid choice that pricks the Republicans where it hurts. They froth at the mouth when he is brought up even though he is a middle-of-the-road Democrat. But their bizarre reaction doesn’t have anything to do with his policies or politics; it’s all about the fact that Walz represents and is what they pretend to be but in fact are not: normal, loyal, duty-bound, humble and patriotic.
That’s why he deeply offends them, as there’s no one hated more than someone who is what you wish you were.
Tourist
‘One of the most violent’ Jan. 6 rioters receives a 20-year prison sentence.
So the January 6 insurrectionists weren’t just tourists out for a stroll in the Capitol building? Imagine that.
Rets and Cons
The belief that everyone knew Trump was going to win was retconned while simultaneously the “polls were wrong” (which was actually the case) was branded a conspiracy theory. I don’t completely understand why the various panjandrums thought this necessary but there was a serious and concerted effort to defend the terribly wrong 2016 polls from Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — even though it was obvious that many of the so-called reputable polls conducted in those places were often off by 10+ points.
And when I say “serious effort,” there were hundreds of columns defending the polling, Nate Silver basically went nuts for an entire year, and fake scientists came out of the woodwork claiming absolute nonsense about statistics and polling.
I guess this was just the official narrative and narrative-makers being defended and defending themselves after the fact?
Walz Right In
I didn’t know much about Tim Walz before he was picked for VP, but he looks like a solid choice. Smart on energy, permitting reform and taxes. Doesn’t seem to be hair-sniffer or senile. Not sure Harris could’ve done any better given the constraints she’s facing.
Cesse Cesse
Harris actually has the energy to campaign. That will make some difference. She might have a shot if the US does not go into recession.
Kam
Just to be clear, I do hope Kamala Harris wins in November. Though I will vote, I live in California so my vote for president matters not a whit. Trump is too old, too erratic, too corrupt and too clownish to be a feasible choice. Harris is no picnic but she is better than the alternative.
I cannot predict what Trump will do, but mostly it’ll be bad or ineffective. And he’s likely to scrap support for Ukraine altogether, which would be a huge mistake. Harris is mediocre but predictable. That I can work with.