You can't be serious.
Solutions from Seattle
Got this email (before Trump’s ear boo-boo apotheosis) from my uncle Bob west of the great Cascade cultural divide:
Hey Dan,
Here is an idea I've been circulating. Show it to some of your Republican friends and tell me what they think.
Trump supporters: Yes? No?
Republicans that do not support Trump: Yes? No?
Independents: Yes? No?
Democrates that love Biden: Yes? No?
Democrates that feel Biden must go: Yes? No?
You: Yes? No?
Bob
Of course I was intrigued so I scrolled down to see his group email with his big idea:
Subject: Fw: Best idea I've heard so far, if the objective is to Beat TRUMP!
Here is what I've been sending out. The more I think about it idea, the more it improves.
This is a no-brainer! Bob
BEAT TRUMP! VOTE BIPATISAN! SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY! ELECT HARRIS/CHENEY! (Add your own soundbite.)
OK, here’s my soundbite: This is a no-brainer all right.
continuing with the email:
Move Harris up to take Biden’s position as Democratic candidate for President.
&
Nominate Liz Cheney as the vice-Presidential candidate on the ticket.
Ticket: Harris/Cheney
What do you think? (Remember, the primary objective is to BEAT TRUMP FOR SURE. And remember that Pelosi put Liz on the Committee to investigate the 2021 Insurrection, and she did a great job. Also, if Harrie/Cheney wins, Cheney could be put in charge of the Trump prosecutions. If she succeeds there, she could be put in charge of prosecution of the dangerous Justices on the SCOTUS. She might even be able to encourage the bipartisan nature of the Congress (in her role as the chairperson of the Senate.))
Beat Trump! Save our Democracy! elect Harris/Cheney!
And I’m supposed to show this to “some of my Republican friends”- ‘some’ as in a portion of what must be my overwhelmingly Republican hick friends out here in benighted, desert-outpost Montana. Well, I did show some friends at the Saturday breakfast. I’ve never asked any of them what political party they align with; there might be one or two registered Republicans among them, and probably no Democrats, but they are all sick of the GOP and can’t stand people like Liz Cheney. As for Kamala Harris, can I get a lmfao? (that’s freekin’ and arsch- it’s a family blog).
You have to assume that not only does uncle Bob have no idea of how conservatives view Kamala Harris, he has no idea of who Kamala Harris is and has probably never seen her stellar public-speaking performances. He thinks Trump is a dunce and has no opinion on the Chief Buffoon, 2nd-in-line to Chief Moron.
How did we get here? Uncle Bob says it himself:
Remember, the primary objective is to BEAT TRUMP FOR SURE.
As in, at any cost, no matter who is running for ‘our’ (their) side. It’s of course how we got Biden. As I mentioned in a recent post, it’s how we get all our presidents. ‘We’ plug our noses and vote for the ogre they’re offering us because the oger on the other side is worse. On and on.
Trump is so existentially evil that I will vote for a Stalin, a Tamerlane, or even Beelzebub to prevent the arch-nemesis Trump from gaining office. Pushing the button on the electronic vote-counting screen for K. Harris is a no-brainer!
That’s right, and also you’ll allow yourself total ignorance about your own party leaders. And furthermore, you assume that anyone not voting for Trump’s opponent is for Trump.
I wanted to write back,
Whoa, what? Waaait a minute- not so fast! Why do we need to replace Biden in the first place? Shouldn’t that have been considered before the primaries?
Is it that suddenly, just now, it’s too obvious to deny anymore and all sides realize that the president is non compos mentis – something Conservatives have been saying (and mocked for it) for three or four years?
…but I didn’t. I don’t think I’ll have any sway with a TDS sufferer.
My next response was this:
And here we were getting along splendidly. Bob, do you really want my opinion on this?
I appreciate and treasure our opportunities to be able to gather with the family and also sit down and talk alone together, but national electoral politics has become an issue in which finding common ground is almost impossible. Trying to discuss any issue in which Trump, who for most liberals is a 250 pound block of kryptonite, is involved is next to impossible.
I will respond directly to your inquiry if you insist but only because I think my silence would somehow convince you that my avoidance of the topic would mean I’m somehow a Trumper, which isn’t true at all.
…aaand I didn’t send that one either. I know, it’s a bit pathetic sharing my unsent emails with you, but let a guy vent a little, will ya? A couple guys at the Saturday breakfast gave me some ideas on what I might say, but Stan cut them off. He knew the score. “You guys don’t understand. There’s nothing Dan can say. He’s dealing with Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Again I’ll repeat what I said a couple posts ago: If you are supporting a particular candidate, ask yourself if you might be downplaying or ignoring your guy’s faults just a little because of your hatred for the other option [the other option from the Uni-party I might add]. It happens on both sides of the manufactured divide.
Here’s an excellent quote that encapsulates what is going on:
Both errors indeed!
“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts." ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
This is absolutely true and is a good rejoinder when discussing the failings or evil of someone else. Everyone has something evil within them. There are no exceptions and we should take note of our own failings before we attempt to point out those of others. Perhaps Uncle Bob should be made aware of this.
However, Solzhenitsyn goes on to balance this out.
"This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”-- ibid.
No human being is totally evil. Not one is totally good. All of us fail. We need to remember that.
That last quote sounds like it's from The Screwtape Letters, but I can't be too sure. I have considered many times doing a collumn called "Letters Never Sent", but have never got round to it. I always find myself writing responses to people, quite often the kids school headteacher, but then I just read it out to the kids instead. We all get a laugh, they get to find out my true thoughts on matters, and they forego the embarrasment at school when walking past the headteacher.